Phillies at Yankees - Yankee Stadium - The Bronx, New York

Before I express praise or disdain for New York Yankees fans, let me inform/remind you and them what happened when the Phils visited new Yankee Stadium on Memorial Day weekend via a transcript of the message I sent to my friend Christian, a Yankees fan:

2 of 3. Eat it beeatch.

I do not care that A-Rod did this to Brad Lidge.

It just does not matter. The World Phucking Champions came into the new Yankee Stadium and took 2 out of 3 games from the Evil Empire.

Rubbing the results of the series in Yankees' fans collective face aside, the new Yankee Stadium is quite an impressive piece of architecture.
While the original Yankee Stadium, across the street from the new one, oozed character from every single of its concrete pores it lacked in the aesthetics and the niceties of modern stadiums like Camden Yards, PNC Park, and Citizens Bank Park. While not a dump like Shea Stadium, the old Yankee Stadium was, for lack of a better term, was old. The new Yankee Stadium, inside and out, is beautiful, even to an angry Phillies fan like me.
The warm sunny day found me sitting in the upper deck in left field. Watching, my man-crush and World Series MVP, Cole Hamels pitch to Derek Jeter and the rest of the New York Yankees. (Cole Hamels Fact # 54: Cole Hamels puts his pants on 2 legs at a time.) Hamels was opposed by CC Sabathia, one of the more recent and largest acquisitions by the Yankees. Both pitchers performed well through the first 6 (Hamels) or 7 (Sabathia) innings against excellent lineups. The score was Phillies 3 Yankees 2 heading into the bottom of the 9th. Unfortunately, Brad Lidge was not lights out and allowed the tying run to score in the bottom of the 9th. Here comes my praise for Yankees fans: I have been to a few visiting stadiums and there was not one that was more excited than new Yankee Stadium when the Bronx Bombers tied the Fightin's in the home half of the 9th. With the roar emanating from the crowd in the Bronx, I felt a pit grow in the bottom of my stomach. I have heard many people bemoan the loss of the home field advantage in the Bronx due to the loss of the old Yankee Stadium. However, for an almost meaningless interleague game in May, new Yankee Stadium was rocking as the Bombers tied the score. I could only imagine if the Red Sox were in town. Those $2000 seats behind home plate may not be the death of the Yankee's playoff hopes after all.

Fortunately, fellow Philadelphia faithful, there is a happy ending to this story. A scoreless 10th inning paved the way for a 2-out walk by Chase Utley and an RBI double by Carlos Ruiz. Clay Condrey pitched a scoreless 11th inning to send all those noisy New Yorkers home quietly. Overall, the day was a success. Pics of Me in Front of Stuff got to visit the new Yankee Stadium on a warm, sunny Sunday afternoon. The hot sausages and garlic fries were delicious, even though they were too damned expensive. Finally, we got to celebrate the 6th anniversary of the marriage of my mom and step-dad and the 27th anniversary of the birth of the Chief Photographer at Pics of Me in Front of Stuff.

Happy Anniversary, Mom and Bill!

Happy Birthday, Melissa!

Clearly, that is not a picture of Melissa next to her birthday wishes. Just poor timing by my camera and the stadium cameras.

Lincoln Tunnel Challenge 5K - Weehawken, NJ + New York City

When great thoroughfares are listed, which they might be occasionally, I have a hunch that the Lincoln Tunnel never makes the list. Maybe it is the traffic or the poisonous air in the tunnel, but few people get a chance to regularly walk through the tunnel. It may be illegal, though I would have to look that up and having just finished my organic chemistry final I just do not have the energy.

The activation enery barrier is just too high.

That one was for all those nerds out there - you know who you are.

Regardless of my most recent nerd joke, I got to go through the Lincoln Tunnel on foot from Weehawken, NJ to the City That Never Sleeps. Fortunately, the island had not yet been quarantined due to the swine flu and approximately 3300 runners and I ran in the Lincoln Tunnel Challenge 5K. Of course, there are much worse things than swine flu to come from New York City. The best example I can think of are Mets fans. They are much worse than swine flu and they have not necessitated a quarantine yet. Having been at the last Mets at Phillies games, maybe the quaratine is not such a bad idea.

Sorry, son, sodomy is illegal in these here parts.

I guess that is why the Mets play in Queens...

But enough Met bashing, if there is such a thing. Picsofmeinfrontofstuff.blogspot.com found itself running through the Lincoln Tunnel on a sunny Sunday morning. In search of a fast time for my first race of the year, I decided to run like Hell. I certainly had the right race number for it.

In case you do not get the reference - think 666.

If you think maybe I sold my soul for a good time, you would be wrong. My time, 28:35, is nowhere near good enough to send my soul to eternal damnation. With the Phillies having won the World Series, I am much less likely to consider trading any soul related items for anything. The drought/Curse of Billy Penn ended way to early in my life for me to consider that. I wondered such a deal would be required for a parade down Broad Street. I would not put it past many of the people in attendance at the parade.

It is nice not blowing a division lead on the last day of the year 2 years in a row...
The Mets are good at blowing - that's why they call it Queens.

It is hard to not regress into Met bashing, but the race was quit an interesting event. All the partipants got the chance to wander through the toll booths

and run through the tunnel!

After running through the tunnel to New York City, we had to turn around and come back. I have never noticed just how much of a hill there is on the Jersey side of the tunnel. It was pleasant on the`way in, but much more difficult on the way out.

Fortunately, I made it there and back again!