A couple minutes later, Keely called again. She said she was really embarrassed and even more sorry, but that she'd misread the email and that Cristina was only offering one more ticket. Only one of us would get to go.
Keely sounded really upset about it, but we tried to convince her that one ticket to Michael Young's suite was way...way...way better than no tickets. Two tickets would've been cool, but we'll take one any day of the week. So I offered to flip a coin with Ashley, but he actually said I could go. After telling him that I wasn't about to argue with him, he nodded and I was in.
One problem...the game was also the same night of my first day of school. I'm taking Biology as a night class, and I didn't want to miss the first night of school. I offered Ashley the ticket, but he said he was already going with some friends. Tucker didn't have anyone else to invite (or maybe just wanted to go with me) so he said he'd wait for me.
I assumed that the first day of school would be going over the syllabus and that's it. After all, that's what happened last semester in chemistry. But an hour into reading the syllabus, it wasn't looking good. I was already gonna be late to the game, and I was going to have to drive straight there because I'd sent Tucker already.
And then the professor told us to open our books. The bastard was going to start his lecture. So, around the time the game was going to start, I started taking notes on biology. It was all elementary stuff, but I was sitting in the front row (I don't know why) and couldn't just walk out.
So 7:45 rolls around, and I dart out of there. It's already the bottom of the third, and I race to the stadium. I finally get there around the top of the fifth, and I realize that, if you come to the game that late, parking is free. Good to know, I guess. So I park and run (in 100+ degree heat) to the stadium.
I call Tucker. No answer. I text him. Nothing. I call again. Nothing. So I'm standing outside the stadium in the fifth inning, and I'm wondering what's going on. Is Tucker involved in some awesome conversation? Is he ignoring me? Punishing me for coming late? Where is he?
He finally calls me, and he says that he's gotten none of my calls or texts. He later told me that, as soon as he hung up, they all popped up. Well, he came and got me, and we went up to the suite.
And there I was...in Michael Young's suite. Michael Young, for the record, has been my favorite Ranger for a really long time. He was always such a consistent hitter and great defensive player, and those are traits that I've always admired because it's the way I played. So even when he was a second baseman that no one had heard of, I really liked him. Then the whole moving to shortstop thing was really cool...and signing long term...and then moving over to third...he's just a class act.
The first guy I meet is Michael's dad. I tell him that his son is my favorite player. "Mine too," the dad said with a smile. I'm sure he gets that a lot, but I wanted him to know anyway. It was a suite so food was provided. I grabbed a hot dog and a sliders, and I watched a little of the game. I missed about half the game, but it was still a lot of fun. Rich Harden had a no hitter through 6 and 2/3 innings, and he actually left the game with the no hitter. That was pretty cool.
And I got to meet Cristina, who was really sweet and kind. And Tucker got to talk to her for a few minutes so maybe she can arrange some kind of playdate between Michael and Tucker. Which would, of course, evolve into Michael Young becoming our fourth for Halo. I mean, it'd have to...right?
All in all, it was just awesome. The low point in the night was when Jon Daniels ignored me. I saw him sitting by himself in the next suite, and I called to him a couple of times. He didn't say anything or turn around at all...so either he heard me and was ignoring me or he was too focused to hear me. I'd prefer to think the latter, but it's probably the former. No big deal...I was just gonna thank him for doing such a great job.
So thanks to Cristina Barbosa and the Douglases for a great night. It's definitely something I won't forget for a while.
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