Down in front, please.

I'm a Hoosier, and in Hoosier-land we attend basketball games. It's just the way it is. Basketball is life in Indiana. I can't tell you how many games I attended while living in Indiana; grade school games, high school games, college games, pro games, pick-up games, exhibition games, you name it I was there.

At a basketball game, people sit in their seats and watch the game. When they need to hit the restrooms or freshen their drinks, they wait for halftime. I don't remember ever having to peek around someone walking up the steps during the game unless it was toward the end, and one team was severely ahead. (And that is just another whole blog for another time)

Last night I attended the Tampa Rays baseball game. It was a Saturday summer night concert series where after the game, a headliner comes out to a stage set up in the outfield and performs. The concert is free with a ticket to the game. Because we hadn't been to a game all year and because Big and Rich were performing, we ordered up tickets.

Our seats were a section down from the nose bleeders a tad left of third base. We were seated at the end of the row. In between our section and the next was a tunnel leading in and out of the stadium. Which meant stairs on either side of the tunnel. To watch the game, we had to turn to the right and look over the tunnel. The seats were actually not bad. The indoor stadium is built in a way that every chair I've ever sat in has a good view of the field. That is....if people sit and watch the game!

From the moment we sat down at the first pitch, people were up and down the stairs on either side of the tunnel opening. If they weren't standing up to let others pass through, then they were wandering to their seats or heading down for food. None more so than directly in the row in front of us. Those people came and went at a rate faster than those entering and exiting a ride at Disney World.

First, a tall, twenty-something kid was sitting in front of us. Because he was so tall and sitting at the end of the row, it was difficult for Darcy and me to see over his head. He got up and moved when two men entered the row and sat four seats away from him. We were quite thrilled as it left open the seats directly in front of us.

Not for long, however. Next, came two women who had the seats in front of Madison and me. They sat down with their beers and checked their cell phones. They chatted and giggled. Then they got a call and up and left.

Next up were a pair who sat to the left of the men. After they were seated, in came two ladies with margaritas in their hands. They saw that their assigned seats were taken, so they sat in the vacated seats that the other ladies had left. They were there for about ten minutes and in came a family.

Someone was in their seats down the row so out came the two who didn't belong and in went the family. This caused the two men to move down one space to their assigned seats. This, in turn, opened up the ladies' assigned seats, so they moved. We were wide open once more.

BUT...not for long. In came two more people. They lasted about three minutes, got up, and moved two rows to the right of us. It wasn't empty for long before a lone man got kicked out of his seat two rows in front of us, and he plopped down in front of Madison. He ended up sitting there until the 7th inning, and then he too disappeared.

Three rows in front of us at the end were a couple. They had to get up and down to let people in and out of their row over ten times, and then they got up and down four more times to go and get food and beers.

At one point, during an exciting play, a man came up the stairs wearing only one shoe and reeking of alcohol. He slipped and fell backward, landing on a buxom woman wearing a blond Dolly Parton wig who leaned over the tunnel screaming at someone to help her. The one-shoed man, now lying on the stairs and staring up at us, kept saying in a small voice that everything was fine.

Immediately, two men in blue shirts were up the stairs assisting this man into a seat, which was not the one he had paid for. Two seconds later, security was escorting him out of the seat and back out through the tunnel.

Up and down the stairs on either side of the tunnel came people. They left and returned with beers. They left and returned with piles of nachos, hotdogs, and soft drinks. They left and returned with cotton candy and popcorn. Then they left to hit the restrooms. When they returned, they had more food. All of this happening DURING THE GAME. Not at each changeover. Not during the 7th inning stretch. DURING THE GAME.

It was very annoying, but the more it kept happening and the more we had entertaining nonsense occurring (like the one-shoed man), the more we just had to laugh and shrug. Welcome to baseball. I wondered aloud: Did anyone know the score? Did anyone know who had hit the home runs? Would anyone even bother to come if food wasn't sold?

The Rays won in extra innings, where those of us actually watching the game stood to make sure we got it all. Carlo Pena (whose daughter attends our school) was the hero of the night with his two homers and his batting in the winning run. It made for an exciting game, both on and off the field.

We ended the night watching Big and Rich (I think I was the only one of my family enjoying them) and didn't leave the stadium until after 1:00 PM. A good way, albeit an expensive one, to spend a Saturday night with the family. AS LONG AS YOU ARE SITTING DOWN!