Rant #1,498: Baseball and a Birthday

Good to be back after a one-day hiatus.

Anyway, Sunday was a good day, as we celebrated my son's 20th birthday by taking him to a Yankees game.

Yes, the Yankees lost, but it was an exciting game, and a nice day all around.

We had not been to the big ballpark in the Bronx for the previous two seasons, but we finally made it back there, and I have to say, whenever I go to Yankee Stadium--even this version of the Stadium--I feel like I am home.

I have been to so many games in my life, that it seems to be almost a second home to me, although this version of the Stadium is nothing but a facsimile of the first Stadium.

Whatever the case, we finally made it back there, and it was a real long afternoon.

We just happened to see Andy Pettitte Day, where they retired the lefthander's number in a ceremony before the game.

We bought the tickets many, many months ago, and at that time, they had not announced that this was going to be a special day, so it just worked out that way.

So we got to see a number of Yankee greats, including Derek Jeter--the next and final player in my lifetime who will have his number retired by the team--and all the pomp and circumstance of such a day.

We will remember that long after we remember the game, which the Yankees were behind almost the entire game, tied it, and then lost it the very next inning.

But it was fun being at the game, and it was a well deserved present to my son.

After a very trying time that had nothing to do with him, he is finally in a job--just eight hours a week--and doing well.

We have been told that they plan on expanding his hours, and he might even get some weekend work in the future.

He is doing well, enjoys what he is doing, and I really think he now has a direction, one that he didn't have with the long months of inactivity he spent looking for a job and out of work.

So going to the game was the icing on his birthday cake, so to speak, along with the various gifts he received, including a tablet and a Yankees T-shirt.

And as for myself and my wife, it was fun too. It can be a little nerve racking going to the Stadium--it is a hike from where we live--and an August game can be brutal heat-wise, but everything just worked out for us.

The drive to and from the Stadium wasn't bad, and we sat in the shade in the upper deck the entire game. It was hot, but not as hot as it would have been if we sat in the sun the entire time.

So it was a good day all around, proving once again that a loss, as it was, can be a positive ... and you cannot ask for anything better than that.

Happy birthday to our son! Twenty years old, I cannot believe it!