Monday, April 4, 2011

My name is Rachel...I have a baseball addiction...

I am officially in my happy place. Baseball season is under way. In case you are new to my blog, I am a fanatic obsessed, passionate about baseball (more importantly, Texas Rangers baseball). Last Friday I attended Rangers Opening Day for the sixth year in a row. As I posted here, I love so much about Opening Day. If you follow me on Twitter (shameless plug, go here to follow me on Twitter), you know that most of my tweets from April-October are baseball related. You have been warned! :)

As promised, here is a recap of my weekend. On Friday morning, my friends Monica, Julie and I got to The Ballpark (official name is Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, but I will always refer to it as The Ballpark) about 10:15ish. For those local to Dallas, I love listening to The Ben and Skin Show on 103.3FM ESPN from 9am-noon during the week (no, they aren't paying me to put this in my blog)! :) They were broadcasting live from The Ballpark on Friday so we stopped by to listen to the show. During one of the commercial breaks, I asked Skin if I could have my picture taken with them (fan girl moment). He said sure and asked my name. When I said Rachel he stared at me for a moment and was like, "Are you Averyfan on Twitter?" When I said yes, he was like, "We love your tweets, you're our greatest fan." I got worried he thought I was a stalker but he assured me they didn't think that. He said they appreciated all the tweets and shout outs (they should read my blog then!) :) Ben said he could retweet my stuff every day. They were impressed I was such a big sports fan. :)

Pic with Ben (r) and Skin (l) of ESPN radio
After listening to the show for a while, we headed down the street to meet up with some friends we were tailgating with. Since the game had a 3pm start (instead of the normal 1pm start), we were able to tailgate a little longer than usual.

Baseball kisses from my friend Tim (AKA Big Brother)
The ladies of the tailgating crew

More of the tailgating posse

We finally headed over to The Ballpark about 2:15 to get ready to watch the Rangers take on the Boston Red Sox. It was close to 90 degrees on Friday (which is unusually warm for early April- even in Texas). THANKFULLY our nose bleed seats were in the shade (and had been in the shade for a while).

Sure, those on the lower level were closer to the field, but they were in the sun most of the game!
During the off season, a new jumbo tron was installed. It's beautiful. I may, or may not, have said this a few times on Twitter and Facebook! :) It's bigger and in HD. LOVE IT!

The new jumbo tron!

This was the old jumbo tron


There are so many little details about the game that I could share, but I would say 87% of you probably wouldn't care about all of it, so I'll spare ya! :) I'll just post more pictures!

Mercy Me sang the National Anthem
The raising of the American League Championship flag!
Ian Kinsler up to bat
This made me laugh. If you aren't familiar with Texas history, please go here to understand what this means! :)
Instead of the traditional "dot race", they had a "Texas Legends race". Davy Crockett, Sam Houston and Jim Bowie raced around the field. Sam Houston won. I hope they do this one more often! I thought it was great!
We met a new friend while at the game, she joined us for this picture. And some random drunk guy decided to pop in the picture behind us.

We even made friends with a Boston Red Sox fan named Travis. His friend Eva was funny. She loved heckling him!

Rangers win 9-5!
To see more (many more) pictures of my Opening Day adventures, please check out my Facebook album here (even if you don't have a Facebook account, you should be able to see them). If you are on Facebook, please feel free to "like" my page (no pressure if you don't want to!)

So, on Saturday night, Monica, Julie and I went to the Rangers game to see the presentation of the American League Championship rings to the team. It was a beautiful night for baseball- not too warm and there was a nice breeze (that might have been because we were the second row from the top!)

Another group shot!

Our view Saturday night

His "Nolan-ness" (Nolan Ryan) receiving his ring

A view of the ring


The team after receiving the rings


My BFF Brandy was at the game too!

My friends Jub and Jeanne  

Ian being interviewed after a 12-5 win!

Again, more pictures from Saturday's game can be found here.

No, I didn't go to the game on Sunday (but I did watch it on TV). I may, or may not, be going to the game tonight. And tomorrow night. I kid you not, once I get out of debt, I am SO getting season tickets!! :) I also might be dancing around in circles too.

Have a great week everyone!
XOXO!

9 comments:

  1. What a great day! That's so cool that he reads your tweets!! :)

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  2. Glad you had fun. Sad that my Red Sox didn't even win one game! Glad there are MANY more games to come!!! Baseball season is the best!

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  3. Wait, so you are a baseball fan?

    Totally kidding, ha! Im funny. Looks like a great weekend! Have fun at tonights game!

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  4. I'm so glad its baseball season again! We have a new outdoor stadium that opened last year and it's exciting to go to games :)

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  5. I didn't know you were a baseball fan! lol... jk!

    That is so cool that you were "recognized" by those guys!

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  6. sounds like you had a blast. Can't wait for you to get your season tickets! A fan like you needs them!

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  7. sounds like you had a blast. Can't wait for you to get your season tickets! A fan like you needs them!

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  8. FYI-- When I go to the Rangers game with you, we will not be making friends with a Red Sock. Just sayin... :) Oh, and the new jumbotron is kind of awesome.

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  9. Great blog!

    P.S. I call it "The Ballpark" too! I always have.

    - Donny

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