Reds Opening Day: It’s like a “National” Holiday for Cincinnati

The first day of professional baseball is a BIG deal in the city of Cincinnati every year.  It is near impossible to get a ticket to the Reds Opening Day unless you are a season ticket holder. You have to camp out for days if you want a single-day Opening Day ticket.  Do you know how big a deal it is? There is an entire PARADE dedicated to the day, in which half of downtown Cincinnati is blocked off and there are about 3 parking lots opened for those of us who actually work downtown.

The festivities aren’t limited there.  Our building management had an Opening Day Breakfast this year including everybody’s favorite breakfast items- popcorn, Cracker Jacks, and Cincinnati Reds cookies. It’s the breakfast of champions!! Then my office gave everyone a bag of peanuts and let us wear our jeans and Reds t-shirts. 

My office also happened to score 4 tickets to the company’s suite- which it shares with 3 other companies. I guess the executives didn’t want to go to Opening Day this year, so instead they held a raffle for the rest of our office. I debated on if I should put my name in the raffle. Did I really want to use my luck on something sports related? I can never resist entering for free stuff, and I really do like going to the suite to watch baseball games, so I went ahead and put my name.  Then that night I confess to the Goog that I put my name in but am all convinced that there is no way that I will win this particular raffle and that the Universe does not like me that much since I haven't been winning recently.

But of course the drawing comes around and I WIN. As excited as I was to win, I also was a little nervous about tell the Goog that I won because:

• FACT: the Goog is the biggest Reds fan I know
• FACT: the Goog is the biggest baseball fan I know
• FACT: the Goog has never been to Opening Day
• FACT: Opening Day coincided with mine and Goog's 9th anniversary together

Yet, I would be going to Opening Day on our anniversary without Goog. Sorry Goog!! But I'm sure he would be sadder if I won a ticket and then didn't go.

 I wasn't going to know most of the people in the suite, but luckily, one of the people going from my office was a very nice intern. I'll just call her Miss Intern. So Miss Intern and I buddied around for the whole game, because it turned out that most of the other people in the suite were from a law firm and a public accounting firm and kept making comments about how the baseball players born in 1980 were "such babies" even though Miss Intern and myself were born in the 80s as well.

The weather was beautiful for the whole game. Low 80s and very sunny. Miss Intern and I sat outside for most of the game, except for the few times we went inside to stuff our faces with delicious chicken fingers, mac'n'cheese, coney dogs, pizza, cheesecake and chocolate covered everything. Our conversations drifted between baseball (Miss Intern: "Who is your favorite player?" Me: thinking really hard "I met Brandon Phillips once" even though that wasn't really the question) and more serious subjects like weddings/engagements/boyfriend and husbands.

  In front: Me, acting all fancy up in the suite. Behind me: Albert Pujols practicing hitting the ball very, very far.

 Around the 8th inning, Miss Intern decided she was ready to leave and I decided that would be a good time to track down another one of my co-workers that actually had to PAY for tickets to the game. But first, I wanted to go to the Suite-level Merchandise Shoppe to see if I can find any Opening Day merch for poor Goog to commemorate the day that I betrayed him and went to Opening Day by myself.  There happened to be one souvenir Opening Day baseball left in the shop, and it also just so happens that the Goog collects souvenir baseballs. PERFECT! The cashier is ringing up my baseball and her jaw about hits the counter when she sees this guy walk past the shop:



For those of you who are not Bengals fans/native Cincinnatians, that is former Bengals player/ current Furniture Fair pitchman Anthony Muñoz. The following conversation ensues:

Cashier: That is Anthony Muñoz! He is NOT very good looking but he is so nice. He is really good with kids.

Store attendant: Down girl.

Me: pulls tissue of out pocket to wipe the Cashier’s drool off my credit card.

I was so distracted by seeing the local celebrity that I forgot all about going to see my co-worker and instead went back to the suite, stuffed my face with some more delicious food and watch the Cardinals hit a grand slam in the top of the 9th. It was a great day, but I hope next year I'll be able to go to Opening Day with the Goog.

If it makes the Goog feel any better, the Universe might like me but the Sun does not. I am now rockin' my first farmer's tan (more like burn) of the year. I don't think I'll ever be able to live this one down.