Day 1 (Part 2) – Baseball!

As we mentioned in the previous post, the Toronto Blue Jays and the New York Yankees were playing at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.

We ended up paying a whopping $9 each to go watch the game.  And it was the best $9 bucks I think we have each ever spent on a sporting event.

The game was supposed to be very close – the Blue Jays and Yankees were 1-1 in the best of three series.  However it turned into an entertaining yet absolute flogging of the hopeless Yankees 13-4.

The atmosphere at the Rogers Centre was just amazing.  There were about 37 000 people in a stadium that fits 50 000.  However it was almost a State of Origin like crowd.

During the game we noticed what looked like nice corporate boxes up behind the outfield.  We eventually realised that these are suites at the hotel which is inside the dome of the Rogers Centre.  Apparently when it first opened there were a couple there who were bored with the game… and decided to entertain themselves.  A few people in the crowd noticed, then the players noticed, and then the camera’s noticed.  Play stopped for 5 minutes whilst the entertainment concluded (I am sure the guy says it was much longer than that).   These days if you stay in one of those suites during a game night you need to sign a waiver saying you will not get into and mischief until the audience leaves.

Unfortunately the night we were there, there was no entertainment from above.  But there was plenty of other things going on to keep the crowd pumped for the 3 hours of play.

In fact Kerrina and I both agree that the Aussie football codes could learn a lot from how they run things over here.

… But I know you are all thinking the same thing… “sure those tickets were cheap… but what about the beer?”  Well that is where they make the money.  For a local beer… $8.50 + TAX.  Which works out to be about $9.60, or more than the price of admission.  And to add insult to injury… the Canadian Dollar costs about $1.10 Australian, which takes it well past the $10 mark

HOWEVER… we might be just paying for the price of innovation… Beer in a cup comes with a lid on it so you don’t spill it!  Now if you think of all the beer wasted when carrying it back to your seat, chances are Australian’s and Canadians are paying the same price per 100/mL.  But I digress….

At the game were we sitting with a few interesting people.  The couple beside us were some hippy couple who had smuggled some rum in and were well and truely in the spirit when we took our seats.  Kerrina managed to withstand the somewhat repetitive line of questioning from them throughout the night.  I think they were just excited to meet foreigners.  We politely ignored them when they asked for free accomodation in Australia. 

The man, who had a tooth missing, was wearing a bandana, and was a ranga (red head for the non-FOBs out there) had bet $1000 on the Yankees to win.  After the second inning of nine it was pretty much clear that he had lost his bet, so he went on drinking and was about the only person cheering for the Yankees by the 9th.

Down one row and to the left was a group of Koreans who were also barracking for the Yankees… actually I don’t think they really cared who the team was, because all you could hear from them all night was “Matsui, Matsui, Matsui.”  I figured out that there was a Korean by the name of Matsui playing for the Yankees and in the 8th inning he managed to hit a home run with two of the bases loaded – and they went ballistic!  I have video of them doing the “crazy Matsui dance” which I will share once we get back.

And to top that off… for those of you who have been at Data#3 a while (Pete/Mark!), the lead Korean Matsui crazy dancer looked like an asian version of Alistair Spears (even down to the sideburns, and the glasses)!

After the game we sat at the bottom of the CN Tower for a while trying to get a good night shot, then found our way to the subway for the trip back to the hotel.