Two notes:
First: his brother, who also makes his father proud, was below and to the right of the frame, teaching himself the drum parts to all the Penn songs (age 8).

Second: the Penn Band Sousaphones rock…

The credits say Adam Sandler, but it sounds more like Weird Al Yankovic at the mic. Maybe Sandler wrote it and someone else sang it? Anyway, let’s hear it for me – another trip around the sun and I haven’t died yet – let’s all eat some cake!

We went to watch batting practice before the game, and got a great spot next to the right-field foul pole. Nick Swisher and Joba Chamberlain, two of the nicest guys on the team, were standing in right field shagging fly balls and then throwing them into the stands. When a ball made its way into the corner and Joba came to retrieve it, he caught my eye. I immediately pointed to my son, Brandon, who was staring wide-eyed at Joba with a big smile on his face. Joba handed me the ball.

This being a year where my kids had to choose who got to go to which game, Brandon was nice enough to call home and tell his big brother, Avery, that Avery could have the ball when he brought it home.

The Yankees won the game and the series, meaning there would be no Game 4. As it turns out, though, it looks like Avery might get a chance to see a playoff game this year after all, as I may have secured a pair of tickets to an ALCS game. My kids and I have a rough life, huh?

Last year, I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to purchase four tickets to the second game of the American League Division Series (ALDS), which turned out to be one of the greatest baseball games I’ve ever seen live – truly a memory my kids, my wife and I will share forever.

This year, things are a little more complicated. First of all, the Yankees didn’t win their division, which means that the ALDS doesn’t begin in Yankee Stadium as it did last year. Instead, it begins with two games in Minnesota and then returns to Yankee Stadium for games three and four. Since it’s a best of five series, if one team wins three in a row, there won’t be a game four, meaning there would only be one game at Yankee Stadium in the whole series.

The second complicating factor is that I couldn’t get four tickets to a single game this year. Instead, I got two tickets to game three and two tickets to game four (refundable if the game isn’t played). My wife willingly bowed out in deference to the kids, meaning I’m all set to take one kid to the first game and one kid to the second game. If there is a second game. Which is not a guarantee.

Further complicating matters is the concept of a “clinching game.” If the Twins and Yankees split the two games in Minnesota, then there would definitely be two games in Yankee Stadium, but the second one would give someone the opportunity to win the entire series. If it’s the Yankees, that would likely be the more exciting of the two games. If one team wins both games in Minnesota, though, then Game 3 is a potential “clinching game” for one of the teams, but if that team fails to win that game, then Game 4 becomes another potential “clinching game.”

So, when I got home from work today, I presented my 10-year old and my 7-year old with the following challenge: you guys work out between yourselves who goes to which game. If you haven’t decided by Friday afternoon, we’ll flip a coin. Oh, and no fighting.

My wife and I had discussed several scenarios on the phone during the day, but never came close to an arrangement that was as fair and well-reasoned as the one my two kids reached on their own:

Avery (the 10-year old), concluded immediately that they should make the decision tonight, rather than wait until Friday to see how the first two games played out, because if they waited, then they’d both want to go to the same game, and someone would be upset. Brandon (the 7-year old) calmly agreed. Then, they went off on their own, produced the following matrix, and presented it to me with their thinking:

The thinking went like this: If they split the two games in Minnesota (rows 3 and 4 of the above matrix), then there are definitely two games, and Avery gets to go to Game 4 (the potential “clinching game”). In return, if the Yankees win both games in Minnesota, then Brandon gets to see the Yankees’ potential clinching game (and possibly the only game played). If the Twins win both games in Minnesota, then Avery gets to see the Twins’ potential clinching game (not as exciting as a Yankee “clinching game”). And, of course, in either of those scenarios, whoever runs the risk of not going at all gets to see the next clinching game (Game 4) if the series goes beyond Game 3.

Then they both signed their names at the bottom of the paper and gave it back to me for safekeeping.

So, to sum up: the next time the United Nations (or perhaps Congress?) needs to settle an argument between opposing interests, they should give my boys a call. But not in October – we’ve got some baseball to watch.

GO YANKEES!!

So, here goes: the story of my watch. First, let us take a moment to pray that the copyright gods are dealing with something much more important (like whether or not Wikipedia can display the FBI’s seal?) OK, let’s go…

About seven years ago, when my younger son was an infant, our family took a trip to Los Angeles to visit some relatives. While we were there, we visited Disneyland. For those of us on the East Coast, Disneyland is a quaint throwback – kind of the Walt Disneyworld prototype, if you will. But heck – we were in the neighborhood and the kids offered a plausible excuse, so off we went.

On Main Street USA, I spied a watch store. At the time, I had been wearing a Mickey Mouse watch that my wife found in Macy’s for about $75. Obviously not a very fancy watch, but I found that I got more compliments on Mickey than all those people with the fancy Rolex watches got on their watches. But this store was different. From the street, I could see artists sitting next to large magnifying glasses, apparently drawing pictures that would be turned into watch faces.

I instantly had an idea. I entered the store and sat down with a fantastic Disney artist by the name of Dave Smith. I told Dave that now that my family was complete (my wife and I had agreed on two children and that’s what we had), I wanted a watch that showed Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, and two baby mice, and over each mouse’s head I wanted the names of my family members – Brian, Sherry, Avery and Brandon. This, I thought, would be a Mickey watch, but also a nice family memento that could be passed down through the generations.

Dave informed me that he could not simply draw two baby mice. Disney artwork needs to be consistent with the “Disney universe,” he explained. At first, I was disappointed. I thought, perhaps, of Donald and Daisy Duck with two of their three famous nephews (Huey and Dewey, but not Louie?). No, Dave informed me – the nephews always appear as a group of three. Dem’s the rules.

But then, Dave pulled out a hardcover copy of The Official Disney Encyclopedia, edited by his grandfather, also named Dave Smith, who was the chief archivist of the Walt Disney Archives for 25 years. Do I know how to pick ‘em or what? From the encyclopedia, we learned that Mickey had two nephews – Ferdie and Morty Fieldmouse, who appeared in the 1934 cartoon, Mickey’s Steamroller (Youtube). Armed with this information, Dave was now free to draw me the watch I wanted: Mickey, Minnie, Ferdie and Morty. One catch, though: Disney needs to approve all original drawings before they can appear on a watch. If I had chosen one of the stock images from the books they had on display, he’d have drawn it for me right then and there, but for a custom job, we had to wait for approval.

I bought and paid for my watch in the store, gave Dave my e-mail address, and walked away with nothing more than a receipt and the anticipation of my new watch. When I arrived home, this sketch was waiting for me in my inbox:

(Attention copyright folks and Disney lawyers: Quick! Look behind you! Someone’s writing Mickey/Minnie fanfic. It looks bad. Better investigate…)

Anyway, Dave explained that since the 1934 cartoon was drawn in the “old style,” he was required to draw the watch picture the same way (Mickey was a bit pudgier back then, his shorts had elastic at the bottom, and his face was more white, rather than skin-toned like it is now. Also, his nephews wore blue “onesies” rather than clothes). Again – all pictures must be consistent with the Disney universe. Impressed, both with their sense of history and with Dave’s drawing, I gave my approval and he submitted it to Disney corporate.

A few days later, I got disappointing news. Disney corporate rejected the image because, despite Ferdie and Morty being Mickey’s nephews, the picture looked too much like a family, and Mickey & Minnie are not permitted to be shown as having children (they are officially “just close friends.”)

Dave offered to refund my money and call the whole thing off, but I was determined not to give up. I did some research, and found that Ferdie and Morty appeared in the 1983 animated short film, Mickey’s Christmas Carol. Ferdie played Peter Cratchit and Morty landed the big role of Tiny Tim. Yes, that’s right – Disney restricts itself to the same “Disney Universe” rules, and they actually assign “actors” to the parts in these cartoons. It isn’t just any little mouse playing Tiny Tim, it’s Morty Fieldmouse of Mickey’s Steamroller fame. This discovery was significant, because it meant that Dave could now draw the mice in the modern style (by 1983, all the characters had graduated to the style we know today).

Still, we had the “looks like a family” issue to deal with. After some thought (and discussion with my wife), I decided to remove Minnie Mouse from the picture. It was, after all, my watch. And while I’d have loved to have all four of us represented, I’d rather have “Daddy and his boys” depicted than no watch at all. Dave drew up another sketch, sent it to me for approval (a resounding “Yes!”) and then obtained approval from Disney corporate. Some weeks later, the watch arrived in the mail, along with an 8×10 original ink drawing of the picture that was eventually miniaturized for the watch. Here’s the drawing in full, glorious color:

…and here’s the watch (as best as I could photograph it):

You’ll note that below Mickey’s feet is the word “Brian” (that’s me!), and that Ferdie and Morty are wearing T-Shirts that say “Avery” and “Brandon” on them. Dave thought the T-Shirts would look better than having their names floating above their heads and, of course, he was right!

One last detail, just to prove that the folks at Disney don’t miss a single thing. Here’s the clasp:

EPILOGUE: Years later, we were in Walt DisneyWorld in Florida, and the wife and kids went off on a bathroom run. Left by myself for a few minutes, I noticed the equivalent watch store, also on Main Street USA. I wandered in and showed one of the artists my watch. His eyes lit up like a schoolboy on Christmas Day. “May I see that?” he asked. I took the watch off and handed it to him, and he put it under one of those large magnifying glasses and examined it thoroughly. He then told me that he wished they’d let him do that kind of work in the Florida store, but because of the much higher traffic volume, they only offer a selection of pre-drawn scenes. Customers select one from the sample books and the artists draw them on the watches. I was suddenly even more glad that I had taken the time to get my watch when I was in California. Truly a one of a kind…

• June 30 – Went with my Dad to see the Yankees play the Mariners at Yankee Stadium. The kids couldn’t come along to this one because they had camp the next morning, and also because we got the tickets from a source other than our usual one and there weren’t enough seats for them. That’s OK, though – I’ve been going to Yankee Stadium with my father for more than 30 years, so it’s good to add yet another memory. Even if the Yankees did lose a yawner that night…
• July 3 – Taking the kids to see the Washington Nationals play the New York Mets in Nationals Park in Washington, DC. A new baseball stadium for all of us (just so happens to be a New York team visiting), plus the latest rookie phenom, Stephen Strasburg, is pitching. And we get to spend a fun afternoon with our friends from Virginia. Should be a great day…
• July 11 – “Family Day” at the Staten Island Yankees. Minor league baseball is fun once in a while, especially with the kids. The game is much more accessible – the players are closer, the stadium is smaller, and the minor league teams tend to involve the fans a lot more (most of them let the kids run around the bases after the game is over, for example). We’ve never seen the Staten Island Yankees play, so this should be a treat. Also, a chance to spend some time with another group of (Yankee-fan) friends.
• July 23 – Yankee Stadium, this time, with the kids. We try to go to about one game per month, the Yankees’ schedule and our kids’ ever-growing schedules permitting. Our last game was May 31st, Avery’s 10th Birthday, so we’re a little overdue this time. But the other games (above) should more than make up for it.

The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of streamrollers. It’s been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt, and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game, is a part of our past, Ray. It reminds us of all that once was good and could be again. Oh, people will come, Ray. People will most definitely come…

It also has a place of honor on the top menubar of this site, in case you lose the URL and need a fix of ballfields and funny houses.

In the spirit of encouraging young bloggers, if you’re reading this and are so inclined, please take a peek over there, rate some pictures (Funny, Cool, or Interesting), and maybe even leave a comment. I’m sure he’d get a kick out of that. Thanks!

Our own, personal fireworks came in the middle of the fifth inning when, unbeknownst to Avery, we added his birthday to the list of “Fan Marquee” announcements they make each game:

Click on the picture above for some great shots of a great afternoon at the ballpark…

How cold was it? This cold:

Click on the frosted mouse ears above (or click here) to see 57 of the 400 pictures I took over six days. And be thankful I spared you all the video…

See ya’ real soon!