A Dismal September

This weekend I took Boyfriend to Camden Yards, home of the Baltimore Orioles, to see his Boston Red Sox. I splurged on tickets because very pricey tickets on the third-base line were more attractive than pricey nosebleed seats. And for these other reasons: 1) Boyfriend had yet to experience Camden Yards, one of my favorite stadiums. 2) For the first time in six years, I did not make it to a new stadium this season. (In 2015, I'll be hitting up Yankee Stadium and PNC Park. The dates have been saved.) 3) We've seen eleven Washington Nationals games, including the home opener to their division rivals, my beloved Atlanta Braves, for less than the cost of two tickets to the Red Sox at Orioles game. If we speak in averages, we're doing all right. 4) Then when you consider all I'm saving by not having cable. Last, 5) YOLO.

This was a meaningless baseball game--the Red Sox being among the worst teams in baseball, after having won the World Series in 2013, and the Orioles having clinched their spot in the 2014 Postseason earlier this week--was worth every penny. Even if I was more focused on the ever more important issue--the 8:00 pm start time of the Clemson Tigers/Florida State University match-up. If only my planning wasn't so poor. I was that girl--on my phone--at the baseball game, vomit. I was also busy chatting with K.A.B. for a majority of the game. So I can't tell you much about who did what. Early in the game though, when my attention was primed, David Ortiz, of the Red Sox, was booed walking to the plate. And just one or two pitches later, he launched an in-your-face home run out of the park. There were tons of hits to follow, including three more home runs. The American League can chill out with the hitting, like whoa.

The Red Sox lost and Boyfriend did not even care. He did NOT care. Appalling. You know what? Yesterday, the Atlanta Braves were officially eliminated from the National League wild-card race with their eighth loss in nine games. I could cry. My love runs deep.

Let's talk facts, dismal facts:

• The Braves were swept by the New York Mets this weekend, leaving them a half-game ahead of the third-place Mets. 
• The Braves are an astonishing 15 games behind the Nationals, whom clinched the NL East title conveniently at Turner Field last week. (The Braves were a half-game behind the Nationals in late July.) Enjoy watching Washington in the Postseason, Atlanta.  
• The Braves are three games under .500, a year after winning 96 games and the NL East title.

With a 4-14 record in September, the month winning counts most, the Braves powered down. So much for Choptober... This has been a depressing, hopeless, no fun ride. Wah.

It can and does get worse. Enter, the Clemson Tigers. Had I been asked me if the Tigers had a shot at beating the Seminoles, I might have laughed. But then class act Jameis Winston opened his mouth, resulting in a first-half (and later entire game) suspension, and I felt rather confident about the way things might shape-up on Saturday. I should have known. The Tigers pulled a Clemson, going down in overtime to the backup quarterback. To a quarterback who never thought he'd see the field because he backs up Winston, the current God of the college football. In overtime, the Tigers did not even manage a field goal. So, in September, that concludes this season for C-L-E-M-S-O-N. As a friendly reminder, the Tigers we're soundly defeated by the Georgia Bulldogs to open the season, winning out was essential.

At least the Kansas City Chiefs picked up their first win (and did so without Jamaal Charles). Let a girl hope.