Friday Night Serendipity

On Thursday I sat down for lunch with a colleague of mine, who was seated next to an Important Person. I asked my colleague if he and his wife (who came along to see the sights of Seattle) had any plans for Friday night. He replied that they were going to see the Seattle Mariners Baseball game. The Important Person asked if he was interested in our Computer Vendor's box seats at the game, because the Vendor had offered them to him but he couldn't go to the game. After my colleague picked his jaw up off the floor, he said, "YES!" so the Important Person called the Vendor and inquired as to whether the seats were still available. As it turned out, there were four tickets available. My colleague asked me if I wanted to come along, and I said sure. I'm not a huge baseball fan but it sounded like it could be fun.

So I arrived at Safeco Field at 5:30 pm Friday. The Vendor's tickets were for the Diamond Club, which are the most expensive seats in the house. This is because it's not just a place to sit (although the seats were really good too -- maybe the fifth row back from home plate); you also get to partake of a buffet dinner before the game starts. Then, while the game is being played, you have a card where you can check off whatever foods you want, pass it to the end of the row, and receive your food within the next half-inning.

I called Jeff during the game, and asked him if the game was being shown on TV. I was curious as to whether he could see us, because we were so close to home plate. He found the game on our TV, and as it turned out, we were sitting just out of view when they focused on the batter. But he could see things in the background that I could see. As we were talking, he heard people cheering in the background and asked me what had happened. "He hit a single," I said. Jeff saw the batter hit the single about 10 or 15 seconds after I did. So I guess when they call it "live," it's on a bit of a delay.

It was a lot of fun and I'm glad I got to go. My colleague was also grateful to me for coincidentally talking to him about his Friday night plans in front of the right person!