Well, this day started slower. I woke up around 7:30 and Jimmy and I grabbed breakfast at Pruzzo's again. I went with egg whites, bacon, and cheese on a roll and it was awesome as well. We also stopped at an Italian bakery, where I picked up some bread and cannolis. I packed up and also got a breast of chicken that I wrapped in aluminum foil, which I put it in my backpack. Little did I know what that would result in later in the day.
Jim's friend Meredith picked us up less than an hour before the game started. Of course, being an early bird, I was stressing inside already. I put my luggage in the truck of her very compact car and climbed into the backseat, where twenty packs of Parliament cigarettes were laying on the floor. I wanted to gag, but at least the car didn't smell too much like smoke. We fought some traffic, but we got into the stadium around 12:45. We got our drawstring bags and they went to left field, while I walked around towards right field. I happily wolfed down a Italian special hero from Mama's of Corona. I even took a few bites during the National Anthem. I don't know if that's taboo, but what can you do now?
I sat in the first row of the right field Pepsi porch, which was an awesome view. In one of the most improbable things I may have ever seen in baseball, Kirk Nieuwenhuis hit three home runs and the Mets won 5-3. With the Mets three game sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks, they are one game behind the hated Cubs for that second wild card spot. Hopefully this great performance by a player who usually stinks will not dissuade Sandy Alderson from going out and trying to bring a professional bat in.
So Meredith and Jim took me straight to the airport. Now I usually get through security quickly at La Guardia, since there aren't long lines with only ten gates in the terminal. But after I passed through the full body scanner, I saw my backpack had been pulled out. So I knew I was getting held up. But with two hours to go until my flight, I wasn't worried. The TSA agent emptied my backpack, checking my books and phone primarily. After they found nothing, they told me they'd have to do a full body search. I was taken into a secured back room and all of me was searched for nearly ten minutes. Again, nothing. One more check of my phone. Nothing. On my way I went. And a few minutes later, a thought occurred to me. I had thrown that chicken wrapped in foil in my bag. I'm now thinking that foil resulted me getting searched!
When I got to the gate, I was 4th of 5 people on the standby list. With the flights I could take, I felt good. Twenty minutes later, I liked at the board and I was suddenly 12th. Suddenly my stomach got tight and I felt myself getting very nervous. Indeed, I got bumped off the first flight. The next flight was larger, which was encouraging. I got on and as I sit on this plane, flying over somewhere in Canada, I don't see an empty seat around. I'm just thankful and relieved I got on. I believed I would, but you just never know sometimes.
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