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sunshine jen: Yesterday Was a Good Day
Every now and then, something in baseball makes me feel really good, and the Cleveland Indians 10-2 slaughter of the New York Yankees in the first game ever in the new Yankee Stadium made me quite happy. There are no do-overs for the first game ever in the new Yankee Stadium, and the Tribe won it. Forever and ever, down through the ages, the first game in the new Yankee Stadium will have been won by whom? Well, I believe that’s the Cleveland Indians. The Yankees could win every game this season at the new Yankee Stadium, but who won the first one?
Let me back up and explain some of my giddiness. As many of you know, I grew up in Cleveland. I remember the Tribe who lived in the cellar and played in a crappy old stadium with more poles than a stripper emporium. There were a lot of obstructed views, but then again there wasn’t much to see on the field. I do remember seeing Clemens pitch in a Red Sox uniform and clearing the Indian bench when he hit the batter on the first pitch.
I moved to New York, and the Tribe got a pretty new Stadium called The Jake (or Jacobs Field officially). They put together a great team. They took a World Series to Game Seven (let’s not talk about that though). They had Manny before he went to Boston. They had the Alomar brothers and the great Omar Vizquel (Vizquel in his prime was such a delight, he made fielding grounders look effortless).
The Indians were no longer a joke as a team, but the Yankees were a dynasty. For years, they would all be in the playoffs, and the Yankees were just that much better. They got those little breaks. Their pitchers just so happened to be excellent. Derek Jeter would get the hit at just the right time under the calm eye of Jedi Master Joe. It felt like every year, it was the Yankees, the Yankees, the Yankees.
Buddies of mine who were Boston fans and even Mets fan sympathized with me. I had a buddy who was a Yankee fan and drooled when he talked about the lineup. However, he respected the talent in Cleveland, and we could have intelligent conversation until we got to the closers (Mariano, ohhhh).
Year go by. Cleveland sells off the team, develops young talent, loses a few to free agency while other teams ascend to the AL Central throne. Meanwhile, the Yankees get older. Steinbrenner gets older. They lose Joe Torre (we like Joe out here in LA). They get a new Stadium which sets the stage for yesterday.
The Yankees pull out all their pomp and their old timers and all their mystique, but the Indians just showed up to play. And during that seventh inning, I must say, Grady Sizemore’s grand slam was just so simple yet operatic. Baseball can be a hard game to love, but then something happens, and I’m in love with the game all over again.
By the way, I was following today’s Cleveland/New York game, and the Yankees did win it 6-5. Mariano allowed two hits but did his closer thing. So the Yankees finally win a game in the new Yankee Stadium. Glad that got taken care of.
However, the happiness did not end for me with baseball yesterday.
My friend Stephanie alerted me to a warehouse shoe sale on Melrose, and last night I trudged over to John Fluevog to seek a cool pair of pumps or a cool pair of boots or a nice pair of comfortable shoes.
After waiting on line for an hour behind two male fashionisti (the plural of fashionistus, what is the proper name for a male fashionista?), I went into a shoe store more crowded than a subway car at rush hour. It was nine thirty at night. Women had piles of shoes around them like they were gold. When I saw that my shoe size (which is probably the most popular shoe size on the planet, 7 to 8) had slim pickings, I started grabbing shoes around my shoe size and trying things on. Sure enough I found some cool boots and a great pair of comfortable shoes that look like bowling shoes but they’re cute.
I am not a shoe woman. I don’t own a pair of Jimmy Choos. I like to wear pumps and nice boots, but I don’t get giddy over the latest strappy sandal look. Still, as I was trying on shoes, I felt a certain giddiness. Some of the pairs I tried were just so cute, and a group of ladies and I bonded over the cuteness of each other’s shoes. So woo-hoo for me. I have new shoes, and I really like them.
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