Take Me Out to the Airport

A couple of weeks ago, Mom came home with great news, one of her co-workers was offering her 2 tickets the Mets vs. Braves game on Saturday afternoon, her co-worker thought the Tiernan and I would enjoy going to the game. The co-worker was right.....
Now, I will readily admit that baseball is not my thing. I am not anti-baseball, I am just baseball-agnostic. I don't worship one team or another. My interest in baseball does not get aroused until at least late August. However, I enjoy attending an occasional game and respect what the game means on a larger cultural level.
I am a football and hockey, kind of guy.
My baseball loyalties are based in New York, but tend to blow with the type of "team" being fielded by the Yanks or Mets. I am a big team guy, it goes back to the love of hockey, the ultimate team sport.
Tiernan has been to a an NBA. Uncle Steve took us all to a Nets v. Celtics game. It was terrible. How that sport is as popular as it is I can not understand? It is a terrible product. Tiernan has been to a number of Devils games. Of course, Tiernan's trip to the Giants vs. Jets game has been well documented.
It may sound strange, since I am admittedly baseball-agnostic but, taking Tiernan to his first baseball game was something that I have been looking forward to. It is such a father-son cultural thing. I can be heavy stuff. The stuff that paternal relationships are built upon. And I have been reluctant to take Tiernan to a ballgame because the pace of the game is not conducive to enjoyment by four-year-olds. I didn't want his first game to be a bad experience. How many times have you fallen asleep on lazy Saturday with the game on the TV? It can be a bit boring.
So, Mom came home and announced that she had a surprise for Tiernan and I -- two tickets to the Mets game. "Tiernan to you want to go the baseball game with Daddy on Saturday?"
"No," he said, "I want Mommy to take me." I could feel the knife in my heart twisting and what little affinity I had for baseball started slipping away.
Finally, he came around and the boy and I went to Mets vs. Braves game. It was a chilly but sunny day. We got the Shea Stadium pretty early. Early enough to get a good look at the new Citi Field stadium being build right next to the old Shea. Tiernan was decked out in the newly acquired David Wright jersey. Mom had bought it for him a few days before, without prior knowledge that tickets would be forthcoming -- good call on Mom's part.
Inside old Shea, Tiernan and I set about exploring the place. We went down to the field level seats and watched the tail end of batting practice. We went to the men's room -- twice. We stopped by every vendor we saw. It seems that Tiernan was bent on getting himself a foam-finger. "We're Number 1." I have never seen the attraction of such things, but the boy wanted one. I am a Dad, this is the boy's first baseball game, the sky's the limit. However, much to his dismay none of the vendors seemed have any. And we went to at least five on different levels. His disappointment increased with each brace of bad news.
On the upside, Tiernan did take full advantage of the Shea's location directly to the east of LaGaurdia Airport's runway. The place is famous for the sound of low flying jets taking off. Every jet that thundered over seem to elevate his spirits after the deflation over the scarcity of foam-fingers. "We're still No. 1"
Eventually, we found our seats and the game started. I was a good game, the Mets and their hated rivals the Atlanta Braves. Tiernan, like everyone else in the building showed a passing interest in the actual game, but he seem to enjoy himself. I did the Dad thing and pointed out Right, Center, Left Field, the pitcher's mound, batters box, on-deck circle, the Mets dugout, the Braves dugout, the bat boy, the bat girl, the umpire, the scoreboard, the bleachers, the Big Apple in the Top Hat, the first base coach, and the third base coach.
Eventually, one of the roaming vendors came by with Foam-Fingers, "We're No. 1". So for $10 the boy got his wish. He got to shove is big finger in the face of faceless Braves fans everywhere.
Every two innings or so we'd get up and go for a walk. On one of these walks, Tiernan discovered that he could see the airport from the stadium. Not just the airport, he could watch planes come down the runway and take off and fly right at us. This was the highlight of the day. Not the triple by Ryan Church or the two-run double by Carlos Beltran, or the fact that John Maine got his second win, or even that the Mets beat the Braves 4-3, the highlight was watching the airplanes.
For me the highlight came during the 7th Inning Stretch, when the entire place is singing "Take Me Out the Ballgame," Tiernan looks up at me with a face full of excitement and says, "We sing this song at school!" and continued to belt out the song as he ate his Peanuts and CrackerJacks. "This is soo cool, Dad." he said waving his foam finger. I start thinking baseball is such a wonderful thing, this is what fatherhood is all about, enjoying a game with your son, the home team winning, and the sun shining. "Take Me Out to the Ballgame, Take me out to the Crowd."
In a cruel, twist of fate, I found out that the following day was Foam-Finger Day at Shea and they were giving those $10 foam-fingers away. I hate baseball.