Happiness Happens Day: Spreading Joy at the Stadium

Before I went to the game tonight, I checked on Jason Botts' status (off the 7-day DL) and also saw where Corey Brown was named IL hitter of the week.

Tonight was Latino night at Alliance Bank Stadium. TV Stevie and I arrived in plenty of time to hit the fiesta in the Hank Sauer room (complete with a band). Good food, good music, good time. 

Interesting jerseys in honor of Latino night.

1st base coach Seth Bynum
wearing Latino Night Jersey

Maven wasn't at the game (that anyone could see). We're starting to worry about him. He does not miss games. This makes two in a row.

Tonight's popular rumor: Strasburg will be pitching in Syracuse next week.


First base coach wave:

• Seth Bynum -- wave and smile in the 2nd inning
• Jeff Frazier -- big smile and wave in the 5th inning

Carlos Maldonado watch: we didn't see him at all.

Jason Botts watch: We actually got him to smile and wave to us in the middle of the fifth.

Great home runs by Lombardozzi, Marrero and, Antonelli. The Chiefs won!

And while there was fabulous baseball at the stadium tonight, there was something else going on along the first base side. During the sixth inning, TV Stevie said to me, "Look! They're throwing ice cream!" Sure enough, two men in section 105 were tossing ice cream sandwiches into the crowd.

Jim Durkin, who usually sells ice cream sandwiches during the game, told us these men bought 72 ice cream sandwiches from him and were giving them away.

Turns out they'd only just begun.

Ice Cream Sandwich on
net behind home plate

One sandwich was tossed onto the net behind home plate. Another hit Durkin on top of his head. We saw a kid catch his in his baseball glove.

By the time these two fellows were through, they'd purchased around 300 ice cream sandwiches (5 cases), all of which they tossed into the crowd, including to people up in the 3rd level general admission seats.

When they were done, they came over to talk to us. Turns out they are a doctor and a dentist from Canada (near Kingston, Ontartio) who came to Syracuse so the DDS wife & MD girlfriend could shop at the Waterloo Outlet Mall. The women deserted them when they started throwing ice cream from the first box. "That's okay," quipped the MD. "I think I've got a key to the hotel room." "I'll lose all the money in the divorce anyway," added the DDS. "I may as well spend it on ice cream."

 










It seems these two visit an American city with a major league baseball club every year. They like baseball, and are Toronto fans, but claim their countrymen don't get into the game the way Americans do. Canadians are into hockey (big shock there!).

 MD told us he'd visited Syracuse one other time, when he was 16 and he'd come to a game at the old MacArthur Stadium, but that this was his first minor league game as an adult, and he loved it.

Tonight was not the the first time they'd purchased something at a ballpark to toss into the stands for the fans. The ice cream sandwiches work much better than cotton candy . They discussed doing beer the next time.

As TV Stevie and I were driving home, he commented that he'd never seen anything like it before. These two strangers came into our town and spread joy at our stadium. And you know what? He's right. And you know what else?  Today is Happiness Happens Day, and MD & DDS made happiness happen at Alliance Bank Stadium tonight.