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sarea
Why, we were all at Richard Sherman's Celebrity Softball Game on Sunday, that's what! :D
Me,adelagia, slitherhither and her teenage son were all in attendance.
We've been looking forward to it for weeks. There was a lot of stressing before the event, primarily about:
1) Weather. Prior to this last weekend, Seattle had been suffering from sweltering heat for a couple of weeks (for us, that's the 80s). The concern was that the game would be terrible for us to sit through, being that it started at 1:30pm (why not just pour hot lava over us?), and torturous for the players to play through.
2) Camera/lenses. This was mainly me stressing about it, since I wanted to get really close-up shots, and I had bought all these lenses to do just that. However, I wasn't sure what the rule would be around bringing cameras. The event was taking place at Safeco Field, so T. suggested I use their guidelines. It seemed that most people could bring in a reasonable zoom lens, but nothing super heavy, long, or professional. That's how I ended up deciding to take the 70-300mm lens rather than the 80-400mm one. However, I wasn't 100% certain about the 70-300mm's acceptability.
3) Transportation. I'd debated taking the bus so that I wouldn't have to park in or around Safeco, which could be expensive and/or a nightmare. However, depending on whether or not they would allow me and my camera equipment into the stadium, I needed to have a car nearby in case I was turned away. Added on top of this was the fact that Carmageddon was going to start this weekend (for non-Seattlites... one of the major bridges in the area would be undergoing construction for a week), which meant added traffic and stress.
So, it turned out that NONE of these issues ended up being issues at all. Of course.
1) The hot weather miraculously went away on Saturday, and on Sunday it was downright cold. It even rained. I would have liked for it to have been a little warmer, but between what we got and what could have been, I'll take what we got.
2) This was a non-issue. I was totally prepared to have to talk my way in. I'd brought a big backpack full of stuff, including breakfast and lunch, my Nikon D5100, the 70-300mm lens, my regular 50mm 1.8 lens, my Nook, wallet, and even a small canteen of water that I'd meant to empty before walking into the stadium (you can bring an empty bottle to fill, but not something already filled with liquid). All the people around me were carrying... nothing. I felt really nervous, because it seemed like they all knew something I didn't. Well, the security guy who checked me was super lax and/or friendly. He didn't even make me open my bag. He just felt it up from the outside. I even said, "Are you sure you don't need to look inside?" And he laughed and waved me on, saying, "Naw! No one wants to hurt Richard Sherman!" I was like, well okay then.
3) I took my car (actually, a loaner because my car was being serviced) and planned to drive right up to Safeco, then circle out from the stadium to find the closest street parking I could. I'd left early, so I was there by 10:30 or so. As I got right up to Occidental and S. Royal Brougham though, I followed some other cars and soon noticed a sign that said "CenturyLink Parking - $6." I couldn't believe it. What an awesome deal. CenturyLink Stadium is basically across the street from Safeco, and in fact the parking structure I think is closer to Safeco than the Clink. So that was awesome. I texted B. and T. right away, but B. didn't arrive until 1ish and she says that by the time she got there, all the cheap parking was taken. :/ T., however, had also left super early in anticipation of Carmageddon, so she was already downtown as well! Carmageddon, btw? A total non-issue. We took the 90 later and didn't even see any lanes closed. Is it just one big trolling effort by the WSDOT? Maaaaaybe.
Anyway! The game itself! It was possibly -- no, almost certainly -- the best baseball game I have ever been to. Okay, softball game, whatever. I am NOT a fan of baseball... I find it incredibly slow and boring... I guess I am just not cerebral enough to enjoy that sport. But this game was all in good fun, and got really silly in parts, which made it even better.
The 3 things that ended up playing a bigger role in "ruining" our good time than the things we worried about:
1) An obnoxious woman in the stands whose "cheer" involved a really loud and annoying yodeling war cry. Lady, shut up. I even caught it in one of my video recordings! Ugh. I left it out of the video.
2) People were standing for some of the action, and of course there were TWO GIANT MEN in front of us. Why do we always get those people in front of us, why? Why don't we ever get the two dainty girls???
3) Two girls a few rows down who kept standing to record things even when everyone else was sitting. The worst part was that one of the girls wore her hair PILED ON TOP OF HER HEAD, making her even harder to see over! I so wanted to cut it off and throw it out a window, like Elaine did with George's toupee. Unfortunately scissors were not one of the items in my giant backpack... though clearly I could have brought them in with no problem.
4) The two girls who had the seats at the end of our row, who didn't show up until the third inning, made us move with a snotty attitude, then predictably, left after a few pitches and finishing their drinks. The second I saw them I totally called it mentally. I was actually relieved because it meant I'd be able to nab their seats again once they were gone. And they could've told us that they were leaving, since clearly their seats were better than ours and we'd been sitting in them, so that we could have them back, but of course they didn't because they were total bitches. There. I said it.
OK now really, here's some of the photos and video from the event. I took over 400 photos/video, so this is drastically condensed down, lol. I'm pleased with how they turned out, even though I had hoped I could get super close (to see the sweat dripping off their temples!). Of course, given that my backpack wasn't searched, I could've brought that 400mm zoom, but oh well. (For sake of posterity, we were in section 120, row 34, seats 7-10, right at first baseline or whatever you call it.)
Video (4-min compilation of the best of what I caught on video):
Photos:
Here's Safeco a couple of hours before the event. The entire bottom section would fill out, by the end. Total attendance: 22,033.
Richard comes out to greet the crowd.
Tank, who I'd never heard of before this event, was a gem. He was funny and charming, and just seemed like an overall great guy. His rendition of the national athem was possibly the best I have ever heard at a sporting event. I looked for it on YouTube, hoping some other intrepid fan had uploaded it already, as I was lame and didn't record it. No one had, but I found that he's done it at other events, like this boxing match:
When he was done, I turned to B. to express my appreciation, and found that she had appreciated it so much that her eyeballs had started sweating. <3
The pre-festivities included a homerun derby, in which certain players came up to bat, got a certain number of pitches, and their job was to try and hit as many homeruns (with a temp fence that made the field shorter, given they were playing with softballs) as they could.
Richard Sherman at bat:
Kobe Bryant at bat:
Earl Thomas (my favorite Seahawk) at bat:
Russell Wilson at bat (two sets for him, because, well, he's Russell Wilson!):
He hit 10 homers, but was disqualified from winning the trophy due to the fact that he was actually drafted by the Texas Rangers, LOL. So the homerun derby championship had a 3-way tie of 7 homeruns each between Earl, Nate Robinson, and... I think it was Dorell Wright maybe?
Other celebs included Brandon Browner (formerly a Seahawk and LOB member), Nate Robinson (Denver Nuggets guard) - also seemed like a super cool and funny guy, Macklemore, and Dorell Wright (Portland Trail Blazers small forward)
Teams were broken up into the gray team, led by Russell Wilson, and the blue team, led by Richard Sherman.
The gray team consisted of Russell, Earl, Doug Baldwin, Brandon Browner, Richard's brother Branton, Nate Robinson, Dorell Wright, Chris Hansen (the dude who's trying to bring the Sonics back to Seattle), and some others, including the emcee's wife, Jackie. The emcee was Bender, from KISS FM in Seattle. I thought he did a great job. (T., apparently he and Jackie are both emcees and they have a morning program.) Oh and both teams had players from the event's sponsors that no one cared about.
The blue team consisted of Richard Sherman, Bobby Wagner (I love him), Michael Bennett (who once impersonated Russell Wilson in order to get a reservation at a restaurant), Kam Chancellor (who didn't play), Percy Harvin (who didn't play, and B. and I were glad, given that he is rather frail), Jermaine Kearse (I also love him, but he just got engaged so sad face), Kobe, Sidney Rice (who didn't play), Macklemore, Gigi (who the crowd just managed to refrain from loudly booing... there was some quiet booing... I don't even know who she is), and the aforementioned sponsors no one cared about. I'm just being honest here. But I will also give them some credit and say that those nonentities were actually fairly decent softball players.
Before the game started, Earl and Russell got in some practice throws. I think I might have caught one of the very few times he actually smiled! (He's a super intense person.)
Here's some obviously necessary shots of Russell's very nice butt. He's showing off his perfect baseball form! With that and the butt, no wonder the Rangers drafted him!
I have to say, though -- baseball uniforms do no one any favors. These guys are all incredibly fit and lean, and yet they all looked like they had paunches and 40-some-year-old bodies. Weird. Who the hell designs baseball uniforms, and why don't they consult a woman?
As far as I could tell, Doug Baldwin was there to look good in a baseball hat.
He is a favorite of mine, B.'s (especially B.), and T.'s, but seriously. Look at this. :)))) He's totally just enjoying the novelty of wearing a baseball uniform.
Blitz (the Seahawks mascot) tried to give him some pointers, but... it didn't help much. Doug can run like crazy, but that assumes he's hit the ball.
I will give him this... he made an extremely awesome catch early in the game. Sadly B. was on a popcorn run for her son so she missed it, but Doug caught a ball with the tip of his glove. The funny thing was, he and the entire gray team thought it was the third out and started coming in, only to be sent back out because it was only the second. (The weird thing is, I thought it was the third out too...)
Earl played in the outfield, and looked good doing it. Right field... I think. The one closer to first base. I enjoyed watching him gun toward balls, though he was not allowed to hit anyone in his way, which he normally relishes.
Russell played shortstop.
Russell and Earl, just because I took this photo. It exists because of me. The end. (Side note: They are of similar height, wore similar sunglasses, and both had their shirts tucked in. It made them hard to tell apart sometimes from far away!)
And what would a game involving Seahawks be without an altercation of some sort? Something happened in the upper left panel below that started it. Russell tagged Richard, but he wasn't supposed to? Or something? Which of course led to Words Between Teammates.
And of course this. (For more, watch the video. Not being able to play softball to save his life does not stop ADB from shit talking.)
After the game, Earl brought out his adorable little daughter, omg. He walked her around the bases, then put his gloves on her. Sooooooooooooooo cute. I'm not uploading this one to Flickr, because I feel funny making it that broadly public. But I want you guys to see how freaking cute it is, so as a compromise I'm just putting it on LJ. He's said before that she looks just like him, and now I see why! LOL.
Oh! T. also caught some really good images of the big screen. The ones I tried to take didn't come out well -- they were fuzzy and weird, like when you try to take a picture of your TV screen. Hers came out really well though. Here are a few:
Russell just looks like a natural. He better not lose focus though! I love his smile. His attractiveness really comes from what a sweet guy he is.
Earl. <333333333333
I'm particularly glad she caught this moment, because as it was happening on the field -- brief moment that it was -- a person stepped RIGHT IN FRONT OF MY CAMERA. I was so very annoyed. B. said Earl was giving Doug pointers on batting. Haha.
Me,
adelagia, slitherhither and her teenage son were all in attendance.We've been looking forward to it for weeks. There was a lot of stressing before the event, primarily about:
1) Weather. Prior to this last weekend, Seattle had been suffering from sweltering heat for a couple of weeks (for us, that's the 80s). The concern was that the game would be terrible for us to sit through, being that it started at 1:30pm (why not just pour hot lava over us?), and torturous for the players to play through.
2) Camera/lenses. This was mainly me stressing about it, since I wanted to get really close-up shots, and I had bought all these lenses to do just that. However, I wasn't sure what the rule would be around bringing cameras. The event was taking place at Safeco Field, so T. suggested I use their guidelines. It seemed that most people could bring in a reasonable zoom lens, but nothing super heavy, long, or professional. That's how I ended up deciding to take the 70-300mm lens rather than the 80-400mm one. However, I wasn't 100% certain about the 70-300mm's acceptability.
3) Transportation. I'd debated taking the bus so that I wouldn't have to park in or around Safeco, which could be expensive and/or a nightmare. However, depending on whether or not they would allow me and my camera equipment into the stadium, I needed to have a car nearby in case I was turned away. Added on top of this was the fact that Carmageddon was going to start this weekend (for non-Seattlites... one of the major bridges in the area would be undergoing construction for a week), which meant added traffic and stress.
So, it turned out that NONE of these issues ended up being issues at all. Of course.
1) The hot weather miraculously went away on Saturday, and on Sunday it was downright cold. It even rained. I would have liked for it to have been a little warmer, but between what we got and what could have been, I'll take what we got.
2) This was a non-issue. I was totally prepared to have to talk my way in. I'd brought a big backpack full of stuff, including breakfast and lunch, my Nikon D5100, the 70-300mm lens, my regular 50mm 1.8 lens, my Nook, wallet, and even a small canteen of water that I'd meant to empty before walking into the stadium (you can bring an empty bottle to fill, but not something already filled with liquid). All the people around me were carrying... nothing. I felt really nervous, because it seemed like they all knew something I didn't. Well, the security guy who checked me was super lax and/or friendly. He didn't even make me open my bag. He just felt it up from the outside. I even said, "Are you sure you don't need to look inside?" And he laughed and waved me on, saying, "Naw! No one wants to hurt Richard Sherman!" I was like, well okay then.
3) I took my car (actually, a loaner because my car was being serviced) and planned to drive right up to Safeco, then circle out from the stadium to find the closest street parking I could. I'd left early, so I was there by 10:30 or so. As I got right up to Occidental and S. Royal Brougham though, I followed some other cars and soon noticed a sign that said "CenturyLink Parking - $6." I couldn't believe it. What an awesome deal. CenturyLink Stadium is basically across the street from Safeco, and in fact the parking structure I think is closer to Safeco than the Clink. So that was awesome. I texted B. and T. right away, but B. didn't arrive until 1ish and she says that by the time she got there, all the cheap parking was taken. :/ T., however, had also left super early in anticipation of Carmageddon, so she was already downtown as well! Carmageddon, btw? A total non-issue. We took the 90 later and didn't even see any lanes closed. Is it just one big trolling effort by the WSDOT? Maaaaaybe.
Anyway! The game itself! It was possibly -- no, almost certainly -- the best baseball game I have ever been to. Okay, softball game, whatever. I am NOT a fan of baseball... I find it incredibly slow and boring... I guess I am just not cerebral enough to enjoy that sport. But this game was all in good fun, and got really silly in parts, which made it even better.
The 3 things that ended up playing a bigger role in "ruining" our good time than the things we worried about:
1) An obnoxious woman in the stands whose "cheer" involved a really loud and annoying yodeling war cry. Lady, shut up. I even caught it in one of my video recordings! Ugh. I left it out of the video.
2) People were standing for some of the action, and of course there were TWO GIANT MEN in front of us. Why do we always get those people in front of us, why? Why don't we ever get the two dainty girls???
3) Two girls a few rows down who kept standing to record things even when everyone else was sitting. The worst part was that one of the girls wore her hair PILED ON TOP OF HER HEAD, making her even harder to see over! I so wanted to cut it off and throw it out a window, like Elaine did with George's toupee. Unfortunately scissors were not one of the items in my giant backpack... though clearly I could have brought them in with no problem.
4) The two girls who had the seats at the end of our row, who didn't show up until the third inning, made us move with a snotty attitude, then predictably, left after a few pitches and finishing their drinks. The second I saw them I totally called it mentally. I was actually relieved because it meant I'd be able to nab their seats again once they were gone. And they could've told us that they were leaving, since clearly their seats were better than ours and we'd been sitting in them, so that we could have them back, but of course they didn't because they were total bitches. There. I said it.
OK now really, here's some of the photos and video from the event. I took over 400 photos/video, so this is drastically condensed down, lol. I'm pleased with how they turned out, even though I had hoped I could get super close (to see the sweat dripping off their temples!). Of course, given that my backpack wasn't searched, I could've brought that 400mm zoom, but oh well. (For sake of posterity, we were in section 120, row 34, seats 7-10, right at first baseline or whatever you call it.)
Video (4-min compilation of the best of what I caught on video):
Photos:
Here's Safeco a couple of hours before the event. The entire bottom section would fill out, by the end. Total attendance: 22,033.
Richard comes out to greet the crowd.
Tank, who I'd never heard of before this event, was a gem. He was funny and charming, and just seemed like an overall great guy. His rendition of the national athem was possibly the best I have ever heard at a sporting event. I looked for it on YouTube, hoping some other intrepid fan had uploaded it already, as I was lame and didn't record it. No one had, but I found that he's done it at other events, like this boxing match:
When he was done, I turned to B. to express my appreciation, and found that she had appreciated it so much that her eyeballs had started sweating. <3
The pre-festivities included a homerun derby, in which certain players came up to bat, got a certain number of pitches, and their job was to try and hit as many homeruns (with a temp fence that made the field shorter, given they were playing with softballs) as they could.
Richard Sherman at bat:
Kobe Bryant at bat:
Earl Thomas (my favorite Seahawk) at bat:
Russell Wilson at bat (two sets for him, because, well, he's Russell Wilson!):
He hit 10 homers, but was disqualified from winning the trophy due to the fact that he was actually drafted by the Texas Rangers, LOL. So the homerun derby championship had a 3-way tie of 7 homeruns each between Earl, Nate Robinson, and... I think it was Dorell Wright maybe?
Other celebs included Brandon Browner (formerly a Seahawk and LOB member), Nate Robinson (Denver Nuggets guard) - also seemed like a super cool and funny guy, Macklemore, and Dorell Wright (Portland Trail Blazers small forward)
Teams were broken up into the gray team, led by Russell Wilson, and the blue team, led by Richard Sherman.
The gray team consisted of Russell, Earl, Doug Baldwin, Brandon Browner, Richard's brother Branton, Nate Robinson, Dorell Wright, Chris Hansen (the dude who's trying to bring the Sonics back to Seattle), and some others, including the emcee's wife, Jackie. The emcee was Bender, from KISS FM in Seattle. I thought he did a great job. (T., apparently he and Jackie are both emcees and they have a morning program.) Oh and both teams had players from the event's sponsors that no one cared about.
The blue team consisted of Richard Sherman, Bobby Wagner (I love him), Michael Bennett (who once impersonated Russell Wilson in order to get a reservation at a restaurant), Kam Chancellor (who didn't play), Percy Harvin (who didn't play, and B. and I were glad, given that he is rather frail), Jermaine Kearse (I also love him, but he just got engaged so sad face), Kobe, Sidney Rice (who didn't play), Macklemore, Gigi (who the crowd just managed to refrain from loudly booing... there was some quiet booing... I don't even know who she is), and the aforementioned sponsors no one cared about. I'm just being honest here. But I will also give them some credit and say that those nonentities were actually fairly decent softball players.
Before the game started, Earl and Russell got in some practice throws. I think I might have caught one of the very few times he actually smiled! (He's a super intense person.)
Here's some obviously necessary shots of Russell's very nice butt. He's showing off his perfect baseball form! With that and the butt, no wonder the Rangers drafted him!
I have to say, though -- baseball uniforms do no one any favors. These guys are all incredibly fit and lean, and yet they all looked like they had paunches and 40-some-year-old bodies. Weird. Who the hell designs baseball uniforms, and why don't they consult a woman?
As far as I could tell, Doug Baldwin was there to look good in a baseball hat.
He is a favorite of mine, B.'s (especially B.), and T.'s, but seriously. Look at this. :)))) He's totally just enjoying the novelty of wearing a baseball uniform.
Blitz (the Seahawks mascot) tried to give him some pointers, but... it didn't help much. Doug can run like crazy, but that assumes he's hit the ball.
I will give him this... he made an extremely awesome catch early in the game. Sadly B. was on a popcorn run for her son so she missed it, but Doug caught a ball with the tip of his glove. The funny thing was, he and the entire gray team thought it was the third out and started coming in, only to be sent back out because it was only the second. (The weird thing is, I thought it was the third out too...)
Earl played in the outfield, and looked good doing it. Right field... I think. The one closer to first base. I enjoyed watching him gun toward balls, though he was not allowed to hit anyone in his way, which he normally relishes.
Russell played shortstop.
Russell and Earl, just because I took this photo. It exists because of me. The end. (Side note: They are of similar height, wore similar sunglasses, and both had their shirts tucked in. It made them hard to tell apart sometimes from far away!)
And what would a game involving Seahawks be without an altercation of some sort? Something happened in the upper left panel below that started it. Russell tagged Richard, but he wasn't supposed to? Or something? Which of course led to Words Between Teammates.
And of course this. (For more, watch the video. Not being able to play softball to save his life does not stop ADB from shit talking.)
After the game, Earl brought out his adorable little daughter, omg. He walked her around the bases, then put his gloves on her. Sooooooooooooooo cute. I'm not uploading this one to Flickr, because I feel funny making it that broadly public. But I want you guys to see how freaking cute it is, so as a compromise I'm just putting it on LJ. He's said before that she looks just like him, and now I see why! LOL.
Oh! T. also caught some really good images of the big screen. The ones I tried to take didn't come out well -- they were fuzzy and weird, like when you try to take a picture of your TV screen. Hers came out really well though. Here are a few:
Russell just looks like a natural. He better not lose focus though! I love his smile. His attractiveness really comes from what a sweet guy he is.
Earl. <333333333333
I'm particularly glad she caught this moment, because as it was happening on the field -- brief moment that it was -- a person stepped RIGHT IN FRONT OF MY CAMERA. I was so very annoyed. B. said Earl was giving Doug pointers on batting. Haha.
