oh but you have no idea

if you're a Sox fan, you groaned last night when Tito neglected to pinch hit for the ninth inning rally killer. if you even moderately know me, you know to not even get me started on my feelings for E6 right now. you might even share them to some degree.

but what you don't know is that last night sucked more than you were privileged to. OMG you have no idea.

so we're all in this packed corridor last night moving toward the escalator & all of a sudden a fight breaks out literally two feet in front of me. (may i point out here that i am a) not a very big girl and b) not at *all* a fighter.) it started with three guys (two very classy Rays fans jumped a Sox fan, who seriously wasn't doing anything more than singing Sweet Caroline after the Sox lost, so not like he was rubbing a defeat into the Rays fans' faces -- and believe me, i am the first one to be disgusted when my fellow Sox fans reflect badly on the rest of us) but by the end, about ten people were throwing punches and a bunch more were screaming & shoving. i was literally on the edge of it all (when i say i was two feet away, that was no embellishment for the sake of drama) and with so many people there, i had nowhere to go. i didn't get hit but i got shoved a few times, and i have *no* problem saying i was scared. security took forever to get there because there were so many people packing the hallway who would not get out of the way. i could hear security yelling for them to move aside, but they were too busy trying to watch the fight to listen. it was ridiculous. the security guys finally got through & pinned down the people who were doing the actual fighting. by the time i was able to start moving forward again, arrests were being made.

THEN. oh yes, there is a "then". i should have had you pull up a chair. maybe offered some refreshments.

*then* i go to leave and it is pouring down buckets of rain. and they were making people keep moving out into it at this point. it's thundering & lightning and the rain is pounding down so hard it hurts. if you've ever been in the rain in Florida, you understand what i mean. i never experienced rain like it does here. the parking lot was a lake. and i was parked about as far away as i possibly could be and still be on the Rays property. so i am slogging through this water that is so deep in areas that it's pouring into my shoes but i was already soaked through to the skin about twenty seconds after exiting the building anyway so what's the difference.

here is where it gets interesting. that far lot? is grass. and between me & the grass? a puddle of rain water about six feet across that stretches the entire length of the parking area like a moat, so it isn't like i can go around or jump over it. at this point, what the hell do i care? it's not like i could get wetter. so i trudge forward. and find myself shin deep in a mud puddle. i would have cried except all i wanted was to be in my car safely at this point. thank God the saga ends there, because if my car would have been stuck? i would be in a padded cell right now. thankfully the ground under my car was packed solid and most of the rain was running off & turning into the mud moat i had slopped through.

i have never been so relieved to be home probably in my whole life. photos are forthcoming. of the game, not the ensuing fight or my swim through the parking lot. either of which i never wish to relive again. come to think of it, i could do without reliving that game as well. i hope to God that a) Wakey remembers that he is lights out in that hell hole (otherwise known as the Trop to those of you with less raw hatred for it than i presently feel), 2) Wakey doesn't end up on the DL after pitching here which has been known to happen to him in recent years on crappy artificial surfaces, and D) we can show some run support to the tune of us actually winning a game, because if we slink out of Tampa following another sweep and those freaking Sunbeams three-and-a-half games in first place, i will not be held accountable.