2002-05-08
Ode to Janine, posted at 3:20 p.m.
Epiphany in Baltimore has moved to epiphanyinbaltimore.blogspot.com Before she becomes only a ghost in memory, I wanted to write about Janine. No, not Janine who is the new diaryland pseudonym for Eleanor after her new Janine Turner style haircut. No, I'm talking about Janine the New York Yankees fan, a woman who I will never forget as long as I live.Okay, so Josh, Felicia, Scott, and I arrived at the Yankees game about a half-hour early, and sat down in our nosebleed seats and awaited the National Anthem. A few minutes before it was played, a 50s-ish woman came up the staircase. She was walking sort of funny, bent over and hobbling. At first, I tought she may be handicapped.
Nope. She was walking funny because of the three bottles of Budweiser she had smuggled in the stadium in her tight jeans.
Josh and Felicia struck up a conversation with her about them, and she said that it was much cheaper that way. We also learned it was her birthday, and that her name was Janine.
We didn't realize just how special Janine was until after the game started. This woman was an absolute riot. A quintessential stereotypical New Yorker, she had profane mouth and an intensity that I both admired and ridiculed.
For the first half of the game, it was pretty much all ridicule. She was a riot. I laughed every time she screamed something. Whenever she called Jason Giambi a fucking bum. Whenever she lit up an illegal cigarette. Whenever she cracked open another beer.
Towards the end of the game, I respected her a lot more. I've only been to Tigers and Orioles games over the last few years, and those teams are pretty bad so I haven't experienced much intensity from the fans. It was nice to see. Even though I am a card-carrying Yankee hater and was rooting for the Mariners, I was actually hoping at times that the Yankees would score a run here and there.
We eventually ended up buying Janine a birthday beer, learning about her past (she used to be married, when she lived in "Indian-o-place"), and talking a bit with her son, who had brought her to the game. She was a hilarious and dedicated. I respect her.