Rusty Top 5

Chevy Rock & Roll 400, September 10, 2005

Richmond International Raceway, Sec Dogwood R Row 5

Damn Kurt Busch win. Matt Kenseth, Greg Biffle, Kyle Busch and Rusty Wallace were your Top 5.

Under The Lights

Chevy Rock and Roll 400, September 8, 2007

Richmond International Raceway, Dogwood AA, Row 1

Country music and NASCAR. I am beginning to see a pattern develop here.

Jimmie Johnson was on pole position for this race. He also finished first. There was a mirror image Top 2 finishes in both the 2007 and 2008 version of the Chevy Rock & Roll 400. Jimmie Johnson beat out Tony Stewart both in 2007 and 2008.

Dave Ragen, Jeff Gordon, Johnny Sauter and Denny Hamlin rounded out the Top 6. That explains Stewart's blowup at this crew following the 2008 race (see previous post).

6 Sold Out Show in Philly

Garth Brooks, September 8, 1998

First Union Center, CB 16

CB 16 is a luxury box. Hey big spender!

Actually it was a random choosing. The upside to being inside a luxury box was there were TVs turned into Fox for Mark McGwire's record breaking home run.

Brooks supposedly retired after this 1998 tour. He has performed since however. Our show was the opening night in Philadelphia. The first of 6 sold out shows at the over 20,000 hockey arena.

I'm not a huge country music fan or was I a huge Garth Brooks fan. I went with a wife and neighbors. I will say he did put on one of the best concerts I have ever seen. He was devoted to giving 100%.

Brooks played fan favorites: "The Fever," "Two of a Kind (Workin’ on a Full House)," "The Thunder Rolls," "We Shall Be Free," "Unanswered Prayers," "The River," "Papa Loved Mama," "The Beaches of Cheyenne," "Much Too Young (To Feel This Damned Old)," "Callin’ Baton Rouge," "Friends in Low Places" and "The Dance."
"When You Come Back to Me Again" and "American Honky-Tonk Bar Association"

Duck For Cover

Baltimore Orioles v New York Yankees, September 7, 1997

Yankee Stadium, Sec 20 476D

Prior to the game, we were standing near the field past the 3rd base dugout. As I marveled at the facade and greatness that was the old Yankee Stadium the entire section dove for cover. Except me. Because I was not paying attention.
I got drilled in the right wrist with a screamer of a foul ball. Luckily my beer was in the left hand and the ball dropped at my feet for me to pick up.
I asked on of the guys with me why he did not warn me. He stated the reaction was to duck for cover. I asked him how hard the ball was hit. He replied; "If it have hit you in the head you would be dead". I tend to beleive him as my wrist blew up to the size of my bicep. I had to evenually go for ice at the First Aid station. A week later I broke down and went for x-rays.

A Cal Ripken Jr home run in the top of the first off his old teammate, Mike Mussina, kicked off the afternoon. Our seats were looking up at the left field foul pole, 2nd row. I had the aisle seat. The pole was much thicker and solid then you would expect. There had to be 50 coats of paint on it. This pole would come into play in the bottom of the 3rd. With Wade Boggs on 2nd after a double, Paul O'Neil was at the plate with a 3-1 count. We watched O'Neil tag a shot off Mussina to what looked like would be over the left field fence. The ball actually curved so much, but we could not see it. The crowd went nuts. We were all standing and high fiving. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a ball laying on the ground infront of the guy across the aisle from me. He was seated just in fair territory next to the pole.
The ball wrapped around the pole and no one seemed to have seen where it landed. As I reacted to lunge for it, he looked down and picked the ball up.

It was bizarre. A home run was hit in a Major League game and no one seemed to be aware of where the ball landed.

With Derek Jeter on first, Jorge Posada hit a 2 run homer in the 4th. That was followed by a Tim Raines shot over the fence to deep right. Also in the game Bernie Williams hit one out in the 6th with 2 men on.

This was a typical Yankees game for the time. It took over 3 hours to complete. 47,945 were on hand for the contest in the Bronx this sunny afternoon. I walked off with a foul ball and a bill from an ER visit. Also, a photo of me up against the foul pole posing with the Paul O'Neil home run ball.

Daytime Night Race

Chevy Rock & Roll 400, September 7, 2007

Richmond International Raceway, Dogwood AA Row 1

A day time race when the race is normally held at night, under the lights. Richmond losses a tad of the atmosphere under the sun. The race was scheduled for Saturday night at 7:00. Rain forced the delay. That just meant another day of tailgating.

Two-time defending NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion Jimmie Johnson won the Chevy Rock & Roll 400. The "Race for the Chase" was also settled at Richmond this date, setting the order for the "Chase for the Championship". Johnson edged Tony Stewart. Chesterfield County's Denny Hamlin finished third followed by Dale Earnhardt, Jr and Mark Martin.

Ripken Passes Gerhig

California Angels v Baltimore Orioles, September 6, 1995

Camden Yards, Seat Sec 308?

The 2131 game. Possibly in my Top 5 of all events ever attended. I don't have my seat location as the deal I struck for a ticket required me to hand over my ticket to the seller after we entered the gate. It was that or nothing.

There certainly was a buzz nationally for this evening. The buzz was kicked up even more in Baltimore. The president was to attend. The game was being broadcast nationally on ESPN. Tickets were impossible to get. It was truly a historic evening. A hometown boy surpassing a legend for a record that was called unbreakable. Ripken played in every Orioles game from May 30, 1982 to this day.

My seat was in deep right field upstairs. The section overlooking the warehouse where the banners with "2030" hung.

With all the the excitement this evening, the ball was jumping off the bat. The Angels Tim Salmon tagged Mike Mussina early for an home run. Rafael Palmerio did the same for the O's in the bottom half of the 1st with a shot over the right center fence.

Then in the 4th the Orioles Bobby Bonilla hit a lead off HR off of Shawn Boskie. Ripken already hit a home run in the much heralded record tying game the previous evening. It would only be fitting if he could repeat. With flashbulbs popping and and entire stadium, if not nation, on the edge of their seats, Ripken stepped up to the plate in the 4th. With a 3-0 count Boskie threw a predictable strike which Cal sent deep over the left field wall. It was a magical moment in sports.

Somewhere early on in the game the jumbotron showed a shot of President Clinton and Vice President Gore from their press box seats. To my surprise the majority of the 46,272 booed loudly. The image was immedialty removed from the screen and that was the last mention of the President of the United States being in the house.

Major League Baseball rule 4.10 state: (2) If the home team has scored more runs in four or four and a fraction half-innings than the visiting team has scored in five completed half-innings; the game can be called complete if the game becomes shortened due to weather and cannot be resumed. So after 5 1/2 innings, it became official. Cal Ripken played in his 2131st consecutive game, surpassing Lou Gehrig.

The game stopped. The crowd stood. The Orioles had to push Ripken out of the dugout to acknowlege the moment. Finally his teammate convinced him to circle the stadium and shake hands with the crowd. Whitney Houston's "One Moment in Time" played.

It was only fitting that after the game resumed long ball hitting would continue. Palmeiro hit another shot in the 7th. The only scoring not a result of a home run came in the 8th when California's Tim Salmon hit a double scoring Jim Edmonds.

1996 was a year after the players union went on strike and ruined the season, and the World Series. Fans revolted against the players and stayed away from the game that year. This single game may have been the event that drew fans back to the game.