Got my game face on

I am     I am heading into Mazatlan for a baseball game, Mazatlan vs Mexicali. I shower and dress in my city clothes, my hair even looks good, but before  I even leave the house I am sweaty and my hair becomes a frizzy mess, I tame it with hair clips. The breeze on the boat across is so welcome. I walk to central and stop at a cowboy store and buy a grill for my proposed BBQ, I love the cowboy store, it's old style, right out of an old movie....Canadian Tire and Hardware stores must just horrify old people these days. I don't make a fool of myself today, I really have come a long way.

            Central Mazatan is nuts, it's "Al bien fin" weekend*, shops are full of bargain hunters, ladies, with children, ladies with babies, ladies expecting babies, grandmas with babies and children all crammed into little shops and hole in the wall stores. I see bored looking men and young lads sitting on their heels on the sidewalks, leaning against walls guarding bags and strollers with sleeping babies, thank goodness for cell phones, but who are these guys texting? Possibly their single buddies that are going to the ball game or possibly their married buddy that is sitting on the sidewalk one street over...who knows, they are good men, doing their duty. 
ome    Some shops are so small there is people slippage onto the street, I keep walking. I feel the sweat running down my back and into my underpants and at one point I think I feel it running down my leg and onto my feet but it's just the lady next to me spilling her orange pop on my feet as we bump shoulders,  now I am sweaty and sticky. I arrive at my friends house and she offered me some food, I explain the beauty  of the baseball sausage served  with bravo sauce and eaten with a tooth pick, but she insists, I eat anyway. We pick up 2 more friends and we head to the game discussing sausage and hot dogs. We arrived early, just as planned, at the food court I opt for a medium size serving of sausage so that I can have a hot dog too, my friends have tacos...they looked good too but I do have a limit to my ball game food consumption. The sausage did not disappoint, I cannot explain the pleasure. The hot dog** was out of this world, only an absolute genius could do this with a wiener. I've been a Venados fan since my first game in 2000 and even though they are in last place these days, as long as they keep serving sausage and hot dogs I will be a loyal fan. I  been to a game that they haven't won, and so we are of course expecting a win today. In the 7th inning we are ahead 6-1, middle of the 7th the Venados have a meeting to discuss where they are going to go for beer in celebration of their first win in a long time and then in the 9th inning something very bad happened......I dropped my hotdog...of course not, I snarfed that down before the first pitch was thrown...was still licking my fingers though. Things went very very sideways very quickly. My heart went out to the  Venados, I imagined booing and mean name calling coming from the peanut gallery every time I made a mistake at work. I felt so sad for our boys in red. The saying "victory was snatched out of the jaws of defeat"*** was played out perfectly, we lost 6-9. On the way home we discussed how this could all have been avoided had the Venados included us in the meeting they had in the middle of the 7th, we were sitting right behind them, they must have heard us coaching, we had it all figured out. It's 10:30 by the time I get back on the boat to go home, I am amazed at how warm it still is, this is new too. I am informed on the boat that there is a quiceanos and a wedding party on the Island if I wish to party on, I stay up past my bedtime for the Venados only. On my walk home I meet my Mexican sister and we discuss why we are both out this late, my pedicure appointment on Monday and how her brother will be by my house in the morning to start on my BBQ.  I get home and find out I have no water, that is not new. In the morning my neighbour brings me a chunk of fresh tuna, he just came off a tuna boat. I still have no water and neither does anyone else.


     * Al bien fin - http://mazmessenger.com/2012/11/17/news/national/mexican-retailers-lure-shoppers-with-steep-discounts/

                                                                                                               

                       * *The baseball hot dog; a piece of bacon is wrapped around a wiener and is grilled on the            BBQ, on a second grill a piece of ham is grilled, and onions are grilled with a touch of          mustard and soya sauce. Big fresh super soft big buns are heated up in a warmer. The ham is placed on the bun, the wiener with crispy bacon is put on the ham and it is covered with grilled onions, this beautiful thing is handed  to you and you top it with toppings like, red salsa, mushrooms, grated queso fresca, guacamole and of course the old standby mustard and catsup are available.I pass on mustard and catsup.

 *** to suddenly win a contest when it appears that loss is a foregone conclusion, to succeed in an endeavor through reversal of fortune, skill, effort, or good judgment. http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/snatch_victory_from_the_jaws_of_defeat

Baseball sausage, called that because I have only ever  seen them at the stadium 

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