Captain

On Saturday, September 21, we all headed up to Yankee Stadium for the game. This was my birthday present to Justin - pretty good seats for one of the last home games of the season. Even though the Yankees were almost out of post-season contention, it was still exciting.

As prep, the boys got special gifts - matching Derek Jeter #2 t-shirts. They were so excited! (Thank you Grandma for the great gift). We then headed out to take the train to the Bronx.

Yankee Stadium is pretty impressive. It's this big ballpark in the middle of the Bronx. It's imposing. It's all Yankees. It's pretty everything you'd expect it to be...and then probably more. Walking from the train station, Jack and Spence started to get even more excited. As we entered the stadium, Jack comments "this is awesome" and he's right. The lower level is adorned with larger than life banners of former players. There is Yankee stuff everywhere.

We got to our seats, which I had to admit were quite good. And we settled in, waiting for the players to come onto the field to warm up. The players came out one by one for their warm up routines. Jack knows all of their names and numbers at this point - so he starts listing them out. Finally, Derek Jeter comes out and gets his first ovation of the day.

It was fun watching the boys experience all the different traditions that go along with a big time, major league team. They enjoyed all of it.

Each time Jeter was at bat, the entire stadium was on its feet - hoping (probably praying) for an amazing hit. Jeter showed us a lot of what made him great - tough defensive plays to great hits. The crowd loved all of it. End the end, the Yanks lost in a generally lackluster game. On a couple of occasions, we had to channel Tom Hanks in "League of their Own" telling Jack that there is "no crying in baseball". He's an intense sports fan...no idea where he got that from.

It was a great time. Such a cool experience taking them to their first Yankees game. I'm sure that there will be many more to come.