I love ballgames but I only like to go during the day. Night time games in San Fransisco are just not my thing. I don't like cold and at night, sitting on a plastic seat right next to San Francisco Bay is my idea of hell. I cannot wear clothes that are warm enough.
Oh I guess I could borrow a pair of Alex's long johns and put on layers and layers of clothing and look something like a homeless woman and that would keep me warm enough. But I would have to also wear a hat with ear flaps and a ski mask. Plus, I would need those "oogla" boots with the fur in them and on them. Honestly, does anyone really believe I would do that? (Of course not.)
Sitting in one place for 3 or 4 hours turning into an ice cycle is not my idea of a good time, even if I look like a cute ice cycle. I can wear a pair of high heels and well cut jeans, and a sweater, a scarf and a leather jacket and look great, but be frozen by the 7th inning stretch. It's just not my thing. Afternoons are fine at the park, but evenings are usually brutally cold.
Alex was so excited to tell me that he had gotten us "play-off" tickets after the Giants won the Division. "Great, Honey!" I said stupidly. I had failed to ask "When are they playing?", meaning was it a day game or a night game. Alex didn't know because the game time was not announced at that point, so I hoped for the best. I maintained my positive attitude until I found out on Friday that the game would start at 6:30 PM.
Knowing Alex was so happy, I just didn't know how to tell him that I would not be going to the game with him. It's turned "cool" and there is no way I would even consider walking for miles to get to the stadium where I would sit and freeze for hours on a Sunday night. Last evening, I approached the subject with my husband. "Alex! How would you feel about going to the game with Nelson?" Alex looked at me with disbelief! "I can't believe you don't want to go to a play-off game!"
I replied "Oh Honey! I really do want to go, but my foot is really bothering me after all the walking we did yesterday in San Francisco. I just don't think I could do it again without ending up totally unable to walk." Alex said "Well, let me call Nelson."
Fortunately, Nelson was delighted to be invited. But I guarantee you, Nelson was not as delighted as I was knowing I could stay home and watch the game on tv in my nice warm house, in my nice warm sweats, and not have to rub up against strangers in the crowd of people navigating from one place to another. I don't have to eat nasty ball park food or drink a $10 beer. I can be home in front of my 60" HD flatscreen television and watch the game, including highlights without people screaming around me. I can go grab a glass of wine if I wish, and dine on chocolate cookies while my pups watch me with adoring eyes as I use ice packs on my gimpy foot. Okay, that's a lie. My foot is fine. I just didn't want to go.
At least this time I didn't have to fake that I had a ruptured appendix.
I totally relate. Thank goodness for Nelson.
ReplyDeleteAw. Wish I lived closer. I'd have gone.
ReplyDelete3000 miles due east of you the weather is exactly the same at night at this time of year. While I don't give a rat's patoot what I look like, there are simply not enough layers to keep me warm. Hell, I freeze at NASCAR races in July when the day is overcast & that's 50 miles inland way from the ocean's dampness.
ReplyDeleteI hear your pain - I'm not a fan of freezing outside during sports either.
ReplyDeleteLinda, I am TOTALLY with you on this one. I would MUCH rather stay home and be cozy than be cold sitting next to strangers!
ReplyDeleteAbout once a year, it turns really warm in this area for a maximum of 3 days. The evenings stay warm (say 75 to 80 degrees) and if you happen to hit a game on one of those nights, it's fine. It's the 52 degrees with wind and fog that are much more likely and no thanks! If I could sit next to warm puffy strangers who throw off waves of heat I really wouldn't mind. If they were cute that is.
ReplyDeleteI really do enjoy sports, but the cold just ruins it for me. I think it's the inactivity that makes it worse too.
ReplyDeleteHA!
ReplyDeleteWe are truly soul sisters. I hate the cold. It's my idea of hell too. I can't blame you for the little white lie. But glad your foot is better and I know you'll enjoy the wine and chocolates.
ReplyDeleteHey Linda! This sounds like the correct way to watch sports to me. Pizza and NFL for me! Indigo x
ReplyDeleteMyrna, my foot is fine. I used ice for a week and I'm good to go. I do hate night games because of the cold. I just can't get comfortable. Home is a better view anyway!
ReplyDeleteI just hate putting on 25 layers of stuff to keep warm. It makes it hard to move. Give me a nice afternoon any day of the week. Watching from home is a much better evening for me!
ReplyDeleteI wish you did live closer. Your lovely wife and I could hang out in a very comfortable space while you and Alex go freeze your butts off and drink beer!
ReplyDeleteNo kidding, Cheryl! I would have gone (feeling obligated) if Nel had not come through.
ReplyDeleteThat would work for me.
ReplyDeleteYou know I don't watch a lot of baseball on TV. The NFL's my game. But there's nothing like taking in a ball game at the ball park. Used to love to watch the Montreal Expos and their AAA team the Ottawa Lynx.
Plus, you wouldn't have to peel off those layers of clothes and go to a cold restroom. I guarantee you'd have to after drinking a 10 dollar beer. I've peed in in freezing weather and I can never tell if I'm finished. Hell, my brain freezes, so it's not having the best communication with my kidneys or my hands 'cause I don't know if I've wiped good either. I'm cold just thinking about it myself.
ReplyDeleteBaseball is my favorite game. I like football too, but I don't like going to the games. People are too "charged up" at football games and there tends to be a much more "family" atmosphere for baseball. Alex likes the ball park too. I like it if there are good conditions (meaning it's during the day and the weather is nice!) but at night, it's just too damn cold.
ReplyDeleteLinda,
ReplyDeleteI am so with you! Being from San Francisco I can feel the chill already. You know there is a spot/street above Cliffhouse where if you are there at the right time you can feel the season change as the wind comes off the ocean and whips up that street into the city (I think thats Point Lobos Ave). SF can be a horridly damp cold place to be outdoors at the wrong time. Sports, at night, in Autumn? I dont think so. :-)
Dean
Unless it's one of those weird hot spells,I'll stay home for night sports. The Cliff House has always been one of my favorite places. But parking down the hill and walking up in the cold could really do me in. Again, it could be one of the twice a year (18 hour) heat waves and then it's fine. Hah!
ReplyDeleteThere is a lot to be said for watching a game from the stands, but yet the replays are easier to view on a 60 " TV Ha Ha
ReplyDeleteJimmy, it's really just the cold at night that gets to me. I love going to the games, but I just can't deal with freezing my butt off hour after hour. Last night was a bad night for the Giants. 3 and 1/2 hours of freezing to see my team lose the 2nd play-off game in the cold just didn't appeal to me at all.
ReplyDeleteHA HA HA I am laughing outloud!!!! And the ruptured appendix... I HAVE to remember THAT one!
ReplyDeleteKatherine, always keep in mind, drastic times call for drastic measures! Words to live by!
ReplyDeleteUnless you can somehow score a spot in a luxury box, one's own couch is always the best place to watch a game, or a fight. Or especially a fight at a game. Why don't they show more of those?
ReplyDeleteThe luxury boxes are not really "all that". Yeah, you can have stuff catered in and you can sit in more comfortable chairs, but the box also has a television because you don't really have the best views. Plus, on a sunny Saturday or Sunday afternoon I love being part of the crowd. It's just the night thing that turns me off.
ReplyDeleteI don't blame you for not going, although Alex being able to score playoff tickets was awesome. The weather in SF was beautiful this weekend. At least during the day. Like you, no way would I want to sit there in the cold on a hard seat for hours. At least nelson was happy.
ReplyDeleteI once drove to New Jersey in December to watch the NY Giants play the Dallas Cowboys. I wore long johns and layers and oogla boots and totally looked like a homeless woman. I also froze my ass off and swore I would never do anything that STUPID again! Faking a gimpy foot or a ruptured appendix... you're not only beautiful, but you're a genius as well.
ReplyDeleteThank you Nicky! This is exactly what I'm talking about. There is no reason to freeze for sports. And I won't do it again!
ReplyDeleteNelson is a dude. Give them a beer and they are happy. We women have higher standards, Jeanie!
ReplyDeleteI hate to be cold and uncomfortable too. I thought San Francisco was a fairly temperate place, and rarely gets either hot or cold. I remember being in San Diego and was surprised because I always thought California was hot.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I'm glad you got to enjoy the game your way. I hope you remembered to limp when Alex got home. :)
I guess you're safe as long as he doesn't read your blog - my salvation as long as my DH stays clear of mine. I agree, there is no way to be fashionable and warm at the same time. (I have yet to see a fetching Alaskan woman on the street in Nome during the winter.) And, I find it hard to enjoy anything while I'm shivering.
ReplyDeleteNow football is a whole different game (no pun intended). A cool evening game, is how it should be played. Baseball should really be over by now. Soon there will be 3 major sports in season - football regular season, baseball playoffs, and I think basketball (which lasts an eternity) is ready to crank up. Personally, I'll stick to Masterpiece Theater thank you.
Oh Alex reads my blog, but he thinks I'm funny. No need to hide because he knows I hate night games. Now, Ann, Darling, I have to disagree about football. Give me a 1 PM kick off and I'm there! Nights? Too cold, Honey. I'll watch it on tele. Football games seem to have too much testosterone to make it a fun crowd. There are too many people drunk and the emotions seem to run much higher than at baseball games, where it's pretty family friendly. Of course when tickets to the 49er games run in the hundreds of dollars, I guess people feel they have paid enough to act however they choose.
ReplyDeleteI like basketball, but seldom go to games. I don't even watch it on television. My little pea brain can only handle baseball and football in a year.
SF is pretty temperate, but the nights are frequently very cold near the water and if the fog has rolled in. It's a damp cold. Actually, Mark Twain said the coldest winter he ever saw was a summer in San Francisco. That fog can be brutal when you aren't used to it.
ReplyDeleteI don't like being in the cold either. We went to a game last year...fortunately it wasn't cold that day! I bought fleece wear last year for hiking...still don't do as well in the dead of winter...prefer the fall while it's crisp but not cold.
ReplyDeleteWhen the damp fog comes in off the water, SF nights are very cold. I just can't pile on enough stuff to keep me warm. So I whine during the whole game. Why anybody would want to take me, I don't have a clue!
ReplyDeleteI like the way you think!
ReplyDeleteThanks Pat! I sometimes surprise myself!
ReplyDeleteAh, but in the South, College Football is a religious experience and is best experienced live. As for Basketball, I have never gotten the sport. It is too fast for my slow mind.
ReplyDeleteAnn, we have those college football scenarios here too. Stanford and Cal are a big rivalry but I'm just too far removed from the ivy league halls to "get it".
ReplyDeleteStanding in line to pee is always the deal breaker for me. Good choice, Linda.
ReplyDeleteI had forgotten about that. Since our tickets are on the "field club" level, there really is not much of a line though. It's just too damn cold for me.
ReplyDeleteYou would think my being born in the deep south, jewish, and an avid reader that I would be filled with superstitions, but I got nothing.
ReplyDeleteAnd I was born on Friday, the 13th.
I really don't have superstitions either, except when I do. Baseball games make me very superstitious.
ReplyDeleteA warm house in warm sweats, watching something on t.v? You just described foreplay in my life.
ReplyDeleteHahah!
Katherine, you forgot about the two canines with heads on your lap!
ReplyDelete