Free T-Shirts

The other day, I got an email from a friend of mine to invite me to a Somerset Patriots game. As many of you know, I have become a veteran spectator of New Jersey minor league baseball teams and sort of a baseball snob for New Jersey ball. Muh brother worked full time for the Trenton Thunder -- the AA affiliate of the New York Yankees (Red Sox when he worked there) so I was able to see a lot of their games.

I still get excited that a lot of the guys that I came in contact with during those couple of years are playing ball in the majors right now. It is always hard to not cheer for Trot Nixon even though he is on the evil Boston Red Sox or for David Eckstein simply because I have shook their hands before. There is simply an excitement about every player on that field. One day...Joe Buck might be telling their story on a Saturday afternoon Major League Baseball game on Fox in between subtle ads for the upcoming Fall schedule.

As a direct influence, muh brother has me convinced that the other ball teams in the state aside from the Thunder and the Lakewood Blue Claws (an affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies) just aren't nearly as good. After watching the other teams a bit on television and after attending a ton of Blue Claws games as well, I came to the same conclusion as muh brother.

I don't mean to take away from the players on these other teams throughout the state. The teams they play for do not have any major league ties and are where baseball players essentially go to die. The games are just not as good in terms of quality baseball.

I went to the game because I wanted to spend time with my friend. I wasn't expecting good baseball at all, but I got it. The Newark Bears' pitcher threw a no-hitter. It is funny... he was the opposing pitcher, but by the time he made it to the middle of his 8th inning, the Patriots' fans were even cheering for him. After THREE close calls in the 8th and 9th, he finally threw his final pitch and the game was over. It was pretty exciting and the first "milestone" type of game I have ever seen live.

But I digress for the entire blog so far. I sat down to write about one thing and now I am a bunch of paragraphs in and the only thing close to what I wanted to say is the title.

I remain impressed that every time I go to a professional sporting event, there are free T-Shirt giveaways. They come out and dispense the shirts in a variety of means. At Trenton Titans games, the kids come out and try to throw them over the net and inevitably get boo'ed. Crash also comes out and shoots shirts with a gun. At Thunder games, they use a slingshot. Hell, even muh brother used to shoot the sling shot. At Somerset Patriots games, the guy comes out in his Revolutionary War get up and shoots the shirts into the crowd.

Whatever the method, the result is the same. PEOPLE GO CRAZY! People are jumping up and down and waving their arms for the things. Getting a t-shirt is a badge of honor and we reward our fans for being in the right place and time with clothing. If I walked out there with a basket of Chicken McNuggets, the people wouldn't react that way... there would be a few idiots but for the most part, they would just calmly stand up to catch it.

Have any of you ever caught one of these shirts? 5000 people at a minor league game. Maybe 10 shirts. Who has ever caught one?

P.S. The main draw of the Newark Bears was that Ricky Henderson is playing for them. See what I mean? Where baseball players go to die.