Tuesday Was the Coolest Night Ever.

On Tuesday night, not only was I lucky enough to go to the Mets game, but I was able to STAND ON THE FIELD during the National Anthem. It was absolutely amazing and kind of a dream come true. It is also probably my last trip to Shea Stadium, so I think it was a hell of a way for me to say goodbye. Let me explain how this wonderful happening came to be:
A friend of mine is doing the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer and the Mets made a deal with the walkers: buy tickets for the September 9th Mets game against the Nationals for a discounted price and then you can sell them for however much people want to donate to the cause. I planned to go with a few friends when I heard the next exciting piece of news. The Mets invited the Avon ticket holders to wear pink and then the first 2000 fans would be allowed onto the warning track during the National Anthem. My friend Mike and I got there, waited on line, and as we filed around Shea Stadium, we got own personal view of the front of CitiField. Next, we saw the back of the famed Apple and waited to be let onto the warning track. Lucky for us, there was more. The next surprise was that about 100 or so of us would be out in centerfield during the Anthem in the formation of the Breast Cancer ribbon! It was completely surreal being led out onto the field. We were close to players as they did sprints and drills. Some of the other fans were yelling out to the players because it was so so so cool. It all went quickly and before I knew it, we were being escorted off the field and back into the real world...but not before I grabbed a piece of grass for myself.
To make things even better, the Mets won the game, which was a slugfest. There were four Met homeruns, including two from Carlos Delgado. I can't find any pictures of the ribbon other than the ones I have from being in it, but I will keep on looking.

One more thing, today is September 11th and the Mets have today off. In a post from the summer or spring, I mentioned that of all days, today would be a great day to have a ballgame (perhaps between the Mets and Yankees as suggested by Gary Cohen). Obviously, in the grand scheme of things, baseball doesn't mean much. However, if I remember correctly, baseball and other sports played an important part in healing the country's wounds after 9-11-01. I'm sure that later on I will be reading about how the Mets and Yankees spent their days paying respects to the site and the families, but today could have been a great event.
~MissMet