I Cannot Unsee The Horror I Witnessed at Skydome

Published by Toronto Mike on August 28, 2011 @ 20:46 in Toronto Blue Jays

jays The kids and I had been talking about this afternoon's game for weeks. I bought three tickets for the Jays vs. Rays at the diamond formerly known as Skydome, decked the kids out in Jays gear, and got there early. We don't get to many games, so we cross our fingers and hope for a Jays victory.

The first pitch of the game by Brandon Morrow left the park, and I knew we might be in for a long afternoon. By the end of the second, we were down 5-0, and Rays pitcher David Price was mowing us down on his way to setting a franchise record with 14 strikeouts. It wasn't just ugly, it was the worst Jays loss I have ever witnessed live.

12-0. Twelve freakin' nothing. We ended up striking out 18 times, the most we've ever struck out in a nine inning game. I tried to distract the kids from the horror by hyping up the Pizza Pizza promotion that promises a free slice should Jays pitchers strike out seven Rays. We did, but even that didn't go according to plan...

We left the diamond after an awful 3.5 inning game, and visited a Pizza Pizza to get our free slices. We were then told that we could only redeem our tickets for slices on Monday. I don't remember the public address announcer mentioning that little wrinkle.

Jays Game

Sometimes you get a walk off grand slam, and sometimes you get a 12-0 loss. That's just the way the ball bounces.

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12 comments

12 Responses to "I Cannot Unsee The Horror I Witnessed at Skydome"

CQ
August 28, 2011 / 21:46

Per the picture of your two kids in Blue Jay t-shirts, old logo caps, foam finger, and face paint stripes at the Rogers Centre...
Apparently everyone else did the same, and wore the team color of blue. Actually, they are surrounded by seven empty blue stadium chairs, with five of empty seats in the row right behind them.

Oh well, you can always tell 'em about cheering for the Leafs back in the 1980s. Hopefully they can appreciate the humour later on in life.

Toronto Mike
August 28, 2011 / 21:51

This picture was taken about 45 minutes before first pitch... our area (525) did fill up.

But it's nothing like it was. In the early 90s every seat would be filled for a Sunday afternoon game. Every single seat. Today, there were many 500 level sections where they didn't even sell tickets.

Buffalo Boy Mike
August 28, 2011 / 22:09

probably their worst loss of the season and they are playing a tampa team that is clawing its way back into contention for wild card or first place so Tampa is a pretty motivated team.

dsscpu
August 28, 2011 / 23:03

Mike,

FYI: At ALL Jays, Leafs, Raps, Marlees and even Sens games (yes they run the promotion there as well), the Pizza Pizza promotion is only good the day following the game and NEVER at the arena/stadium. Only a cheese or peperoni slice. The PA may not say it but its how its been for basically ever...

Vito Ramazoni
August 29, 2011 / 04:47

It is common knowledge that all Pizza Pizza winning promotions are not available till the following day.Check it out on your Xboom/HP tab/Ipad/Iphone/Hybrid car/minolta biz hub cam.

Ryan G
August 29, 2011 / 07:27

I can guarantee that Tim - the PA announcer - would have mentioned it.

It's in a script that he simply reads word for word, and i know for a fact that the organization wants to make that caveat very very clear, because there have been problems in the past with thousands of people rushing out after a sat or sun game hoping to get free 'za.

Toronto Mike
August 29, 2011 / 09:25

Regardless of which game wins you your free pizza, redemption day is Monday. So it's not necessarily next day. If the game was Friday night, it would still be Monday.

And the announcer was very clear that it wasn't redeemable at the Rogers Centre. That part I got. He promoted the contest several times, each time I heard it couldn't be used at the Dome, but I never heard that Monday line. Can someone get me his script, please?

Maybe I was living in the past when I'm sure it was "the next 24 hours". I'm sure of it... I remember redeeming it!

Ryan G
August 29, 2011 / 10:09

I'm guessing it got lost in the read or you just missed it. I used to work there as the in game host, and i did those reads live on camera twice a game - usually about 12:30 and in the 7th innning, and i was always told to drive the whole "Monday" thing home.

Now that there's no in game host anymore, i find that since Tim has to do all the reads, they may get lost since you're hearing the same voice over and over. Plus there was the novelty of me doing the hits on the jumbotron with fans all around me losing their minds, so perhaps you'd pay more attention,etc.

Teena in Toronto
August 29, 2011 / 15:02

We watched a bit of it on TV :(

I guess you just gotta know you can't get your slice 'til the next day ... I thought everyone knew.

elvis
August 29, 2011 / 22:21

You're the only person I know who actually redeems his ticket for free pizza.

Alan G
August 31, 2011 / 15:20

Mike, I was at the debacle on Sunday, and Tim did mention that it was redeemable on Monday. I gave my stub to a friend who unlike myself is not on a diet.

One other thing that annoyed me about the game other than the Jays, was the crowd. It was dead. My friend and I were in section 524A and kept trying to get a "Let's Go Blue Jays" chant rolling, but other than a few people in 523, hardly anyone joined us. Not that the Jays would have done much better, but at least they might have known there were people in the stands.

Toronto Mike
August 31, 2011 / 15:29

@Alan G

Wow, we were close. I was section 525... 5th row.

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