Another Banner Day

The singing of the National Anthem went well this evening. We had some help from the brothers of my home chapter at UNT, so we numbered about 17 or so in the chorus. (This did cause a brief moment of feedback, as the mics must have been juiced up for a much smaller and less powerful group than they were expecting...but it ended up fine.) Despite an uneven day of weather (hot, then rainy in some parts of town, then hot again), we were in the shade this time, so it was quite pleasant when we were on the field, and we even got to spend most of the time at our seats (down the third-base line again, just outside the foul pole) in the shade as well.

Once again, it was a good game, but in a different way: A well-pitched gem by both sides (our rookie John Rheinecker and the Mariner's Jarrod Washburn) with one big blast by Mark Teixeira resulted in a 2-0 win for the Rangers. The game was over in exactly two hours, and, while there weren't any fireworks (I guess they happened over the weekend), I did get a pretty righteous parking place and was out of there within minutes and home by not much after ten. Since the weather was so nice, most of our group stayed for the entire game this time, so a good time was had by all.

During the game, a photographer came by and took a picture of our whole group, and he told us it would be on a website; you can view it here. Oh, and the funniest non-game moment came when the mascot, Rangers Captain (a guy in a big horse costume) pretended to get into it with a kid selling cotton candy and ended up taking all the candy out of the holder and tossing it to various members of the audience. I just hope the poor kid didn't get charged for it; imagine trying to explain that one to the boss: "Umm, I need a refill, and I don't have any new money; the horse stole my inventory."

At any rate, it was a great time, and there's still a chance we might get the call again if someone backs out at the last minute like they did this time.

(Last year, the Rangers sent us pictures of the performance and of our name on the scoreboard. When I get them, I'll post them here.)
UPDATE: Here's a picture (I'm on the far left)...



Their friendship suffered collateral damage after this: A German woman who didn't have enough money to pay for her gas left her friend behind as human collateral, while she purportedly went to get cash...and then didn't return after two hours.

We pause to remember: I'm lucky enough to say that all of my friends who are serving in the military are still with us this year, but I won't forget those who have given the ultimate sacrifice in the service of our country. And continued Godspeed to Fletch, John, Josh and Scott.