Anyone who’s been to a major sporting event knows that there’s more to the experience than the sport itself.
Video boards display highlights and stats to keep us entertained when there is a break in the action, concession stands offer us tasty treats so we don’t get bothered by a rumbly in our tumbly, and free giveaways get us on our feet and cheer our hearts out.
All of this brings me to Citizen’s Bank Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the home of the Phillies.
Monday night’s baseball game between the Phils and St. Louis Cardinals was just like any other game. Peanuts and cracker jacks, home runs, strikeouts, errors and a diehard fan getting hit in the face by a flying hot dog.
Wait, what?
Kathy McVay was sitting behind home plate when the Phillie Phanatic, the team’s lovable mascot, fired a hot dog from his launcher that struck her in the face.
McVay never saw it coming, telling a local TV station that the hot dog “came out of nowhere.”
Despite suffering a small hematoma in her right eye, McVay says she is not planning legal action against the ball club, but she does want fans to pay attention when there is a break in the action.
The Phillies, by the way, have apologized to McVay, and have offered her tickets to a future game.
I say they have her throw out the ceremonial first pitch at that game and give her all the hot dogs she wants, just not with the launcher.