In disagreement with Andrew WK and t-shirts everywhere, I hate New York City.  I hate it more than I hate the White Sox, mushrooms, and people that wear non-participating team’s jerseys combined.  It makes me angry thinking about it, so let’s make this brief:

- Driving there is dumb.  While technically in New Jersey, the tolls through this small and pointless state cost more than tickets to the Yankees (not free) game.  I can only imagine

- Getting IN to the city is impossible.  The Lincoln tunnel is dumb. (Quite amazingly, it was faster going, which seems like the flow is quite wrong)

- Driving in the city is impossible.  It is not a special skill to be able to drive in New York.  You have to drive like a New Yorker – in other words, like a total ass.

- Pedestrians are idiots.  Not only is literally every street corner overfilled with people, but they are all idiots.  Locals will tell you it’s all the dumb tourists taking pictures and milling about, and they are right.  What they don’t admit is they are just as big of a problem because it appears that living there entitles one to cross the street whenever they damn well please.

- It’s pretentious as hell.  In NYC, it’s always $10 beer night.  Being the starting point for trends and style creates a holier-than-thou attitude that permeates social existence.  (Note: this is a general claim about the vibe of NYC, and clearly not applicable to any or all residents specifically.  Many people I love live there.)

- It smells.  Terrible.  Everywhere.  Always.  Trash in the streets will do that.

- Most of all, it’s not Chicago.  Everything good about NYC, Chicago has, minus the smell and pretension.

Given all this, being the good tourists from the Midwest we are, we made a beeline for the ESPN Zone to relax in the huge comfy chairs and watch baseball.  Mmm the Big Apple.

One great thing about NYC is the opportunity to see Broadway shows.  As thanks for my dad paying for most of the trip (poor student defense) I got tickets for us to see the stage adaptation of Young Frankenstein.  It is a hilarious musical rendition of the classic Mel Brooks movie.  It was a bit weird knowing the jokes in advance, but it was still hilarious, thanks in part to great performances by Roger Bart (who I am not ashamed to admit I knew from Desperate Housewives) and Meghan Mullaly (the loud one from Will and Grace). [Nice Matt Done] [Angry Matt returns] Some locals would frown upon such a tourist enjoyment of Broadway, so to them I say phooey. [Angry Matt Done].

The stadium is easy to get to by the Subway – a quick ride north on the D train and we were there.  This being the last year of the “House that Ruth Built,” it was a great opportunity to see a piece of history before gives way to a new bazillion dollar stadium.  History is definitely the most appealing aspect of the stadium.  It lacks the exterior visual appeal of the other stadiums we visited and the corridors/walk ways are just atrocious.  It feels like one is walking through the halls of a prison – where cells would be there are stands serving $9.50 Bug Light (!) and hot dogs.  Even the “unique” Beers around the World section is lacking, featuring such foreign brews as Heineken and Labatt.

Our seats were in Tier Reserved MVP, which is where those climbing Everest train.  Quite impressively, the view from the seats ($39 from Stubhub) was excellent.  We hovered right over homeplate and had a clear view of the action.  Despite the light air, it was a great view.

Pudge Ks in his Yankee Debut

The power of the curse was with us, as, despite the debut of new Yankee C Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez, the Angels throttled Andy Pettite, winning 12-6.  It was also cool that the person that threw out the first pitch was the Army officer (Lieutenant I think) of the group that found Saddam.

The train trip back was uneventful and after a good night sleep we bolted as fast as we could towards Ohio.