Total let down

Years of hard work, and loyal service, have gotten me nothing but a kick to the nuts. One of my oldest friends, has completely let me down, and I feel our relationship may soon be coming to an end. The Cincinnati Reds, owe me an apology, and some damn opening day tickets. Each and every year, I pull every string I know, tap every resource I can find, to get opening day tickets. Every year, I find a way. Not just that, but every year I go all out. I don’t just go to the game, take score, and then go on my merry way. I do it up right. I buy things, I drink beer, I make a day of it. It’s a social event for me, that I look forward to year round. Usually by about inning 5, I have already chalked that season up as a looser, and start planning out the next opening day. That’ll be the one that matters, I tell myself. Every year, I go through the same thing. I check daily to find out when tickets will go on sale. In years past, we would get up early, wait in line, and find a way to score tickets. one year, we discovered we were going to be way back in line, even though we left very early in the morning, and drove well over an hour to find a place that sold tickets. That year, it was not first come/first serve. They did a drawing to see who would go first. The stars had aligned just right, and they pulled my number first. i had won! For the first time in my life, something good actually happened. Take that Karma! I was the first to get a chance to buy Reds opening day tix. Other years we fell short, but still found a way to get the tickets. At one point, we had found this magical tickets.com location, in an area with almost no reds fans. We would go through the line, again, and again, buying tickets until they ran out. Most times we had more tickets than we could ever use, and sold all the extras. in fact, we would usually get paid to go to the game when it was all said and done. One year, the idiots never actually charged our credit cards. It was a glorious day. Sadly, the reds make it harder, and harder each year to get these tickets. Maybe because they suck really bad, and it’s often the only game worth going to, unless you are in a big group, and get really drunk. Recently, they have done another lottery. If you win they email you an offer to buy a couple tix. One year I actually won that, and they gave me wheelchair companion seats. it was amazing. the legroom was incredible. Sure, I screwed some paralyzed bastard out of his seat, but he gets to pee in a bag, thus bypassing the long lines in the men’s room between innings.  Either way, I do all I can to get these tickets, and this year, I fell short. Normally, I would just say horrible things about the Reds, get really drunk and pay waaay too much for tickets on ebay. Not this year. This was supposed to be my year. This isn’t just any year, this was supposed to be a culmination. The year I finally get some payback for all my hard work. Some recognition for my years of dedication, and wasted money. This was going to be the year, where I got my name on the Jumbo-Tron for going to 10 consecutive Opening Days. But now, I’m just some asshole who wasted the last 9 first mondays of April. This was gonna be my year folks. For once in my life, I was going to taste victory. Though my team would still blow, I was going to have my moment in the sun. I’ve dreamed about it often. looking up, and seeing it there on the big screen, and saying to myself “I was apart of something great”. The Reds honor longtime fans, by putting their names up on the Jumbo-Tron. If you have been to 10 or more straight opening days, they put your name up there, how many years you have been there in a row, and where you are from, for the whole world to acknowledge. I was going to put my name, 10 years, and Turdsville OH up there. Now, like everything else I have dreamed of, that dream is nearly lost. I still have one last shot. They sell these shitty mini-season ticket packages. You get Opening Day tickets, to where ever they have seats left, and then you get to spend the rest of the summer trying to find some dumb bastard to buy the remaining tickets. “Anyone wanna buy upper deck seats for the Reds/Padres game next tuesday”? I usually find some sap to buy the tickets, but it’s hard work. It often means talking to Cubs fans, which I try to avoid at all costs, for germ related reasons. So here I sit, running low on hope, and reasons to go on living. I don’t ask for much in life, and get amused by the small things in life. All I wanted was to get my name on a damned jumbo-tron, and maybe throw a beer onto the field. I love my family, and have gret friends, and an over-all amazing life. But, for the first time, as I near my 30th Birthday, I am losing hope. What had been my biggest dream is about to be taken away. There’s no way in hell, I can start over, not now. I’ll keep my head up, press on, and keep fighting to find these tickets. If I fall short, there might only be one thing to do. Buy a Yankees hat, and punch myself in the balls. At least then I might get to watch my team in the playoffs.