This has been a Monday like no other. Rather than the usual doldrums that accompany the morning alarm clock, my depression had set in well before the news came on bright and early. Last night I said goodbye to a very, very old friend. The thing is, I wasn’t saying goodbye for the year as I embark upon my yearlong journey in London, I was saying goodbye because this eighty five year old friend was going to be dismantled in favor of a brand new one.
With teary eyes, I said goodbye to a place that became home. A place in which I have spent countless hours throughout my childhood. A place where tears of joy and pain have been spilled. A place where the ghosts literally come out and move you to greatness and twenty six world championships. Yankee Stadium is gone, and I don’t truly know if it will be for better.
The last time I wrote to you was during the stadium’s all star game celebration. The city I call home was put on display for the world to pay its respects to the most influential stadium in American history (and I could provide an argument that it could rival the Roman Coliseum as the most influential stadium in world history). Now, as I stand on the precipice of one of the most exciting years of my life I am dealing with what feels like a different goodbye. If you had invested all those hours inside that building you would understand how much of a loss this destruction feels like. I do know that the new Yankee Stadium will be fancier than the old, but the spirits that inhabit that sleeping giant at the corner of 161st and River Ave. will forever make the old what it was, the greatest place in the whole world.
It seems fitting that this week before my real departure I was able to say these goodbyes. It gives a sort of finality to this, the longest summer of my life. I have not attended a class (read: used my brain) since the beginning of May. Now I can go to England with the finality of all finalities, the closing of the Stadium. My time in New York has real closure.
I already wrote all my memories of all those times at the stadium in my last blog post. I know the readers probably already are saying, “Jeez, more Yankees?” so I see it time to switch my tack and describe some more of my pre-departure thoughts.
I spent the past week in Los Angeles visiting my two best friends who are students at the University of Southern California. I have grown up in New York and attended school in Washington, D.C. The culture shock of the opposite coast was enough to drive me bonkers. Kids were screaming “Bro” and “Dude.” Handshakes were crazy enough to the point that I felt like I had been living under a rock for twenty years. Awkward is not strong enough to describe my feelings. If I felt this cultural disconnect in my own country, how in the world am I going to deal with one that is truly one hundred percent alien?
At a concert earlier this summer, the band, hailing from Scotland, decided to address the crowd in such a thick accent that my friend and I were left scratching our heads. “What’d he say?” I screamed. The response I received was a shrug of the shoulders and “Doesn’t matter. Music’s good.”
I know these two anecdotes are more amusing than anything else, and I don’t really have any worries about what the next year will bring, but it is interesting to think that the same language does not lead to the same experience. If you can have cultural disconnect within the same country, I cannot imagine what it will be like in another. From the moment I get to London I know I will be able to assimilate into this foreign culture without a problem, and, if I’m lucky, eventually understand the language.
I will stop before I get too long-winded. Here are some pictures of another amazing sporting event that I got to attend. I saw my first big time college football game from LA between the USC Trojans and OSU Buckeyes. The number one ranked Trojans easily dispatched the fifth ranked (at the time, they have since dropped to the teens) by a score of 35-3. I have attached shots of the LA Coliseum, host of two Olympic Games, a video of the insanity that is pregame, and the Los Angeles skyline on my last evening.
My next communication will be from London. Till then I leave you with Traveler…
1 Comment to "Goodbye Old Friend. I will miss you…"
Joe, that was incredible. Your goodbye to Yankee Stadium was truly touching; I almost shed a tear. Had it been about Shea, you probably would have gotten a few.
It was great having you here last week, I loved spending so much time with such a great guy. It actually feels strange that you’re not here anymore (TRANSFER).
I look forward to reading about your crazy escapades, I’ll miss you bud. Have a blast, see you in December.