Balls and Beers

I believe that baseball is one of the most boring sports of all time. It's a bunch of guys standing around scratching, spitting, chewing and occasionally throwing things around. The players only move every 45 seconds or so, and when they do it's usually only one person at a time. Baseball fans seem to really enjoy watching these so-called athletes stand around. What are they always cheering about anyway? Is watching someone walk up to the plate with a wooden stick in their hand really something to get on your feet and scream about?

Regardless, check it out Sports Fans. I attended three, count them... 3 Mariner's games this season! And I think I've discovered the secret to enjoying this incredibly monotonous sport: Beer. Lots and lots of beer. And maybe some greasy food to top it off. The other secret to enjoying a game? Free tickets.

The first game I attended this year was with my friend Ryan from work. His friend happened to have extra box seat tickets, so we headed down to the game after work. The great thing about box seats is they are right next to the lounge. So obviously Ryan, Bryce and I parked ourselves at the bar and ordered some beers. We then proceeded to sit and watch the game on a convenient television until we were sufficiently buzzed. Our next plan of action - get food. Around the sixth inning we finally made it to our seats with some gigantic Kid Valley burgers and fries. We stayed at our seats through the seventh inning stretch and then headed back to the bar to watch the remainder of the game. I was beginning to realize that socializing, food and beer are what make the game exciting.

For my second game of the season, I got free tickets from a former co-worker. Once again they were great seats in the Terrace Club. This time, Stewart and I bought beers and brought them to our seats. I spent the next several innings chatting with Crystal while Brett and Stewart were engrossed in the game. The only time I bothered to pay attention was when I heard the crack of the bat make contact, and that was really only because I never want to be the girl who gets hit in the face with a baseball because she wasn't paying attention. After several trips back and forth to the bar and bathroom we had reached the final inning. Once again I came to the same conclusion - the best parts of the game were hanging out with friends and those fantastic garlic fries.

I definitely must have enjoyed my first two Mariner's games this year, because I went back for more when Jeanna got a group of free tickets from her work. This time we all met up at Pyramid Alehouse before the game for some cheap beers. By the time we finally made it to the game it was already the third or fourth inning. Considering this, we figured we should head directly to the beer garden. Several beers and a couple hours later we still hadn't made it to our seats... and why should we have? The view from the beer garden is great and probably far better than the stadium seating. Plus, we didn't have to crawl across people's laps to get more beers.

Overall I don't feel like I have drawn any new conclusions this season. Even if it's your home team watching baseball is painfully boring, unless you're with a group of friends, drinking, with the potential tasty treat of garlic fries looming in the background. And if you're going to actually pay for tickets, go for the cheap seats in the center field bleachers and then spend your time in the beer garden. Just watch out for fly balls.