Thursday, March 22, 2012

Fourth Time's a Charm?

Hey there everyone – As mentioned in an earlier entry, Dana, Erica and I are headed back down to the Sunshine State for our 4th Annual trip to the Yankees Spring Training Camp. Can’t believe it’s the fourth time for us crazy gals! Seems like just yesterday we saw Mark Teixeira for the first time and immediately fake-married him on the first base line… oh, the memories!

Anyway, I’ve been working mad crazy hours in an effort to get all my work done in the next week in order for us to properly enjoy our vacation, but I am more than happy to take a moment to work at what I consider my real job as a Pinstripe Lover to reflect on this way-too-long offseason and all the amazeballs times to come!



So, what else? AJ’s gone, Andy’s back (can I get an Amennnn?!), Mark’s been “juicing” all winter somewhere down on I-95, and Jeter’s still finding his way up I-95 to my house to sweep me off my feet so we can elope …he must be lost *shrug*.

Well, while I’ve been patiently waiting for my manz Derek, I’ve been watching every Yankees related thing that I could find just to get a taste of enjoying my fave boys again, but when I finally got to see a spring training game on live TV last night, let me tell you – I was totally buggin’ out! Like, just the sight of those fresh, well-rested faces and those lean bodies scattered about the infeld (no disrespect to the OF’s, but I’m an infielder junkie…) brought a tear to me eye – no lie!

Woo! Ok…As I pat my temples with a cool cloth, let’s talk about the 4th Annual – Four. Something about the number four … I feel like it’s special. It’s supposed to represent order, completeness, totality. Four seasons. Four cardinal points. A four leaf clover (says Dana and Erica). The Core Four. You feel it, right??



What does this all mean though? That, perhaps, we will finally meet Jeter at a local Tampa Starbucks? I mean, I think so. :D People have been mentioning to me lately that they think it’s “my time”… my time to meet him, to say what I need to say…to prove we’re soul mates!! With that said, I can only hope that the next time I am blogging, it will be from a king size bed covered in 900-thread-count sheets in a 30,000 square foot waterfront mansion overlooking Tampa Bay! Juuuust sayin’…

So, stay tuned for stories from our latest adventure – we will be attending three games…even making the trip with the guys to Kissimmee for an away game! We’re also staying an extra day this time and plan to go to the beach…which is a really big deal because the only time we get anything close to a tan while in Florida is when our faces and chests are beet red from seeing hot Yankees glance our way!



Oh, and we’ll be heading to the Bronx at least nine times this summer now that we are, ahem…. season ticket holders! We will be catching some rays – and hopefully a few A-bombs from A-Rod – in the bleachers and will, no doubt, have lots of fun stories to report…See you on the 4 train!

Love,

g

Monday, March 19, 2012

Yankee Stadium Tour, let me tell you something..that accent, will get you everywhere!

Erica here. I was asked by my loving sister Dana if I wanted to be a guest blogger this week, recapping our second Yankee Stadium tour (the first was at the old stadium) on a b-bitter cold day in February. With two days till Valentine’s Day, what better way to replace the chocolates and flowers with some Yankee pinstripe love? How appropriate, considering that’s the name of this blog…whoa, genius!

When you last saw Dana and Gina, Gina was creating her own version of 12 Days of Christmas (still laughing over that one)! So, with that in mind, we went to the Holy Land that is Yankee Stadium, and let me tell you, it’s never a dull moment when the three of us are together.

Let me first start off by saying that we consider ourselves traveling veterans to and from Yankee Stadium, but this time, we found ourselves a little lost…cut to the three of us (picture it!) chilling out (literally chilling) in the vestibule of Marble Hill train station taking videos and pictures and singing “That Thing You Do” all while looking at the beautiful view of the East River…clearly, this was NOT our intended destination. It looked nothing like Yankee Stadium. But, fortunately, the next train came along and we were on our way :))

I don’t know about my sister or Gina, but walking across the street to the Stadium, I couldn’t feel my legs or my feet. Did I mention it was b-bitter cold outside?? Yeah, keep that in mind throughout this blog: the dedication, the fanaticism, the reward (standing next to Mariano’s special door) That’s us in a nutshell.

Pictures all around. First stop was the Yankee Stadium Museum…what’s better than checking out a whole wall full of signed b-baseballs, learning some already known history about the Iron Horse, (c’mon, look who you’re talking to here), and getting a glimpse of Thurman Munson’s locker, still in tact? Well, I’ll tell you what’s better, and I’m sure Gina will agree…it’s the once again, already known statement that Derek Jeter has two lockers in the clubhouse, one for him and one for his fan mail. The popularity is endless…nuff said.

Personally, the highlight of the day was stepping on the field. (I swore to never wipe my feet again). This was an event that didn’t happen way back when while on the old stadium tour because another team was using the field that day. So, this time around, our gaping mouths could be seen from Jupiter—if you check out the pictures (see below) everyone around us seems a little Debbie Downer if ya know what I mean. We, on the other hand, never take such things for granted. We took every possible picture at every possible angle and even had a signature “Original Peaches” photo shoot on the field. Footnote: if you don’t know what I mean by “Original Peaches” well, you really shouldn’t be reading this blog…”Batter up, hear that call, the time has come, for one and all, to plaaaaaaay ball!” Live it. Learn it. Love it.

We ended the day with some burgers and ice cream at the Hard Rock CafĂ©. Gina arranged her hot fudge sundae in the shape of Jeter’s head…haha, kidding people! But don’t think she wasn’t thinking about it. All in all, it was a nice reminder of things to come, namely, b-baseball in the sunshine, the roar of the crowd during a game winning homerun, the Swisher Salute, and let’s not forget, the return of Andy Pettitte. I think that’s a good way to end, more blogging on that subject later :)) Here’s to 28 in 2012!

--Erica

So long Jorgie!

As Gina, Erica and I gear up for our 4th annual spring training excursion, we need to take a moment to say goodbye to one of our childhood mainstays, Jorge Posada. I know, it’s a little late here, but I think we all needed some time to wrap our heads and hearts around this one, watch a few Yankees Classics, and reflect on the time we got to spend with #20.



First of all, we can add Jorgie’s press conference to the list of Yankees related, live-coverage videos that I cried at while watching at my desk at work. The Yankees organization, once again, knows how to get me and I’m sure a lot of other Yankees fans with their ridiculous displays of pomp and circumstance. I mean, rolling out Thurman Munson’s widow, families affected by craniosynostosis, World Series trophies, and of course, assorted teammates including Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera. The Yes Network covers these events with the solemnity and seriousness of a presidential state of the union address, and we all thank them for that, because if we were in charge of the network, that’s how we would do it.

The baseball season takes up almost the whole year for us Yankees fans. We start paying attention in late February and we’re always still in it come October, and sometimes, with a little luck in November too, so our favorite players pretty much become like family members. And Jorge was a crucial part of the latest incarnation of “our” Yankees dynasty that the three of us grew up with. We were always ready for him to step to the plate, no batting gloves, tapping the pine tar and guessing his pitches. Jorge always played the game right, with a fire in his belly and his heart on his sleeve. That’s why it was so hard to watch him be relegated to DH and then bench player last year. But he did an awesome job in the playoffs, even though everyone wrote him off and he proved something to us and to himself with that. So it was a fitting end to his career, and in my opinion, the right time for him to hang it up.



So, as we restart the hall of fame clock on our old friend Andy Pettitte, we also say goodbye to our dear Jorgie Posada. Thanks for the memories Jorge – threatening to punch out the lights of opposing players that throw at our guys, yelling at umpires from the top step, the phrase “painfully slow” coined by Michael Kay for your running skills that still remains in our vernacular to this day, throwing your catcher’s mask at the gut of too many umpires to count on the foul pop, but mostly for being a Yankee your whole career, and one of the greats at that. We’re raising a glass to Jorge Posada, yelling “Geeeorrrrgeee” like Betty Spaghetti in A League of Their Own and saying farewell to a major part of the Yankee family.

Thanks for the memories Jorge! You will be missed and we hope to see you at spring trainings, Old Timers’ Days, and if we can ever afford it someday, the Ladies Fantasy Camp where we will miraculously forget how to play so you and Tino can show us how to hold a bat!

--Dana