ITS LIKE SOPHIE'S CHOICE. BASEBALL OR MATRON OF HONOR DUTIES?

I need to apologize in advance to SWCNBN. Her wedding is this Saturday and I am totally excited for it. I have been working on my Matron-of-Honor Speech and even practiced saying her name until I think I have it down. (There is an “a” like apple sound and not a “eh” like an old man going deaf sound in the first syllable). Tomorrow morning, I am heading to NJ to spend the day before the wedding with her and get our nails done, have lunch and do all of the fun girly things in which SWCNBN almost never indulges.

And, while I have been counting the days until the wedding for months now, I will be distracted. As most people know, my beloved Mets are playing the in NLCS. My plan was to go to yesterday’s game and get my baseball fix live and in person. Then I was going to watch today’s game on TV and on Friday, there was a day off. All my attention would be devoted to SWCNBN and since Saturday’s game did not start until long after the wedding will have ended, baseball would not interfere with this most special weekend for someone I consider a best friend. But now everything had changed. Last night’s game was rained out and the make-up game is Friday. Oh sure, I can check scores on my cell phone, but it’s not the same thing as being there, or even watching it on television.

I remember 6 years ago; I was still living in Washington D.C. and taking the USAir Shuttle from D.C. to LGA back and forth at least every few days to go to games. The Mets were playing the Yankees in the World Series and I was in town, not for the game, but for a friend’s birthday dinner. (For the life of me, I can not remember why in the world her dinner was in NY. Was she living here? I have no recollection. I think I am losing my mind.) We were going to a restaurant on Madison Square Park, which happened to be across the street from Live Bait, a cool dive bar with televisions that were playing the game. The restaurant at which we would be dining did not have any TVs and so, while everyone else had cocktails and waited for a table and without a second thought, I left the party and went across the street to watch the game. I did not get to see the entire game, but I did see the famous Mike Piazza/Roger Clemens broken bat incident and I have never quite convinced myself that I did not doom the Mets in that game (and ultimately the Series) by leaving to go to dinner.

So now, I am faced with the same dilemma. And this time the choice will be just as easy as it was six years ago. I will stay with SWCNBN and check the scores on my cell phone. If we are hanging at out the house with nothing to do and the game in on television I will watch but if she wants to do something else, I will not ask her to wait “just until the end of this inning” (unless its two outs and the tying run on base or some other exciting moment). I will be the perfect Matron-of-Honor and hopefully, all of the good karma I generate will result in a trip to the World Series for the Mets. And if it does, you can bet I will be watching.