Hmmm? Isn't it? Banana?

Baseball and Toga

Fabrice, John and I went to watch a baseball game today; the Atlanta Braves against the St Louis Cardinals at Atlanta. It was actually really enjoyable, although I am not all that sure if it was due to most of the evening not really being about the baseball. We bought the cheapest seats ($5) and just watched the game from the balcony of the bar, so most of the time I was struggling to learn the rules whilst talking to all the people around us. There was one crowd of people that had a guy who was going to propose to his girlfriend at the end of the 5th inning (they met at a game two years ago, and she accepted), and another few sets of blokes that produced various US/UK banter and embroiled John in many discussions of various rivalries covering college football (poof's rugby), baseball (rounders, but men play it) and Nascar (tractor racing). I didn't understand a hell of a lot of it, obviously, but it was all very good natured and a good laugh.

I only spent a small amount of my time facing the game with all this going on, but managed to get a reasonable grasp of the basics of the game, ably assisted by several more knowledgeable people around me, all in various states of inebriation.

The game got rained off for about an hour by a typical Southern thunderstorm, which soaked us to the skin as we had to try and shelter under a sun umbrella so as not to lose our spots at the balcony - it's pretty cut throat, if you snooze you lose, basically. When you need to go to the bar or to the toilet, your mates have to spread out to hold your place or someone else will be there and there is no hope of getting back in.

Anyway, I don't even know who won the game (although Atlanta were leading last I saw) as we had started talking to Jeff and Mike, two lawyers who lived just around the corner from the stadium and who were having a toga party at 10 that night. After chatting for about an hour, they invited us to the party. The delay to the game meant that they were running late, so we all had to leave while the game was still going on (I'd been standing for 5 hours, so I wasn't too upset) and walk back to their house. I asked them why they were having a toga party, but Mike wasn't sure. He thinks it was because nobody suggested anything better, which seemed reasonable.

The party was really amusing and we didn't end up leaving until the wee small hours. I did a reasonable amount of circulating, and at one stage ended up talking to a rather attractive girl who was much amused by my accent and some of my terminology ("Top Bloke" particularly pleased her). She was also pleasantly mental. We were making our way through the rather potent fruit punch, putting the world to rights and discussing my new headwear until we discovered all the fruit floating in the cooler. The young lady in question then proceeded to perform the trick made famous by Sherilyn Fenn in Twin Peaks - namely eating a cherry and tying a knot in the stalk in her mouth with her tongue. This obviously deeply impressed me and I promptly proposed to her. This was followed ten minutes later by me having a go and succeeding on my first attempt. She, just as promptly, decided that was worthy of my having her phone number.

I got an amusing text from her today, actually. It is, in case people don't make the link, Independence day in america today:

"So are you going to the game tonight, or are you are you going to sit home and pout because it's insurrection day?"

I can even forgive her (and her country's in general) bad grammar for that little dig. Made me laugh a lot.

posted by Brock @ Tuesday, July 04, 2006