After Midnight

I'm still at the Gades game. They're trailing Vermont, 4-2 in the top of the 8th.

It's 12:14 AM.

I'm not good in these circumstances - spots where I want to be on the air and am not for one reason or another. I can hear the guys in the booth calling the game and I'm adding nothing to the night. In other words, I'm useless.

In these spots I'm not really a fan, but more of an observer. I can't say I'm a reporter right now, as I have nobody to report for. So I wrote on the blog a few times, and even - GASP! - left the booth to go buy a dog and a pretzel - for two bucks!

The Gades did right by their fans tonight. They can use their ticket stub for a free ticket to one of several games. Nice touch after a long rain delay.

I think we're down to barely 200 fans left. Those are cool people.

Or nuts. Your choice.

It's not so few that I can count them, so I won't. You can hear all the conversations within the ballpark - from Geoff and Matt on the air, to Zolz two doors down in the PA booth, to on-field chatter. It's strange.

The natives here are getting restless, and a tad obnoxious (that's the exception though).

The cleaning staff has actually begun to pick up the garbage, while the game is still going on.

It's now the bottom of the eighth and the Gades have the tying run at the plate. Somebody predicted that "something" would happen tonight - a walk-off home run, a big comeback, a 17 inning marathon. Something. We'll see.