SEASON OPENER

This evening I decided to take in the Winnipeg Goldeyes' season opener at the CanWest ball park. It had been an absolutely gorgeous day, with the high reaching 23C under mostly sunny skies. I am within about a 10 minute walk of the park, so parking is a non-issue. I bought my ticket online, printed it out, grabbed my jacket and headed to the game. The park is beautiful and I had a great seat (see the yellow dot on the picture below? that's me) right behind home base - first row.



Baseball is rarely a sport of much action, but I like it anyway. It is about watching the plays, watching the people in the stands, and just relaxing and enjoying the evening. I bought some fries and gravy, which I rarely do these days, and a Mike's Hard Lemonade (I am NOT a beer drinker so was very pleased to see they had Mike's) and headed to my seat. Settled in seat 7 in row 1 of a section almost directly behind home plate. Not bad for having just purchased the ticket online a very short time before the game started, I thought!

Only two other people in the row with me and several seats in between. There were a fair number of empty seats still so I was hoping it would stay that way. Unfortumately, it was not to be.

A man squeezed into the row, with his diet Pepsi and a big, overloaded sandwich, squooshing mayo and mustard out the sides. Now this guy wasn't very tall - in fact, probably only about 5'6", but I swear he was that big around the middle too. And where did he sit? Right next to me. His thigh and butt oozed out under the arm rest, spilling onto my seat, forcing me to slide over as far as I could to the other side. And I could not avoid touching him... so I was seriously thinking of moving over one seat, when the two on the other side of me were suddenly occuppied by a man and his elderly father. Who just happened to know the rotund fan next to me. Then the big guy's wife piled into the row and plopped down in the seat on the other side of him.

She had a huge tote bag loaded with big bags of cheesies and chips, drinks and chocolate bars. While she was not as large as Mr. Big, she's close. Thank the gods that be that the two on the other side of me were both slim. As it was, I was trying to not get in the old man's space but was still attempting to get as far from Mr. Big's blubbery thigh as possible.

Then the game started and I found out who I was really sitting with. Mr. Big is the guy in the stands with the loud voice who heckles the ump, yells at the players and generally never shuts up throughout the entire game. He's got one earbud in as he listens to the plays on the radio, stuffs food into his mouth constantly, making as much noise as he possibly can. What the hell would he have been like if he had been drinking beer and not diet pop? I shudder to even consider it!

At one point, we both had to hit the potty at the same time, and I ended up following him up every single stair in the place (remember I was in row 1?), which was obviously difficult for him, and bloody painful for me to watch as his gigantic bum and stubby legs waddled and heaved him up each and every one of those steps as slowly as possible.

So the game was not the most entertaining and the Fish lost, and I didn't have the pleasant evening that I was hoping for. I will have to remember the next time I buy a ticket that I will not buy in that section or that row.... the last thing I want to do is be stuck beside that guy again....yik. But I will go back, especially mid-summer when it is hot in the evening, because I do like baseball, and it is a beautiful park, and the games can be good.