Behind Enemy Lines

Last night I attended just the second Cubs game of my life. (My first was in July '03 against the Marlins, the same Marlin team who later that season would be a part of the greatest choke job of all time) A friend called me up last minute and offered me a free ticket to the game and I could not turn down the opportunity to see a future HOF'er in Greg Maddux pitch. I may hate the Cubs, but I have an appreciation for great pitchers.
One of the more entertaining moments of the evening was in the 5th inning when Javier Valentine (Jose's little brother) hit the 4th HR of his career off of Maddux. The recipient of that ball in the bleachers in left-center refused to throw the ball back, which I commend him/her for, and caused the entire stadium to chant "throw it back". After only 4 or 5 chants of "throw it back", the very first pitch to the next batter, Willie Mo Pena, was also hit into those seats in left-center, silencing the crowd in a heartbeat. All that could be heard in my section of the UD was me shouting "Throw that one back!!!" The first ball never came back out, but that second HR ball was back on the field within 5 seconds after it landed.
I also had a hoot in the 9th when after Cub pitching walked 2 batters in a 2-1 ball game, Dusty changed pitchers and brought in Sergio Mitre to face Willie Mo Pena. After getting ahead 0-2 in the count, Mitre hung a curveball and Pena crushed it deep to left-center to make the Cincy lead 5-1. Wearing my '83 throwback green and white batter logo Sox hat, I stood up and clapped as the chorus of "ooh's" rung throughout the stadium. Surprisingly, the only flack I caught about my being a Sox fan was from these two dumb and drunk girls sitting behind me. Their ribbing was more flirtatious than mean-spirited, so it really wasn't all that bad.
Enough about the game, now onto my opinions of the Shrine. I didn't really walk around the place my first time there, so this was the first really good look I've had at the park from the inside. How any fan would rather see a game in that dump instead of Comiskey is beyond me. From my assigned seat I had the greatest view of a pole which was right in my view of the pitchers mound. I had to spend the majority of the game over one seat from the people I was at the game with just so I could see the pitcher and batter at the same time. Had our aisle been full, I would have been SOL. Another thing that bothered me was that the nearest exit to my seats was all the way behind home plate at Clark and Addison. Talk about a death trap. We had to make our way though the crowd packed like sheep all the way down the left field concourse just to get the hell out of there. I'd say it took at least 20 minutes from the time we got down the ramps to ground level to the time we got outside. I did get a kick out of looking at all the netting on the ceilings around the park though.
After a weekend in which everyone I root for lost, (the Sox were swept by a potential playoff opponent, the Bears lost, and a 35 year old Andre Agassi was beaten in the U.S. Open Finals) what better way to get over the sports hangover I had than to see the Cubs lose?

Side note: I did see one fellow Sox fan walking down the aisle in front of my seats. I shouted down to him "Nice Hat!" He turned around, saw me and yelled back "Yeah!!! And I thought I'd be alone here!"
Another guy came up to me when we were making our way out of the park and complimented my hat, then gave me props for having the balls to wear it there. I asked him if he was a Sox fan why he wasn't wearing one, and he replied "I'm stupid but not crazy".
One last thing.....from my seats in the UD down the left field line I caught my first glimpse of Ronnie Woo Woo in the flesh. He was walking around on Waveland decked out in his full Cubs uniform.