Sunday, September 17, 2006
Beyonce v baseball...you decide!
Beyonce or baseball...which would you have chosen?
I hereby present the case for Miss Beyonce Knowles:
I love Toronto! There is so much going on here and to top it all off Beyonce performed a free concert in the city centre last night. Having dragged Rhod along to the recent film premier I felt guilty making him squeeze into a crowd of thousands to stand for hours to watch a star whose songs he finds ok. So I agreed that he would be better off watching the Blue Jays play baseball about a mile down the road which coincided perfectly.
Being on my own and arriving a good hour earlier I easily wound my way to the middle of the crowd to get a reasonable view about 30 metres from the stage. (So no, I didn't take this photo.) As the start time drew nearer however the crowd got tighter and by the time Beyonce made her entrance we all had a great view of the person's head in front of us. There was hardly room to breathe and what with sweaty man to my right and big-haired girl in front it was an interesting way to spend a Friday evening . Rhod would have hated it! Discomfort aside, the concert was fantastic. Beyonce danced and sang her heart out with an all female band, backing dancers and she even managed 3 costume changes in the hour! She is definitely one of the best performers I have ever seen. Luckily there was a big screen showing all the action and despite being wedged into a heaving mass of bodies I danced and sang along the whole time. It would have been even better to have some girl friends to enjoy it with but I was in my element. For me, there was no contest... Beyonce would win over baseball any day!
So I have been released from the shackels of celebrity spotting and I am off to the baseball. There will be no celebrity spotting for me as I wouldn't know a famous baseball player if he spat seeds or blew a large bubble in my face. I've never had a particular desire to go and watch baseball before but having my own seat in a crowd that isn't screaming wins easily over standing squashed in a crowd that is screaming.
By 6:30 I have listened to the advice of the woman in the ticket office, ignored it, and bought a ticket that was half the price of the one she suggested. I have a good seat just past first base about 20 rows back in the lower level of the stand. There is a lot that goes on at a baseball game and not much of it could be described as active sport. Ceremonial delivery of the balls, ceremonial first pitch, ceremonial national anthems and ceremonial saying of "Lets play ball!" So when that was all over I settled down to watch the Toronto Blue Jays play the Tampa Bay Devil Rays (Didn't one of those kill Steve Irwin?)
Overall I would assess the sport as not bad but not great. There is a lot of down time in the action which is filled by various crowd participation events such as the 7th inning stretch and some singing of random songs at other times. It is probably a game to go to with friends so that during a 3 hour game you can chat for 2 hours and 50 mins and concentrate on the sport for the 10 mins that anything happens. It wouldn't be a bad way to spend 3 hours drinking with your mates if you had enough money to buy the beer.
For those interested the game ended Jays 5 Rays 4 after a 10th innings. It took 8 innings and about 2 hours 45mins to get exciting but finally the game was won by someone from the Jays (I told you I didn't know any baseball players) hitting a home run (one of those hits that goes in to the stand.)
And one more thing. I thought that the image of people walking up and down the aisles selling food was purely a Hollywood thing. I was wrong. It actually happens. During a game the snack men will pass selling what over 3 hours amounts to a 3 course meal washed down with a load of beer. To be honest it's kind of annoying because they are often in the way but I also couldn't resist the opportunity to buy something without the hassle of leaving my seat.
I would go and see another game, but then I'm British, we slow down to look at car accidents and there's not much fun at those either.
So which one would you have chosen?
