"I still blame southwest!"

The Story of.. My First Playoff Game

I never had the chance to see a playoff game. My dad tried to get tickets to the World Series in 2002, but he was new to the whole buying-playoff-tickets madness and found that they were sold out and exorbitantly expensive. During the playoff run from 2004-2005 and 2007-2008, I was at school and admittedly not yet the fan I am now. But in 2009 my fandom had reached the point where I really wanted to see a playoff game.

Of course, there was the problem of class and that I was in Stanford not Torrance. So in addition to paying for tickets, I'd have to pay for a flight, skip class, find the time to actually study, and convince my dad that the money going to pay for my tuition isn't going to waste. It took a bit of convincing myself, but I snapped up some tickets for the ALCS. As a grad student not on a fellowship and going to a private school, the financial part wasn't trivial. I was also feeling quite guilty about skipping class, especially when I realized I'd have to skip an additional class to make my flight and that I'd need to take a midterm early (since I'd be missing it). But I knew that I would be incredibly excited and that a great game would be enough to make it all worth it.

In the end it was, but the real story is the beginning.

I ended up booking my flight on Southwest. I've flown the NorCal-SoCal route very often and I usually pick between Southwest and JetBlue. Usually Southwest if the times are better and the fares significantly cheaper, otherwise JetBlue has better amenities and fewer experiences with delays. This time, I didn't have a choice. It wasn't set in stone that ALCS Game 5 would occur and I wasn't about to go home to not see a game. So I went with Southwest, which allows "store credit" for cancelled flights.

When I realized I would have to miss class that day regardless, I switched to an earlier flight thinking I wasn't going to be doing anything earlier anyways. Getting to the airport turned out to be a breeze - every bus and train arrived on cue - and even after going through security I was very early. So I milled around the terminal feeling sorry for those on the flight before mine - it was delayed for more than an hour. When boarding time finally was within striking distance, I headed to the gate and glanced at the monitor that shows the departure times. It said my flight was delayed, which worried me. So I went to the gate desk to see if I could get on the flight that was before mine (despite being delayed, it was scheduled to arrive earlier than my now-delayed flight). The poor guy was so harried from other customers, but he assured me that his screen said my original flight was not delayed. So I was relieved and continued to my gate. That is until, after the boarding time, it was announced at the gate that my flight was delayed. For an hour. To say I was mad would be an understatement. So instead of being early, my timetable was going to be very very tight. And I had skipped lunch in anticipation of eating with my sister. It was just another bad Southwest experience.

Once in LA, traffic wasn't magically cooperative, since my delay put me in rush hour. But the drive to the big A did make for some good catch-up converstion. I had asked my friend Jess to come with the me to the game and I was quite surprised she accepted - she's not into baseball at all. I was disappointed that we'd miss batting practice cause I thought that would be a good introduction to the players, give her a chance to check out the big A and an opportunity to be close to the field (my splurge didn't include field level tickets). That and I was on edge to actually make it to the big A for the start of the game. So my common exclaimation was "I blame Southwest!"

We ended up listening to the first 1.5 innings on the radio as we approached the stadium. I was mad. The Angels began on fire, with four runs in the first inning and we had missed it. But I would have grudgingly accepted that I missed the scoring if it was the only scoring that occured. Well, we know what happened - Lackey melted down in the seventh, seemed to right himself, got pulled and disaster followed. After the onslaught I sat down in shock. It never had occured to me that the Angels wouldn't win - after what I had to do to be there, I couldn't fathom seeing the Yanks celebrate at the big A. Jess turned to me and said "Now you'll get to see them [the Angels] score, cause well, they have to." And, well, we know what happened - Mathis stayed hot, Vlad and K-Mo delievered and the Angels scratched out the runs to regain the lead. Not that it was easy after that. Fuentes's struggles forced me again to consider that the Angels may lose. But in the end, it was all relief and joy - the Angels were going to NY and it had all been worth it.

Though after the game, I still exclaimed to Jess, "I still blame Southwest!"

(The experience was enhanced when we were walking out the big A and I saw Rod Carew walk by with a few police escorts. Maybe to keep autograph hounds away?)