Friday, July 4, 2008

7-4-08: Independence Day in New York

Baseball is America. At least, it's America's sport.

Today I went to the Red Sox game against the Yankees in Yankee Stadium. Despite the lengthy rain delay, it was an awesome game (mostly because the Sox won). I went with my family, which was fun.

There were many highlights to the game (Lowell's home-run; the crazy play where Damon got hurt and the ball somehow stayed on top of the fence before rolling back into play; Ellsbury's catch), but the pre-game ceremony was pretty special. Sure, there have been a lot of pre-game ceremonies that have honored our service men and women in the armed forces, but it's not often you get to see one on the 4th of July. It just feels more special. Adding to that, it's the last 4th of July game ever to be held in Yankee Stadium. I felt like I was witnessing a small part of history.

The best part was that they had a retired soldier, who looked to be in his early to mid 30's, throw out the first pitch. He's an intern for the Yankees this summer, and is finishing up an MBA at NYU. He has one arm. The other was blown off in Iraq during combat. That was pretty powerful. And best of all, he threw a strike.

God Bless America.

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