Opening Day 2010-PNC Park

This was my first Opening Day and I have to say it was all I thought it would be. It started out with my friends Jackie, Joe and John in my car heading down to the park. What should have been a 1o min excursion was a total mess due to the pre-sale of the normal parking areas.

Now mind you, on a normal game day, you are lucking to see 4000-5000 people in the park, tops! So parking is not normally an issue, but today, I got my 3-4 miles of walking in! Despite the general mess of the sports areas on the North Shore of Pittsburgh, the weather was great and we were ready for a great game. Yes it was Opening Day, and today, even for just a few brief moments, we were undefeated.....Life is Good!

And damn it did nothing but get better. Now the last game of the 2009 season I saw was the LA Dodgers vs. Pirates, September 27, 2009 and that was a gem! To watch all the LA fans leave in after the bottom of the 8th with their team "ahead", to then watch the Bucs come back and win the game 6-5, was a great moment!

As we left the stadium, my son said to me, "Mom, you were the loudest person in there and you are not a Pirates fan". I chuckled and thought that me explaining to him about my love for the Underdog would go right over his head! It was a great game and here we were again...facing the Dodgers.

My seat was no more than 10 rows from the field and I was in it by 12:30pm and just soaked in the atmosphere. Now I will say, I am not used to the stadium being this packed. It was over capacity, 39, 024 and what a sight to see!

Pittsburgh, for all it's love of it's Sports Teams, tends to steer most of their love to Football and Hockey....By the time the Stanley Cup is over, they are chomping at the bit for Pre-Season football to start. I would so love to see them have an over .500 season this year just to set this town a spin...LOL Especially after all the crap their "beloved" Big Ben has been involved in.

Anyway, I digress. Back to Opening Day 2010. In my seat by 12:30 and just chomping at the bit for all the fun of the new season to begin. I was hoping to sneak up to the field during batting practice to get some autographs, but security was rather tight, so it was not happening.

So I soaked up the sun, chatted with some fun fans sitting around me and began my 2010 picture taking spree. I will share some as time goes on because there are more than just a few. I wish I could have taken the pic of Garrett Jone's 1st or two HR's that ended up in the Allegheny River. Fished out by a local kyacker.

So sunburned and happy we all left PNC Park that day smiling. It was a fantastic way to start the season!