Take me out to the ball game!

So tired, but three beers = late bedtime and no amount of Tums Ultra will change that. In any case, what better time than the last hour of my Birthday Week to review what I'm thankful for?

• Why I have the best boyfriend in the world. You'd think after two years of hints, someone in St. Louis--where Cardinals gear is as ubiquitous as humidity and bad hair--would've bought me so much as a lousy t-shirt. You would, unfortunately, be dead wrong. It takes a complete alien to sports fandom to throw himself into the breach and buy me a shirt fit for a rabid fanboy. Two, in fact--one for everyday wear and one for special occasion. Like what?
• Why I have the best brother in the world. How about tickets to one of the hottest match-ups of the season? The Cubs, first place in the Division for the first time in a very hot year (which is to say, for the first time in years). The World Champion Cards, within striking distance of them for the first time in a rather dismal year. And us, in the penultimate row of the upper deck. (Thank goodness there are no bad seats at Wrigley Field!) And he wasn't even going to let me pay!
• Why I have the best sister-in-law in the world. Sometimes it's as simple as saying, "Lunch at Meinl before the game?" Or letting me take her husband out for bar food and wet fries even when that wasn't what she'd been planning for.

All in all, a fantastic day. Sure, it rained intermittently. But if I have to be cooped up in a ball park for six hours, there are so many worse choices than the Friendly Confines. (Miller Park probably isn't one of them, but I'd have to go to each a few more times to be sure.) And, as much as love him, bunj probably shouldn't be allowed to watch the Cardinals play. Three games I've gone to with him against three different teams in three different parks, and they've lost every time. (I know it can't be me because I saw them stomp the Astros on their home turf.)

But I don't ask that my team win every time, only that they play hard. Which they did. One less bad call (Pujols safe, you jackass!) and one fewer rain delay (Who stops the game in the middle of a count? Who schedules an afternoon game for 2:55 p.m. in the first place?), and it would've been--as they say--an entirely different ball game. But it was close until the very end and I can't say I was ever bored. When nothing was happening on the field, there was always plenty going on in the stands.