phillies: 11 marlins: 1

my dad and a few other docs went in on some phillies season tickets this year. which is amusing to me, since my dad's affinity for sports begins and ends with his rifle collection (with which he shoots paper targets in the basement and cans in the backyard, both to the dismay of my mother.)

but he and my mom have been going pretty regularly to watch the games, so last night i went with him to see what all the fuss was about.

1.) the seats are fantastic, seven rows from the field, right behind the dugout. the best part is, you can watch as the players come back - from having been struck out, from a home run, at the end of the inning. and you can actually make out their facial expressions. these expressions, as those of you who go to baseball games often or are familiar with the players already know, are priceless.

2.) quite possibly my favorite part of the game was looking at the humongous electronic scoreboard. not for the score of course, that wouldn't be that exciting - especially for phillies fans, but for the camera. the camera that catches everyone when they aren't ready to be caught on film. and when they finally do realize they're on the big screen, they can't quite figure out which way to look so you can see their full face. my personal favorite last night was the "flex cam." a giant illustration of a muscle was posted on half of the scoreboard and the camera proceeded to pan around the stadium, looking for people to flex their guns. fantastic. the camera showed us 5 or 6 hefty guys showing off their masculinity, and then zoomed in on a couple of 16 year old boys, eager to prove they were men too, and finally caught a brother and a sister, blissfully unaware of the camera, digging into their ice creams. now they had the right idea. equal parts candid camera and 15 seconds of fame, this was entertainment.

3.) another moment in contention for my personal favorite: just after the 4th inning, the camera focused on a couple and, across the gigantic scoreboard, equally gigantic words: JASON IS PROPOSING TO ERIN!!! but erin was a bit oblivious, and as jason kneeled down, his girlfriend questioningly looked around to figure out what was going on. she said yes though, and the camera stayed with them as they hugged for a good 2 minutes, after which Jason triumphantly shot his hands up in the air, puffed up his chest, and - what do you know - flexed his muscles for all to see (via the scoreboard of course.)