Worst To First

St Louis Cardinals v Atlanta Braves, April 6, 1991

The Diamond, Sec 117 Row J

An exhibition at the Braves AAA ballpark. I had a fraternity brother working for the Braves who hooked me up with tickets. My brother in law watched the Richmond Braves the year before. He bet me a beer a rookie by the name of Ryan Klesko would jack a home run in the game.

He won.

This was the start of the Braves Dynasty (13 division championships and only one World Series championship).

Since They Were the Rangers We Hated Them

Binghamton Rangers v Philadelphia Phantoms, April 2, 1997

The Spectrum, Sec 13 Row 9

Rangers goalie from that year got a cup of coffee in the NHL. Dan Cloutier won 23 games down in Binghamton.

Small Fish Big Pond

Kentucky Thoroughblades v Philadelphia Phantoms, April 2, 1999

First Union Center, Section 13 Row 11

Can't remember why the small club was playing in the Big House. Something always got lost when the Phantoms left their intimidated confines of the old Spectrum and came across the parking lot.

The Phantoms finished 1st in the Mid Atlantic Division in 98-99. These Division Finals of the playoffs went 7 games with Philadelphia winning the series.

Battle of I-64

Hampton Roads v Richmond Renegades, April 1, 2000

Richmond Coliseum, Sec U32, Row J

For me to be in the crappy seats in this crappy building tells me it was a rare sell out.

Born a Rebel

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, March 29, 1983

William and Mary Hall, GA

Already the 3rd time I was seeing Tom Petty. This time in a much smaller, more intimate setting. A small college basketball arena in Williamsburg, Virginia.

A known setlist:

01. One Story Town
02. Listen to Her Heart
03. A Thing About You
04. You Got Lucky
05. I Need to Know
06. Don't Do Me Like That
07. Here Comes my Girl
08. Change of Heart
09. The Waiting
10. Hang on Sloopy
11. Deliver Me
12. Straight into Darkness
13. A Woman in Love
14. King's Road
15. Breakdown
16. Refugee
17. Shout
18. American Girl

First Game Ever

Baltimore Orioles v Washington Nationals, March 29, 2008

Nationals Park, Sec 234U Row U

A preseason game where tickets were given to some season ticket holders. An under capacity amount of tickets were issued. It was said 34,635 were in attendance. The idea was to test the infrastructure and operations before the actual opening night in 2 days. The crowd was spread out equally. We were given tickets way upstairs, in right field. Our regular tickets were in the first level in left field.

The stadium struck me as small having grown up in Veterans Stadium as a kid. It was bigger than Fenway, but very, very intimate.

After some politicians patted themselves on the back for spending $611 million, the game was underway. No President Bush was on hand this evening. He was saving his strike of an opening pitch for Sunday night.

The home team scored 2 in the bottom of the first and held on to a 3-0 win 2 days before the actual opening day.