6/14/08 Shea Stadium.

My day started out with a haircut and work. By the time I got out of work at four, it was already obvious to me that I will NOT be attending BP today. I got home, quickly changed and checked the weather to only find out that it was 74 degrees with thunder-storms from 4 PM - 1130 PM in New York. If I had the option to not go to the game because of the rain, I think I would've stayed home but I got these tickets in advance off of StubHub! for my dad and since it was his first game of the 2008 season, we were definitely going. If the game happened to get postponed, we decided that we weren't coming back the following night (June 15, 2008) for the make-up game.

My dad and I took the 4:53 out of Linden, New Jersey and got to New York Penn Station at 5:27. We then took the 5:49 LIRR to Shea and made it there in 16 minutes. When we got off the train, there was a light drizzle but I thought nothing of it and stayed positive about both teams actually playing this game.

After I crossed the wooden bridge to get one step closer to Shea, I looked through the gap in right field and saw this:

In the picture you can barely make it out but that HUGE white thing covering all that dirt and grass was a tarp and that basically told us this game WILL be delayed.

Time passed and all we could do was hope that they decide to play this game instead of calling it. The stadium started getting packed and the rain kept on coming, preventing any in-game action to happen. The Upper Deck at Shea was like rush hour traffic on the 405 in California. Inches at a time you moved with people coming to a dead stop in front of you while there was an entire line of people behind you waiting to get to their destination.

The picture to the left was taken at one of the exit tunnels on the Upper Deck level around 7:30 PM to give you an idea of the crowd.

What still amazes me is that, even though it's New York and the Mets are having a HORRIBLE season from what was said to be a huge bounce-back from last year's collapse, Shea Stadium is STILL crowded. I honestly can say I have never seen Shea this crowded since the 2006 NLDS vs. St. Louis. But, if you think about it, school just let out for the kids and it is a Saturday night with the Texas Rangers' first series visit to Shea EVER (2nd game to be exact).

I can only be patient for a certain amount of time. It was already 8:20 PM and my dad and I were flirting with the idea about leaving, before the thunder and rain had made our decision for us.

We left Shea for the night and walked backed to the LIRR with our heads hanging low in disappointment at the fact that $40 was wasted on train tickets for a game that didn't even have a first pitch. Thousands of fans stayed inside praying the rain would, "move out" but the other 60 or so of us had other plans to head back home. When we thought we just beat the downpour that had started, we had this to still run across.

While we were waiting to see if the rain slowed down, a man approached me and asked, "Is that what they're giving away tonight? Can I see what it looks like?!" Possibly the best promotion ever. Any takers?

Now, one of the main reasons I chose this game in particular to go to this season was because of the promotion that they were giving out, shown above. They created one of these replica's as a promotion back in 2004 honoring the 40th anniversary of Shea Stadium with the scale model of Shea back in 1964.

I'm going back to Shea Stadium on June 24, 2008 to see the Seattle Mariners. First official game of the summer even though, lately, it's been WAY too humid outside for my likings as well as the rest of the east coast. If you're going, let me know. If not, nevermind.