Bettin' on the Ponies

I'll be honest here. I consider myself a pretty classy dame, but I also have a deep love for county fairs, street festivals, or any other occasion where I can consume a funnel cake. Funnel cake, corn dogs, cotton candy--this is why county fairs are awesome (that, and I like seeing all the different types of chickens.) So, any opportunity where I get to eat funnel cake, have a beer before noon (and be socially acceptable), AND people watch, is an opportunity I will be sure to take up. This opportunity presented itself last weekend, when we went to the Belmont Stakes, which is the third leg of the Triple Crown. I've never actually been to a horse race, although I've watched the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness many a time on TV, so this was new and exciting.I think the best part of the day was truly all the different sorts of people. Here are some photographic records of the best ones:

We are prepared. We bought the NY Times so we could wave it and whack it on stuff. We had massive bottles of water. We had blankets to sit on and gum to chew. We were good for the 6 hours that we sat in the sun, although it did get quite hot. We also won a bit, at least enough to break even (and I only broke even because I had to place bets for my family and my dad let me keep the money he won in the final.) Anyway, here is my stellar cousin doing a solid impression of an excited fan in the Jamaica Long Island Railroad station.

There was a man behind us on the train who was having a phone conversation, which went something like, "well Chris, it's NOT like the derby (note: how did he know? we hadn't even gotten there yet!) We went to Brooklyn Burger yesterday..yep, yep and we paid $40 for lunch. Now, I don't normally hold with paying $40 for lunch, but how often do you eat in Times Square? (note: that's why it was $40!!!) and now we're on the train..." He was right about it being not like the Kentucky Derby in that there weren't as many people wearing hats, but there were some. Nothing too elaborate, though.

Where I went to college, there was a particular breed of male that we nicknamed "Hobies" (to go with "Smithies," which is much more ubiquitous.) Hobies, in general, are gents who wear pants with embroidered golf balls, American flags, or whales on them. These pants are generally pink. They sometimes wear loafers with no socks and smoke cigars. Often, they major in economics. I had to partner with one once for a project, and I got to hear all about his yacht. My friend was in the airport last week, and a similar fella called her "champ." You get the idea. To tell the truth, I haven't missed seeing these men that much. And as I got to see some pink shorts at the races, that helped fill whatever void there was in my life. Melis said that these outfits (and the AMAZING seersucker suits that I didn't photograph) were really similar to ones that she saw in New Orleans on Easter.

A bit of monologue: "hey man, I saw you from across the lawn, and I just wanted to tell you that I think it shows a lot of guts to wear that hat. I wanted to tell you that I admire your style." I should perhaps mention that the best outfit was on my "Belmont boyfriend," but I'm not putting a picture up because it might scar your retinas. Suffice it to say, he had a mohawk which was somehow growing into a mullet, and he was wearing a see-through shirt and two pairs of boxers--black under white--instead of normal shorts.

I haven't mentioned anything about the actual races, have I? They are quite exciting for the 2 or so minutes when the horses are running, and especially during the 10 seconds when they are right in front of you. We saw 11 races, and by the time the actual Belmont Stakes happened, there were 50,000 people at the park, which is actually not that many--last year there were 150,000. There was no hope of a Triple Crown this year, so I don't think people cared as much. It was neat seeing the different jerseys of the jockeys, and betting was actually pretty fun, too. I learned a lot about trifectas and the like. I also saved all my losing ticket stubs (there were LOTS) so I should make a collage with them, or something.

What I don't know is how horse racing is for the horses. It doesn't seem like they are harmed (no whipping) but I just don't know. That will determine whether I go again or not. But either way--the Belmont was fun, the sky was gorgeous, and I got to eat a funnel cake.

The Yankeeees Win!

I admit to being fairly ambivalent about baseball in general, although I prefer the Yankees over most teams. So tonight was pretty exciting, mainly because I live in The City and people are serious about their sports teams. I was at work and we put the game on in the cash office, and then intercomed it behind the registers. I felt like I was in the 1930's as we all huddled around the phone and shushed each other and tried to hear the radio through the static. Everyone working was a waste of space, and everyone in the store really just wanted to hear what was happening. It's exciting because everyone was into it. The Bronx, though, is crazy right now. As I was leaving work the security guard said, in his heavy Jamaican accent, "you walk safe, lady, and no getting boozey and tipping over cars." Sound advice. Hope other people follow it as well.

In other news, I had the worst customer I have ever had tonight, so the Yankees winning was a wonderful mood lifter. She was French, and didn't know how to work Traveler's Checks, and called me a pest, and incompetent, and as she counted out change she dropped a Euro in my hand and said, "this is a Euro. You've probably never seen one before." (you'll be happy to know that I responded with, "oh, the Vitruvian man? That's my favorite Euro design" and smiled in a way that would appear polite if you didn't know me.) It was dreadful. But then I had a guy later on who completed his transaction speaking in a fake-Cockney and then a Pirate accent. It made me laugh. The Yankees fans that are on TV right now are making me laugh too! Nothing like a good chorus of "We are the Champions" to put you in a good mood.

Bedtime. Goodnight, friends.

EDITED: Thursday 11/5. The NY morning news show (I think on CBS) made a bet with their Philly affiliate that whichever team won the World Series got to choose a song for the loser to sing on air. Which happened at 5:30 this morning, and I was half-asleep listening to it, and it was hilarious. Of course they had to sing "New York, New York" but it was completely tuneless and everyone was just laughing the whole time. If you want to watch it (and you really should), go here, type in "morning" in the search box, and pick the first one-- Hu-phili-ation: CBS 3 in Philly loses bet to CBS 2.

Quiet Please: A Night at the US Open

Tennis is one of the very few sports that I actually understand well (I played doubles on my high school team) although I admit that I don't really follow the pros now, other than major tournaments. We got tickets for the first night of play back in July, and have been really excited for it since. You don't know until 3 days before who you're actually going to see, but we lucked out with our two matches: Venus Williams vs Vera Dushevina, and Andy Roddick vs Bjorn Phau. We were also in Row U of the top tier (5 rows from the top!) which helps explain the ant-sized players in my pictures. However, for $22 apiece we got 6 hours of entertainment, including:

--Marines with flags at the Opening Night festivities.
--Speeches and awards by Mayor Bloomberg, Andre Agassi, Mia Hamm, David Robinson, and Doug Flutie.
--The O'Jays singing "Love Train" (apparently they want to nickname the 7 subway the Love Train, since that is the one which goes to Flushing Meadows, so we kept giggling at 2 am on the ride home about it.)
--Venus and Vera going to tie-break TWICE and then ending the third set 6-3 (Venus wins, despite a medical time-out.) The second match didn't start until after 11.
--Roddick and Phau both falling on separate occassions. I mean, that's not a good thing, but it does make for some excitement. Their match was lots of fun to watch--Roddick's serves are crazy (132 mph!!), but Phau is FAST. They finished in two sets, but a lot of the games went to deuce, so it wasn't a definite shutout.
--the chance, post-midnight, to sneak up a few tiers since so many people had left by then. We had a really good view for Roddick and Phau's second set. Our original view was actually pretty good, and it gets so quiet that you can hear everything anyway. And we were at an angle so that we could see clearly whether shots were in or out.

(row U, after the crowd had cleared out)
And here are some things to remember for your own jaunts to the US Open:
--DO NOT bring a bag or purse. We had the foresight to go bag-less, and it's a jolly good thing we did, because the bag line to be screened for security was insane. And the other non-bag line had no wait at all.
--They sell earpiece radios, which you can use to listen to commentators while in the stands. DO NOT get them, because I have a feeling they are probably pricier than they should be, and why would you want to listen to the announcers when you're seeing it live? Moreover, you will look like a tool.
--DO bring a blanket, or sweatshirt. It gets cold at the top, especially when it's that late at night. Also, this part of Queens is so close to JFK that planes fly overheard very low, and there are wind currents. The seats further down don't have this problem.
--DO go to the qualifying rounds the week before, if only for the reason that it is free. There are 18 courts with small bleachers at each, and you're free to walk around between all the courts and watch any matches you want. Granted, these are the players that are going to get kicked out in the first round, but they are still REALLY good. I was working the day my cousin went and we were going to go again, and then it was raining...next year??

Double-Headers

Today I went to the Jamestown Jammers and Staten Island Yankees double-header, and it was pretty epic, especially so because Jamestown WON one game! (for those of you that do not follow NY-Penn minor-league baseball--shame on you!--the Jammers are in 2nd to last place.) They almost came back and won the second game too--they had an impressive rally in the 6th. Seriously, they played better than I've ever seen them play at home. And basically the whole team was rockin' impressive mustaches.

I was conflicted about this game since I wasn't sure who to cheer for--I am a Jammers fan by birth location, but didn't want to get beaten up by a bunch of die-hard Yankees. Since I have no particular allegiance to the Yankees, I didn't feel too guilty cheering against them, though. We were basically sitting in the Yankees bullpen (see above picture), which was fun. I also approve of any ballpark with such a stellar view!