Monthly Archives: July 2013

Clueless in Seattle

To be fair, the inquisitive young woman from New Zealand sitting next to me at the A’s vs Mariners game at Safeco Field in Seattle had never been to a baseball game before. Naturally, there was a lot of stuff she didn’t know—like which stadium she should go to in order to watch a game. But more about that later.

Now, I’ve been attending baseball games since I was in elementary school, and while I have not memorized the rule book (since I haven’t actually seen one), I do know some of the finer points of the game. So once I tuned my ear to my neighbor’s Kiwi accent, I tried to answer as many of her questions as I could. I have to admit, some of them had me stumped.

But let me backtrack for a second. Why was I attending a game in Seattle instead of in Oakland, where I live?

My husband and I had planned to stay there for a couple of days before we were to meet up with our Backroads travel and hiking companions in Anacortes, WA. And what do you know? The A’s happened to be in town during those two days! So we could see yet another baseball game. (We see plenty at home, believe me—both in San Francisco and in Oakland. But I am nothing if not a good sport.) I’d never been to a game where I wasn’t surrounded by the home team fans before, so this would be interesting. Possibly. The tickets we got online were pretty good—nearly right behind the plate on the first base line. 

And so, on a pleasant Friday evening, after a busy day of sightseeing, we walked over to Safeco Field. Once we got to the seats, I noticed the young woman sitting alone next to me, sporting a stiff, new Mariners cap and scribbling notes.Continue Reading