Pirates Opening Day 2011

For those of you unaware, I was at the Pirates home opener on Thursday.  This was my third opener in a row (I went down for the 2003 opener against the Red Sox, but the game was rained out, or maybe it was the second game, whatever).  I hope to continue this tradition for a long time.  Unfortunately, my friend Steve was not able to go this year.  Fortunately, Lindsey was able to go and we had a fantastic time.

Sadly, the Pirates lost the game and if you are expecting any in depth coverage of the game, well I am sorry, that is not really what you will find here.  Go to WHYGAVS or any to Pirates Booty.  Instead, I will tell you about the adventure that took place.

We got up early and left so that we could check into our hotel and just walk to the game.  We stayed at the Wyndham Grand.  I did not realize it was such a classy hotel.  We pull up in my super-cool, non-bear destroyed Yaris and are greeted by the valet.  This was new to me.  I normally stay in shitty motels where the guy tells you to park in back by the dumpster.  Also, the bellhop wanted to help me with my bag...all I brought was a backpack, I told him I could manage.

We drop our stuff at the room and hustle across the bridge to the stadium.  Ryan tells me where he and his friends are tailgating and we make our way over there.  We drink some beers with those guys and then head into the game.

We sat in the front row of left field.  It was such a great day for a game.  Sunny and warm (I got a little sun-burn on one side of my face).  The saxophonist from O.A.R. performed the national anthem, which was pretty good.

The guy behind us had his five year old son with him.  He was teaching his kid about gambling, which seemed a bit odd to me.  He was telling him who they had to root for on the board because daddy had money on those teams.  I am not a huge gambler, so I really have no clue how people bet on baseball games.  While Jose Tabata was warming up, the dad yells to him in Spanish for a ball.  Tabata tossed it to him and the dad had to lean way over the wall in front of us to catch it.  Pretty nice grab actually.

After awhile though, I felt bad for the kid because his dad knew nothing about the Pirates (or baseball in general).  He told his boy that Pedro Alvarez is from Venezuela and that Andrew McCutchen was on the All-Star team.  Me and two guys beside us decided to make fun of him for a good chunk of the sixth and seventh inning.

Once the game ended, we walked over to McFadden's and met up with Ryan.  We had a couple beers, but then everyone had to leave.  Lindsey and I went over to the hotel and decided to get ready for dinner.  We went to SixPenn to eat.  The food was very good, but as with all fancy restaurants, I always feel like I am starving when I leave.

After dinner we went to a bar called Olive or Twist (get it?) and drank a few beers with a couple we ran into while walking around town.  They were pretty cool for about thirty minutes, but after that I was definitely getting tired of listening to the dude talk.

We got pretty drunk and went back to the hotel and went to bed.  The next day we got up and decided to go to the Waterfront for breakfast.  Lindsey wanted to try IHOP, or as she called it:  IOP.  Apparently the H is silent.  The food was decent, but the place was not very organized (I am guessing it must have opened very recently).

Our plan was to go to Lindsey's cousin's (Danielle, who is married to Brent Johnson) house and see the new baby and then meet up with her friend and go to the Pirate game.  We could not go see the baby until around three, so we had a lot of time to kill.  We went to Target and then drove around in the rain for a few hours.  We basically saw most parts of Pittsburgh.  We visited the family and then met up with her friend at Bahama Breeze in Robinson.  At this point we were decidedly against going to the game because it had been raining hard all day.

Once dinner was over, we finally came home.  I was exhausted.  I had to work at 6:30 a.m.  I wish I could have been at Friday night's game, but at the same time I am kind of happy we did not make it.  I would love to be at an exciting extra inning game like that, but only if I did not have to work super early the next day.  Also, I figured there would be a rain delay for sure.  Oddly enough, once we left the city and the game started, the rain stopped.

It was a fantastic time and I cannot wait to go to more games this year.  I already have a few lined up and I am going to try and organize something huge, so I will let people know about that at some point...

Here are the rest of the pictures from the game...

They claim that Carlos Gonzalez is 6'1, but I really do not believe it.  He came much closer a few times and he looks to be about 5'10 or so...

The Pirates can never get rid of Ryan Doumit.  Only because I love hearing Danzig's "Mother" when he comes to bat.

This is a terrible picture.  It is of the team warming up.  Way to go photographer...

I bet as they are walking, the pitchers were probably bitching about having to walk all the way back across the field after the opening ceremonies.

Much better than last year's picture with me fondling a statue's balls....

I took this one after dinner.  What a beautiful stadium...

UPDATE!!!
I completely forgot about the kid who jumped over the wall and ran across the field.  Lindsey asked me if that was the first time I ever saw that and I do not think it was, I believe I saw that when I was very young, but I remember something like it.  Anyways, the guys beside me were laughing at how dumb the kid is, since he got tossed from the game and most likely went to jail for the night.  Way to spend Opening Day!

 

Video from 333greystreet...