We all wear many different hats in our daily lives, be it parent or sibling, boss or employee or even friend or enemy. Each hat requires us to act a certain way, or perform certain responsibilities Most of us try to keep our hats separate (never bring work home, never take home stresses to work) but sometimes we have no choice. Sometimes, we just have to perform overlapping responsibilities.
Such was the case for me this past Saturday. When the schedule was released I knew immediately I would be in trouble. The Yanks were scheduled to take on the Blue Jays at 4pm. Sometime during the 2012 season, my youngest sister and her fiancee chose that evening as their wedding date.
Had the game been a normal 1pm Saturday start, I wouldn't even be writing this blog. I would have worked the game and made it to the evening wedding with plenty of time to spare. But, for some reason, it was a 4pm game (that was NOT aired on FOX). Being a member of the wedding party required me to arrive in Commack, Long Island (about an hour away from the stadium) at 5pm for photos.
Not good.
As many of you know, one of the hats I wear is of small business owner. I create/design/sell sports apparel geared to the passionate and hard core yankee fan (also known in some circles as The Bleacher Creatures). My point of sale location is outside of Billy's Sports Bar, right outside of the stadium on River Ave. We are open every game day, and this past Saturday (being sunny and warm for the first time all season) was a day that I couldn't afford to miss (it's not like I can just add another game to the schedule and make up the work some other day).
Since I was going to be in the Bronx all day, there was no way I was going to work all morning and skip out on Roll Call. But I was still going to be pretty pressed for time, so I did what anyone else in my position would have done. I put on my tuxedo, did the roll call, and high-tailed it out of the Bronx for the wedding!
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| Cleans up nicely |
It was, without a doubt, my shortest trip to the stadium. I don't believe I actually even sat down in my seat. I was in, screaming, then on the road in what seemed like minutes. Thankfully, I made it to the wedding in time (I missed some of the photos in the Groom's Quarters while the Groomsmen were getting ready, but I made it in time for all of the group photos).
The wedding was awesome, and it was such a relief to have made it in on time. I was able to keep my responsibilities as a business owner, as a yankee fan, and most importantly, as a brother, intact. It all just happened to work out well, and I wouldn't have been able to do it without a lot of help. First, George (and my webmaster Craig) held it down at The House of Tees in my absence. Tracy and Nick at The Yankee Bar and Grill helped out by housing all of my gear (tables, shirts, display) in the bar overnight. And the guys at the parking garage, who usually bury my van deep in the lot as I'm usually the last to leave, left me a nice open lane to maneuver my van out of the lot. Without all of those guys kicking in a little bit of extra effort, I would have never made it, so to each of those guys, Thank You.
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| With the beautiful bride |
My good friends at MLB's CUT4 were also on hand to film the Roll Call and were nice enough to post this little story about my day here.
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