I was having my Shawshank moment. I found myself so excited I could barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. Only my destination wasn’t Zihuatanejo, it was Pittsburgh. And I wasn’t going to see Andy Dufresne, I was going to see Steely McBeam. It was hour three of the annual six-hour ride from New York City to the Steel City, we had just past Shartlesville, Penn. (hehehe...Shartlesville), and my brother Mike, Baseball Tonight’s own production assistant Micah, and I were brimming with anticipation for the mid-week celebration of baseball, golf and lame football mascots. Here is an account of the trip.

Tuesday

4:00 pm – About an hour out of Pittsburgh, we turn on ESPN Radio. Mark Madden is your afternoon dive-time host. It came as no surprise that the topic of conversation was the Steelers, even though training camp hadn’t even broken. What was surprising was the actual issue being discussed: the Steelers long snapper. Steelers fans are a completely different animal.

So we turned it to the FM dial hoping to hear some rock. After soaking in some Pearl Jam, the deejay comes on and starts talking about Steelers guard Alan Faneca. What a city.

5:00 pm- We check into the Marriott Spring Suites Hotel, which happens to be directly across the street from PNC Park. This is not an exaggeration. It takes literally 25 steps to get from door to door.

6:00 – If I had a choice of which stadium the new Yankee Stadium should be designed after, it would be PNC Park. This is my third time here, and I am still blown away by how nice it is. The view of the skyline, the efficiency of the design, the ability to see the game from everywhere in the stadium, it just doesn’t get any better. And to top it all off, we have tickets in the front row for all three Mets-Pirates games, which only cost 26 bucks each. Good times.

7:00- Game time. El Duque going up against Ian Snell, the Pirates’ “ace.” We are informed that tonight was Intellectual Disability Night, which made it appropriate that we were in attendance. My 27-year-old brother Mike was as giddy as a 10-year-old, and I think he forgot his Adderall. To top it off, he brought his glove to the game, something that I cannot stress to him enough should be stopped after you reach Bar Mitzvah age, no matter how close you are to the field.

8:15 – Reason No. 467 why PNC Park is awesome: They actually put thought into promotions. For example, every night there is a trivia contest for one lucky fan. Whether they answer the question correctly or not, they get a choice of either prizes like a jacket or hat, or they can choose the mystery box, which could have anything from season tickets to a stick of gum. I have yet to see someone not choose the box. Tonight, the mystery box revealed a Mr. T air freshener. Chuckles were shared by all.

9:10 – You know your baseball team is in trouble when you overhear one of the ushers saying: “This Phelps guy sure can hit a ball. He would be great as a full-time guy.”

10:00 – The Mets win a fairly entertaining game after El Duque throws roughly 521 pitches. Around the ballpark people don’t seem too upset; they hang out at Hi-Tops, the sports bar across the street, and drink to drown the sorrows of Pirates baseball.