Return of winter January 5

After the knee high snow blew into town in December,  another 2 inches  arrives in time to meet our new students  wrapped in snow coats, hats and scarves and an excitement about beginning their English language studies at the Drexel English Language Center. Hiking up the Drexel University campus hill from the orientation, one student has stopped by the fence that surrounds the community garden next to the ELC building.. The plantings are now dormant, with remnants of wood frames and tall grasses peeking through the white. I am caught by the expression on the student's face, and stop to admire this small scene with him. His face and body are relaxed and totally still as if his eyes and skin are the lens of a camera taking as clear a photo as possible to show his family.

I learn that this is his first time seeing snow. His first time!

That expression:. The essence  of wonder and awe.

Buying Phillies tickets In the dark of December

Who knew that around the darkest day of the year, that Phillies fever would be a source of greatest heat. Philadelphia is all the buzz since Cliff Lee decided to forgo a Yankees contract and relocate to the town that loves its team. Much has been written about why he decided to sign here, and much has been debated and discussed. the result, though is that one day this week, I found myself sitting with my friend discussing the various options for buying tickets. the 6 pack choices were already slim-we eventually ended up buying some 400 level seats. but wait, there is a way to get into a lottery to buy opening day tickets or Red Sox tickets. A lottery? Last year, I went online in February and bought a ticket in the 100 3rd baseline section for a mere 45$ (I was splurging ). Go to Stub Hub this year, and the 400 level seats are that much. So the lottery it is.
We found out that there will be individual tickets available on Feb 17-we cackled about meeting up at midnight to discuss which games to go to. We did decide that connecting by phone would be good enough, but it did make us giddy thinking about it.

Now, I am the proud owner of two 6 pack tickets for April-Sept. My mother is laughing out loud right now.What has happened to her daughter to transform her into a fan. Having a winning team helps! A beautiful ball park helps. Having other friends as excited as I am-and new ones too. That helps.

Another historic game-preparing for the Eagles and Redskins part 1

Sometime back in September, my mother called to tell me that my cousin, an avid lifelong Washington Redskins football fan, had an extra ticket to the Redskins-Eagles game.. In honor of my new found fandom excitement, she thought I might like to go, even though I had never ever expressed any interest in football. In fact, my attitude about football was that it was too difficult to follow. No matter how many times people explained to me what a 'down' was, or who did what, I couldn't grasp it, and would soon lose interest.

But, in the spirit of "I'll try anything once" and "It's always fun when you go with someone who is an enthusiast" I said 'sure!"

Game day:
My cousin Barbara is the consummate hostess, and knows how to prepare for any party. She has done tailgating parties so much that all the paraphernalia is ready to go: chairs, tables, serving utensils, silverware, Redskins napkins, the works. And for this party, she prepared a banquet of chicken, salads,humous, croissants, cupcakes, drinks, chips, strawberries. All for 3 people. We packed up the car at 3:00 for the 8:30 p.m. game. Driving down I 270 which is north west of Washington, we immediately hit bumper to bumper traffic.All 90,000 fans plus rush hour traffic seemed to be on the road. There was some anxiety that we wouldn't get a good parking spot, but Barbara had a pass directly into the best parking 40 feet from the entrance to the stadium

And what a stadium-when you approach, it looks like the spaceship in the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind. The top is ringed with restaurants lights and the sign FEDEX is brightly light in orange and green. Circling the stadium are the parking lots filled up with taligaters so it looks from afar like a tribal gathering (and indeed it is). Walking around the parking lot I spied beanbag toss games, Redskins tents, and of course, lots of beer. I was surprised how many green and white shirts I saw-intermingled with the red and gold.
 Once we had set up our table, we were joined by  several avid Eagles fans, clients of Barbara's brother.    There was some haggling  back and forth, but for the most part, everyone seemed to be trading jibes in a friendly sort of way. Much talk about the just announced 78 million dollar contract for Donovan McNabb. Much hand wringing about whether Michael Vick should  be forgiven for his dog fighting (for which he did time in jail). In the end, after friendly handshakes, and we were off to the game.

There are three levels in the stadium. Our seats were on the 40 yard line in the first level. Barbara sat to my right and her friend, Gail to my left. Behind me was a very vocal Eagles fan, there with his Redskins wife. In front was a cute couple with matching black sweatshirts-hers said "Team Adam", his said "Team (what ever her name was).
To our right in front, another Eagles fan. On the field, the Redskins marching band. AS soon as they started playing the fight song, I chimed in. Hail to the Redskins...Remember, I grew up with that song, during the glory days.

Eagles and Redskins part 2

 I'm  amazed that my first ever time attending a football game (not counting high school when I was in the marching band and had to be there) was one that is still causing buzz online and on TV. I had expected to be totally befuddled and confused by the game itself, since I thought I knew nothing about it. But I had picked up enough terminology to know that touchdown=good, tackle=bad, throwing long distances=good, completed passes=good, interceptions=bad (reverse that if its the other team). What I didn't realize was that I could enjoy the running and the passing, even the blocking as athletic ballet. This game included exquisite running and footwork by Michael Vick, who put on a stellar performance. I don't know anything about stats so I can only comment on the beauty of what I saw.
The first time the Eagles touched the ball Michael Vick threw a long 88 yard pass that the receiver ran in for a touchdown. With each  play of the first quarter Michael Vick stepped back, assessed the field with precision, threw bullet like passes, or  dodged the Redskins defense to run the ball down the field. I wasn't sure whether to cheer or to gasp. The Redskins hardly touched the ball for the first 15 minutes.
The score after the first quarter-28-0.  Barbara, scowling with her arms crossed, moans "We are leaving if they get 50 points". What? 50 points, that's absurd. That's not a football score.
The Redskins woke up in the second quarter, scoring some points, but the game continued to be a Michael Vick and company blowout.

And then to the heavens opened up, the rains came, and the second quarter was coming to an end. The score was 38-21, and we were out of there. Little did we know that the Eagles were going to score another 21 points to win it 59-21.

Here is a favorite sentence from a sports blog: And from there it was more of the same: Michael Vick looking like one of the all-time greats at quarterback, driving his team down the field for a touchdown -- a touchdown, it should be noted, on a play during which he had nearly EIGHT full seconds to choose his receiver.

Phillies had a great season!

It is  now the end of the season for the Philadelphia Phillies, who  made a valiant effort to become the National League champs for the third straight year. It was a great year, so this is a chance for me to capture my memories and pictures of a summer and early fall filled with contentment,excitement, thrill, satisfaction, many exhilarating wins, poignant disappointments,  and some excruciatingly difficult  losses,  These posts will be about my many experiences seeing the Phillies, live, live, live. (oh, and one Yankees game, too), and other sports that come my way . You might even read more about hockey, figure skating, basketball, football and curling -and one of my favorite 'sports' -DANCE.    Ya never know!