Return to Shea Part II

So now then.... The start of the new baseball season meant returning to Shea, and obviously it was going to be tough on me (not to mention the fact that the Mets were 1-5 at the time.) Fortunately I was able to go with my older brother Wednesday night, and I took my nephews on Thursday.
Every time I walk into Shea for the first game of the season I'm always taken back for a second or two by the scope of the stadium and purity of the field. I'm reminded of my childhood and my first time seeing Shea, and how I was simply in awe as I gazed at the field for the first time. It's memories like this that would help get me passed all the memories of games with "Her" and of the Mario experience.
Going to a baseball game can be a great bonding experience and I was quite glad to go with my older bro. As always I parked for free and managed to score incredible seats for no $ (I have my ways, which I won't be divulging here). We sat in the 7th row right behind first base and watched Kaz Ishii match the ageless Roger Clemens inning by inning. Each pitcher only gave up 2 hits. My brother and I had some good laughs, talked about our lives, and discussed "her" , putting things in a healthier perspective for me. We got a couple of pretzles, and nearly caught a T-shirt from the Pepsi Party Patrol. While the Mets weren't scoring any runs, neither were the Astros. Finally in the bottom of the 11th Jose Reyes had a game winning single, the Mets won and my brother and I slapped each other a high five. These are the type of great moments that can erase the Mario's.

The following night was equally as good. I took two of my nephews, one a die hard Mets fan (I'm so proud!), the other a self-proclaimed Yankee fan, who really just joined the bandwagon during the late 90's. I managed to fanaygle outstanding seats. We sat three rows behind the Mets on-deck circle, the players mere feet away from us. It was a cold, vicious night for baseball, with the temperature at 40 degrees and the strong wind blowing in. Only a pitch that was truly crushed would fly out on this night. As it turned out there were no home runs, though Mike Piazza seemed to crush a ball in the 7th, but that died by the warning track. I bought the boys hot dogs, soda and pretzels and we watched the Mets come back from a 3-1 deficit to win the game 4-3, and was able to give the Mets fan nephew a hearty hug in celebration. To make the experience even better both of the boys got balls from the ball boy. The younger one (the Mets fan) actually got the ball Reyes hit to tie up the game. They were both beaming, completely excited to tell their friends where they sat and how they got baseballs used in the game(which is the ultimate souvenir for a young boy). I picked the younger one up (he's a skinny 8-years old) for the T-shirt launch but once again we came up short. Yet the Mets won the game and I think I might have given my nephews a night of memories that will stay with them the rest of their lives (I doubt they'll ever get better seats). I know it will stay with me. I pray one day I can have such an experience with my own sons.

So now you see how I managed to erase some bad experiences at Shea. All I needed was some new positive memories to replace the old negative ones. G-d willing there will be dozens more high-fives, foul balls, hugs and Met wins at Shea stadium, and the sorrowful days of Mario and "Her" will simply fade away like the Montreal Expo's (Who?).