I woke up on November 1st planning on spending my Sunday watching the NFL all day as well as catching the Hawks and World Series game. That all changed as I scrolled through Twitter that morning and saw this:
Somebody go to Game 5 with me! I'll pay for your ticket!
— Spenser Clark (@spenser_clark) Spenser and I have known each other since middle school and he now goes to Howard in D.C. He has always been one of the most avid and passionate baseball fans I know, so I had a feeling he was not joking. Knowing that it would be near impossible for me to get up there anyway, I replied somewhat jokingly to see how serious he was being. He told me if I could find a way to New York City, we would go to the game.
I can’t say what exactly came over me or how I thought at all that I could actually pull this off, but I called my parents to tell them my crazy idea. Shockingly, they egged me on and told me I should call my Uncle, who works for Delta, and see if I could snag a buddy pass. I figured it was worth a shot, and he replied to me within ten minutes telling me that as long as there was availability I could fly round trip to New York City for less than $200. I knew good and well I really did not have the money for the flight or for the expenses that would ensue once I was in New York (food, taxis, etc.) but, I figured this was one of those “It will be worth eating Ramen for three months” opportunities.
As I waited for the go- ahead from my Uncle (the longest 40 minutes of my life) my mom informed me that my dad would pay for my flight. Cue round one of tears. I was so relieved and even more anxious at this point to hear back about the buddy ticket.
At exactly 12:59 PM my Uncle finally called me to confirm that I had a buddy pass for a flight at 3:38 PM, which would put me in New York about two hours before first pitch. That meant that I was flying standby and there was still a very small chance I could not get on this flight, but he convinced me it shouldn’t be an issue. So, I texted Spenser, he bought the game tickets and hit the road for New York as I left for the Savannah airport.
At that point, I was experiencing nearly every emotion in the book: happy, excited, nervous, anxious, worried… I could hardly wrap my head around what I was about to do. My roommate, Savannah, was nice enough to pretty much hop in the car at moment's notice, and drop me off at the airport. She drove away and suddenly I was taking on this adventure alone.
I checked in and got down to my gate with an hour to spare. At 3:00 PM I was informed I had a seat… in first class. I could hardly believe that not only was everything aligning in my favor, but it was even more than I could have asked for or expected.
I landed safely at JFK in New York City at 5:30 PM or so. I had never been to NYC so I wasn’t really sure what to do from there so I just wandered around the terminal looking for somewhere to charge my phone and there I sat for the next two hours. When Spenser finally arrived around 7:30 PM we requested an Uber and headed to the stadium.
Surprisingly, there was hardly any traffic and since we got there 15 minutes before first pitch, everyone was already in their seats and the outside of the stadium was empty, we were able to walk right in without waiting. Mets fans and employees immediately started making friendly jabs at us as Spenser was rocking a KC hat and royal blue pants.
We got to our seats just in time for the game to start. I don’t think I watched an entire pitch the first inning because I was so enthralled with the atmosphere of this game. Leading up to this, the biggest sporting event I had gone to was Game 2 of the NLDS at Turner Field in 2013, which was absolutely amazing, but this was unreal. Every single last seat had a body in it. There were thousands of fans that had standing room only tickets. Everyone was on their feet the majority of the game and it was never quiet (until the Royals comeback in the top of the ninth). The stadium was absolutely electric.
Obviously, we attended a pretty amazing game. We watched the Royals do what they do best- make a comeback- and take the game into extra innings as they clinched their first World Series title in 30 years. After the game, we both were reminded of how great baseball fans truly are as Mets fans congratulated us and other KC fans on a great season, and KC fans did the same in return. Even after the Royals celebration there were a group of Mets fans who stayed until the very end chanting “Let’s go Mets” from the top of their lungs and it was awesome.
I got back to JFK around 1:00 AM and Spenser headed back to D.C. (he had a midterm Monday morning- yikes). I got my boarding pass and went through security around 3:00 AM and headed to my gate. I slept maybe 20 minutes but spent most of my time seat- hopping and walking around to keep alert and stay warm. I boarded my plane back to Savannah at 8:00 AM and landed around 11:00 AM. A sister came and picked me up and I spent the entirety of my Monday sleeping and re- watching my Snapchat story.
I don’t know if I will ever be able to believe it, but it happened, and it was the best experience of my life. My advice: If you ever get offered the chance to go to a World Series (or a Super Bowl, Stanley Cup, NBA Finals, etc.) don’t even think twice about it, just do it. You cannot put a price on an experience like that, trust me.
Here's the video of the final pitch (excuse me screaming for a second):
Amazing 👑 pic.twitter.com/FBPSgIhqnm
— ʝєииα✨ (@schaferwafer) 
