It may have been an eyesore, but I loved it. It may have looked like a blue and orange toilet bowl in Queens, it may have been cold and concrete and lacked character with its zig-zagging exits and florescent lights in the shape of ballplayers, it may not have had the "history" or the "tradition" of baseball's "cathedral" in the Bronx (please note the quotes), but I loved it. To me, Shea Stadium was like a second home- a place with many memories. A place where I cheered when the Mets clinched the 2006 NL East, later cried after game 7 of the 2006 NLCS (and so being a Mets fan goes), a place where I drank one of my first beers, lost my voice, was surprised by my grandparents, felt the stadium rock quite literally at Billy Joel (two nights in a row), watched Matt Franco have the game winning hit off Mariano when the regular season Subway Series actually equivocated to my pride and dignity in middle school, watched John Maine almost throw a no-hitter only for Glavine to wipe away that excitement within 24 hours (and so being a Mets fan goes), screamed "Laaaarrrry", watched the sun set for the final time on Shea Stadium as a horrific day turned into an electric night as Seaver threw the stadium's final pitch to Piazza at the "Last Game at Shea", watched games with family, JLC, home friends, college friends, my employer and back and forth. Today, the stadium where this all took place was brought to the ground.
I loved Shea, despite that everyone told me it was one of the worst stadiums in baseball. Today is a sad day, but the opening of Citifield will soon take this old friend's place, creating a new place where memories will be made and cherished. Here's to the 2009 baseball season- a clean slate.
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