Project Recharge: Day 2: The Greatest Day Ever!: Part 2

Upon leaving the Ben & Jerry's factory we knew we had to stop somewhere for dinner as we were carrying our grill around with us all day. We drove around Vermont for another half hour until we reached the University of Vermont, when the guesses started being shouted out. "Hot-air ballooning" one person shouted out as we pulled in Centennial Field. "A soccer match" another shouted out, as we passed a soccer field en route to our final destination of the day, a Vermont Lake Monsters (Nationals) vs. Lowell Spinners (Red Sox) minor league baseball game. After getting permission to BBQ in the parking lot, pulling the "we are kosher" card, Josh "Chip" Kirschner fired up the grill (almost blowing his face off). You name it we had it - burgers, dogs, spicy dogs, chicken, condaments, chips, drinks. A quick but deep חבורה from Josh "Freddie Haynes" Brooks and a lot of food later we embark on a life changing night.

Upon entering the stadium, we were shown to our seats in the 1st row! From the get go we were ready to rock. It was decided to choose one player and make him "our guy" for the night. Too excited to wait we chose the first Lake Monster player up to bat, #5 the short stop Blake Kelso. The chants started with Adam "Bill" Friedman leading the way with "I say Blake you say Monsters...Blake-Monsters, Blake-Monsters!" The chants evolved throughout the night from chanting Blake to the tune of Gary Glitter's Rock and Roll Part 2,

to the famous Lubavitch niggun, Nyet Nyet,

which eventually evolved into the ultimate, a Mike Sohn chant.

And then it happened, a high fly fastball in the air behind home plate right too us, with Rafi "Gordon" Goodman making the snag, for the first of many times that night. Each time the חברה rallied in chanting "give it to a kid" in which each time Rafi was forced to hand over his souvenir to another grateful child. One of the lucky "ball-getter's" was a yid from Chicago who happened to have been visiting on business.

Another "ball-getter" was a little girl from last year's destination Willits, CA, who was visiting with her family. We found out later that they were yiddin too! השגחה!

As the game progressed we were granted the opportunity of a lifetime, a chance to support the University of Vermont's woman's hockey team by entering a 50/50 raffle. After Akiva "Dale" Milgraum bought multiple "arm's length's," we waited until the 7th inning stretch for the winner to be announce, but we fell short.

ּBut we didn't let that get us down, as we sang Neil Young's Sweet Caroline loud and proud, eventually earning us a shout out from the announcer later on in the 7th inning stretch.

As the game came to a close, with the Lake Monsters being defeated, we were offered free tickets to Saturday's game but proudly had to decline due to שבת. But we were granted a run around the bases and all received balls which were inevitably "given to a kid."

Jayson Hernandez, the catcher for the Spinners, Lazaro Gutierrez, the pitching coach for the Spinners, were kind enough to give us a shout out and a hat tip, respectively.