Evening at RFK

I attended the Washington Nationals-Atlanta Braves game on Tuesday night, my first baseball game of the season. What a fantastic evening! Here’s why:

I bought Lower View Outfield seats for $5, but never got close to sitting there. Instead, we sat on the 1st base line in Field MVP seats that sell for $55. I used to do this all the time for Pittsburgh Pirates games at Three Rivers Stadium, although then, we actually sat in the outfield or upper deck seats and moved down to the nice seats later in the game. The one good thing about a losing team in an old, undistinguished stadium is the many open seats. I’m really going to miss RFK for baseball games next year when the Nationals move to a brand new stadium.

I may have mentioned a while back that I used to work as a beer man. I write this now because I think I have a good sense of what makes a good beer man. So when I write that RFK has the greatest beer man I have ever seen, I write that with conviction. First, RFK Beer Man (I don’t know his name) carried three stacks of beer trays. I didn’t get a full count, but my guess is he started with a minimum of 72 cans. That in itself is tough enough to do while walking up and down aisle after aisle and yelling to sell the product. What really distinguished this beer man was how he opened and poured the beer. He had some type of hand-held electric can opener (I searched unsuccessfully online for about 20 minutes trying to find the product) that removed the entire top of the beer cans. He could do this for two beer cans at a time, and then quickly pour the topless cans into plastic cups. Anywhere he went, people would stop watching the game and watch him in amazement as he opened the cans and poured the beer. It was unbelievable!

A foul ball landed two rows in front of us and another two rows behind us. I have never caught a foul ball, and if I ever do, I have a feeling that I won’t be able to keep it. I’ll end up giving the ball to some little kid sitting a row down.

If you are a designated driver or have no intention of drinking beer at a baseball game, I highly recommend signing up at the designated driver booth. Just for pledging that you’re not going to drink, you receive a free pop coupon (soda for some of you) and are entered into a drawing. Tuesday night, the designated driver booth gave away two free pop coupons. I also won two tickets for Busch Gardens as the lucky winner of the drawing.

Anyone who has attended a Nats game this year knows about the President races. This is a complete knock off of the Milwaukee Brewers’ Sausage race and the Pirates’ Pierogi race. Anyway, the big story is that Teddy Roosevelt has never won a race. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson or Abraham Lincoln always win. My guess is that the Nats are saving a Teddy win for a big moment, either the last game at RFK, the first game at the new stadium, or if the Nationals ever sell-out a game, which could happen this weekend against the Baltimore Orioles.

Oh yeah…the Nationals lost 6-2.