Friday, April 5, 2013

Favorite Things Friday - Mo

"I think the good Lord is a Yankee" -Mariano Rivera

It's that time of year when paying $70/month for cable suddenly sounds justifiable. I couldn't care less about waiting several days/weeks/forever to see the latest episodes of NCIS or Parenthood or Downton Abbey, but not so with opening day for the Yankees. All of a sudden, I can justify throwing money down the drain and sitting inside on a gorgeous day, watching my favorite men in pinstripes do what they do best. (Or not, we may have had a rough few games.) I was spoiled when we moved to Lancaster, and DirecTV's basic package showed an incredibly large number of Yankees games.

You see, love for the New York Yankees runs in my blood. 

(And now, for those of you who are still reading...)

My dad's dad grew up in Brooklyn, and would cut school and take the subway to watch the Dodgers play (back when they were a Brooklyn team). I'm so jealous!

Growing up in PA, we didn't get to see as many games as we would have liked. We had no cable and no internet (oh, the good old days... or not). Yankees games were usually only broadcast when they were in the playoffs. Even so, I have many fond memories of going to the occasional game and watching all the playoff games as a family.

When I was little, we would regularly go with my mom's dad, who lived in MD at the time, to watch the Yankees play the Orioles in Baltimore. It was always a big deal when they won, since my grandfather was rooting for the home team while we were cheering for the Yanks.

During college, we would drive down to Baltimore to see the Yanks play whenever we could. We'd get cheap, nosebleed seats and sit in the rain just for the chance to watch our favorite team.

One year for my birthday, Chou bought amazing tickets to Yankee Stadium. We took the train, went for a great dinner in Manhattan, hit up Central Park, and went to the game all in one day. (I love NYC's subway!!)

In 2009, we went straight to a Yankees Orioles game after closing on the sale of our house in Newark, with the check from the house in our pockets so that we wouldn't be late and miss the opening pitch.

That year we were in Taiwan during the World Series, and we'd get up at 7am to watch the Yankees play. Fortunately Taiwan is into American sports so all the games were broadcast and we got to see them defeat the Phillies and win the title.

In 2011, I pulled my incredibly sick pregnant self out of bed to take the train to NYC to see the boys play. Totally worth it :)

I'm admittedly not a huge major league baseball fan. I can't list the top players from each team and stats just aren't my thing. I just don't care. But I love my Yankees. I grew up cheering for Jeter, Tino, Bernie, Strawberry, & O'Neil.

But my favorite player, by far, is Mariano Rivera. He is arguably one of the most talented and most humble men currently playing the game. Watching the playoffs in the late '90s, you always knew the game was over when he'd take the pitcher's mound. He was never proud, pompous, or emotional. He just went out and got the job done.  And every year, the only time he'd show emotion was when he won the World Series. Mo has the most saves in the history of the game, and the most post season saves as well, each one earned for the Yankees. 

Last night Mo got his first save of the season. Watching this just isn't the same on the following day (but thank God for the internet, because watching it late is better than never).

2 comments:

  1. Guess I'll save the Mo post currently sitting in my drafts until the end of the season since you pretty much covered my current sentiments ;)

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    1. Sorry to steal your thunder :) I guess we can't always have perfectly complementary posts like on Valentine's Day.

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