Don't be a jerk!

The people at M&T Stadium must be my kind of parents, and they definitely have a handle on crowd control. My husband and I took the twins to a Ravens game today, courtesy of free tickets from his company. During the opening ceremonies, or whatever the hoopla before the game is called, there was a long lecture about how to behave ourselves. We were informed that disruptive people would be ejected from the game and that second offenders would lose their season tickets. Then the lecture was summed up with a giant "DON'T BE A JERK," which all of the regular attendees shouted along with the announcer. I so want to ingrain that in my kids, too.

Unfortunately, some of my fellow attendees must have been late to the game and missed the reminder. I took girl twin to the bathroom for a diaper change, and no fewer than 4 people took it upon themselves to tell me that my daughter was not dressed appropriately for the weather. For the record - it was 55 degrees out with no wind or rain, and she was wearing a long-sleeved, long-pants onesie under fleece underalls under a hooded jacket plus socks and slippers and a goddamned blanket. Frostbite was not a danger. Oh, and? NOT YOUR BUSINESS. Seriously, what is wrong with people??? I wish I had had the presence of mind to repeat the Ravens' advice and tell each of them "don't be a jerk." Jerks.

Other than the jerks, I had a wonderful time. I have only recently (read: since I started winning the football pool) become remotely interested in football, and it was a lot of fun sort of understanding the game and feeling the energy of all the insane fans. It was all the more surprising because the day didn't start so auspiciously. We spent an hour looking for parking, during which we drove by "lots" that looked to be temporarily converted industrial driveways with obvious ex-cons (not all that ex, either, from the looks of things) holding handwritten, misspelled cardboard signs advertising parking for only FORTY DOLLARS. Over half a mile from the stadium. In a neighborhood so bad it has been largely responsible for Baltimore's reputation for violence. One of the "lots" had an OPEN FLAME leaping from a rusted tin of some sort directly in front of the cars parked there. I'm guessing the "not responsible for valuables left in cars" warning is implicit here. We parked over a mile in the other direction, but for only ten dollars.

I would like to point out that I had a nearly perfect day and still managed to post almost exclusively about the two things in the whole day that pissed me off. That, my friends, is dedication to one's craft.