AJC > Sports > Braves > Blog > Archives > 2006 > September > 06
Wednesday, September 6, 2006
7 Train to NL East title town
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
On 7 train, headed toward new home of NL East division championship….
Three levels down in Grand Central Terminal…. Couple of underground stops…. Now surfacing from tunnel beneath the East River…. Is this still Manhattan, or Queens? Can’t tell from map. Too bumpy. Can’t open map; too geeky….
Endless warehouses with broken windows …. “Now we’re moving on up, to the East Side,” in my head…. Peeling paint on subway platforms…. Graffiti covering satellite dishes on top of apartment buildings rung with barbed wire….
Hand-painted sign for dentist office…. Graffiti covering empty billboard frames…. So many folks still have those metal TV antennaes. Or just left on top of buildings?….
Dude on guitar sits on floor in train. Sings anti-Bush, anti-war song. “Say a prayer for the troops,” he says. Collects $3 in tips. Moves to next train car….
Remarkably detailed graffiti. How many hours? Covers entire side of building…. “Raekwon” spray-painted across entire top floor. I hear that Wu-Tang Clan ain’t nothing to f*&$ with….
“Medicina General” on metal sign of clinic, beneath subway platform…. Junction Blvd. stop …. 103rd Street-Corona Plaza…. entering heart of Mets country…. 111 Street…. There it is, on left. Ahhh, yes. Huge, ugly, blue. “Shea Stadium” in white letters, above stick figure of ballplayer (neon lit at night … 1970s)….
Shea Stadium parking lot…. Next to Auto Glass, Auto Body, Brake Repair, Transmission Repair …. Dozens and dozens of auto shops. Each has garage door covered in graffiti….
Ticket counter…. Girl in Beltran jersey. Guy in Franco jersey. John, not Julio. Guy in Yankees Jeter jersey? Whatever, amigo (as Julio F. would say)….
Show bag to security. Doesn’t look in (Atlanta security officers act like 9/11 occurred in Atlanta, while Shea and LaGuardia security shrug shoulders, relatively speaking….)
Braves clubhouse, quiet. Chipper playing cards. Few guys on couches, watching SportsCenter. One reporter….
Mets clubhouse, crowded. Dozen reporters. Julio Franco on couch, demonstrating flex pose to young teammate. Wide-screen TV… Univision news…. Glavine holding court with reporters…. Billy Wagner. Pedro. Lo Duca. Delgado. Beltran. Shawn Green….
Omar Minaya, one interview, then another. In Spanish. In English. Man has stamina….
“If they were to give a Pulitzer Prize in baseball,” Minaya says (knows his audience), “Bobby Cox and John Schuerholz and the whole Braves organization would deserve the Pulitizer Prize. They would win in a landslide…. I can’t say enough positive words about the Braves. All baseball people see them as a model for success….”
Clubhouse closing, 45 minutes to first pitch. Elevator stuck at upper deck. Take ramps. Back and forth, back and forth, to press level…. Tired. Long week…
Feels like fall. Like October. Maybe closest Braves will get to that feeling this year….
Let’s play two.
