From A-Rod to A-ida

Getting to our seats at the Met Friday night for Aida, an over-the-top crowd-pleaser production that has now been around for 21 seasons (since we got back from living in Argentina, since Reagan was President, for crying out loud), that features horses parading on the stage in Act 2, the presence of big, live animals on stage always greeted by huge applause, sometimes New York is just an overgrown Lodi. Anyway, on the way to our seats, we were passed by two guys dressed head to toe in Yankees gear. They called out jovially, "We've come straight from the parade." Since the parade had ended about six hours previously their parade must have included stops at a few friendly saloons. They made it through Act 2.

I close my eyes and see Matsui's ball rising toward right field, all of us out of our seats and suddenly beginning to believe the crisp night was going to end well.