This past week I attended the New York Yankees vs. the Toronto Blue Jays baseball game at Yankee stadium which was cool to attend a professional sporting event since I do not usually attend professional games. It worked out well because I got my ticket through the Marist student programming council at a very cheap price for great seats at the game. I was seated in the Jim Beam suite section at Yankee Stadium which was literally right behind home plate but up towards the "nosebleed" section as the higher seats in stadiums and arenas are called. The seats also came with a great view of the entire playing field and some of downtown New York, which was cool to be able to see some of the city while watching the game. With the tickets came free popcorn and refills on soft drinks, as well as transportation to the city and back by taking a bus, which was nice as I did not have to drive or navigate through the hectic streets of the Bronx, and New York City. The bus dropped me off and everyone else who went on the trip just a few blocks from the stadium entrance which was very convenient.
When I first got there the weather was great with it not being too cold or too warm, and it was sunny which created good conditions for a baseball game with heavy playoff implications until... Literally right after the game before everyone was able to evacuate the stadium, unfortunately the skies opened up and it started to downpour. My friends and I had to book it back to the bus as the weather was so good on the way down to Yankee Stadium that no one had a second thought about not bringing an umbrella or a poncho. Even though we had to make a mad dash for the bus at the conclusion of the game, the Yankees won 5-0 which made it even that more worthwhile to attend the game.
While watching the game I had to do a twitter assignment and send out live tweets during the game and post score updates, any key plays for either team, and whenever a player had a hit for either team. Tweeting during the game was interesting as I had never tweeted before and I thought it would be relatively easy but as the game picked up I found it to be a little more challenging than I first thought. That happened a couple times where I would be tweeting about a play that happened and the players involved in the play, and then another play would occur, which would force me to type faster and to catch up as best as I could with the game. It helped that I was able to follow the game through the CBS Sports app and the MLB.com at bat app, which helped me catch up to the game. It would have also helped if I had a team roster in front of me, but since I am a Yankee fan and am more familiar with their roster it was not as difficult as tweeting about the Toronto players when they made a good play. Through the assignment and through my internship this past summer I learned how helpful twitter can be for sports broadcasters and journalists, as they can find out what is happening with games, if they can't attend the games themselves. Often during my internship I was asked to check twitter for score updates or key plays, and after doing the live tweet event I plan to stay active on twitter as it is a good way to stay informed on what is happening in both the world and sports world.