How New Yorkers and Bostonians spend the Fourth
ByLater this afternoon I’ll make the death trip. After the game ends I’ll take my packed bag and head to, gulp, Penn Station, where I’ll grab a train out to Jersey for weekend festivities at various relatives’ houses. It’s the way I spend most Fourth weekends. Horseshoe tournament in South Jersey, poolside BBQ in North Jersey. The only downside is that so many other people are escaping the city that it makes for a madhouse at Penn and Port Authority.
That’s what New Yorkers do, though. On holiday weekends we escape the heated confines of the city and traipse the suburbs for the weekend. Then, of course, we return to the city and thank our lucky stars that we don’t actually live there. Suburbanites should not be offended — it’s just the mentality of living in the city.
While this means a frenzy at the public transit stations, it means fewer people clamoring for Yankees tickets. As you can see in the graphic below, tickets for the game on the Fourth are actually a bit lower than they are for the rest of the season. In Boston, however, it’s a different story.
Yes, in Boston the game is the attraction. I guess people don’t flee to other parts of Massachusetts during the weekend. No, they’re demanding Sox tickets even more. I’m sure this has something to do with Fenway being perpetually sold out, but it also probably relates to Bostonians not fleeing the city like New Yorkers.
If you’re looking for tickets for this weekend, make sure to check out RAB Tickets.
Also, we’re running a contest in conjunction with TiqIQ. You’re going to have to get creative to win this one, because it’s a pretty simple question. The more elaborate story, the better chance you’ll have.
Where are you going to watch the game on the Fourth?
Answer in the comments. Most creative/elaborate/hilarious will win a $100 eBay gift certificate.
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“That’s what New Yorkers do, though. On holiday weekends we escape the heated confines of the city and traipse the suburbs for the weekend. Then, of course, we return to the city and thank our lucy stars that we don’t actually live there. Suburbanites should not be offended — it’s just the mentality of living in the city.”
ha, loved that part. Nailed it.
Bostonians very much do flee the city. Mostly to Cape Cod (or NH to buy fireworks). I, however, will be heading to a tiny “town” in Vermont (technically a town, but it’s really just like six houses in a roughly 5 mile by 5 mile area) called Pownal. It is the exact middle of nowhere. 3 hours from Boston, 3 hours from Burlington, 5 hours from NYC, 3 hours from Albany, 6 hours from Montreal. Yay.
The only downside is that so many other people are escaping the city that it makes for a madhouse at Penn and Port Authority.
Actually, I’d say there’s less people there on holiday weekends. NJ Transit trains tend to be far less packed than normal. Probably around half the normal ridership.
Of course, a large portion of the people that are in the station are pulling around luggage bags on wheels, have no concept where they’re going, and are completely oblivious to the fact that there are other people in the station as well. So it gets annoying…
Maybe tomorrow it will be less packed, but the Friday before it normally a madhouse in my experience. Which is why I should have waited until tomorrow.
What time do you normally leave?
I live in Jersey and have worked in NYC a lot, so I always take the peak hour commuter trains. Maybe if you’re going at other times its different?
I’ll be at the game on Sunday. Woo. Anyone else?
I wont be at the game. Recently, I began receiving strange emails about a computer program that seems to be running behind every computer-based system in the world. I tried to get more information on this and was stopped cold entirely. It almost seemed like some entity was controlling everything, as if none of the computer systems, or any systems at all, were running independently. I dug a bit deeper and then, one night, was mugged, bugged, and then told to stop asking questions. I woke up in my apartment as if nothing had happened, but I was just contacted by a dude named Morpheus who wants to talk to me about all of it. I’ll be watching the game at his place.
Interesting. Here’s my prediction: your first night/day with him is going to be awesome. The next two are going to be wildly hyped and horribly disappointing.
you really want that $100 ebay card, don’t you
Skynet has become self-aware?
I’ll be at the game on Sunday too.
At the inside ticket window getting yelled at because people are stupid and bought the wrong tickets or are stupid and bought grandstand tickets for soemone in a wheelchair.
i absolutely love horseshoes and recently just bought a set but no one ever wants to play. it is the best casual hanging out drinking game imo
What is more american than watching a ball game with your family?
I’m watching it at the Cask ‘N Flagon with 4 other Yankees fans
I will watch the game on a Boat on Iphone4, at least until victory is ensured
hold that thing tight
Just don’t take Amtrak unless you want to be five hours late. Where in northern New Jersey? I live up there too.
I´ll be watching the game on the Fourth on a roof. In Colombia. You see, I am in Colombia on a vacation from the US. I´m also here because one of my cousins is getting married (wedding is today). Anyway, the first day I got here I looked for a TV. I found one in the living room and sat down. I was thinking they wouldn´t have any sort of baseball down here with the World Cup and the goddamn vuvuzelas. However, due to channel surfing (a habit that runs in the family), I found a Tigers-Mets game. I was estatic. I could watch baseball again. As I was sitting there, basking in the cool breeze provided by a nearby fan, one of my cousins pulls up a chair and asks me what I am doing. I tell him I´m watching baseball. He tells me I should be watching the World Cup. I told him I had no interest in the World Cup. He was shocked by these words. He then asked me why I liked baseball. I told him I liked it because it is what is popular in the United States. He then asked me to explain the game to him. I began explaining to him the basic stuff, such as positions and the like. For the next week, I taught him the basics of the game. Then, my other cousins thought they could learn a lot from me as well. I wanted to focus on the games. Their constant barrage of questions was highly irritating. I was in no position to do anything, so I decided to find a new place to watch the games. I remembered that one of my aunts´ rooms was on the roof, and she had the biggest TV in the house. So at 6 (Colombian time is one hour back, sort of like DST), I began to go up there and watch TV. The drawbacks of this is that there is no fan or cooling method up there. The weather has been something of a crapshoot. Somedays it rains, others it´s blazing. Either way, there is no comfortable way of watching the game, lest I return to the living room and my annoying cousins. It is why I will be celebrating the fourth by myself on a rooftop.
in colombia.
winner.
I will be watching the game while sitting on my boat. I won’t be on my boat in a river, lake, pond, resevoir, stream, creek, puddle or ocean. No, I will be in my driveway, sitting at the helm watching the game through my man-room window. You see, it is a zoo on the water here in Charleston, SC for the 4th weekend and I have repairs to do. I can do the repairs in between innings and then watch. I figured I could enjoy both activities without worrying about getting killed by a drunken teenager who found the keys to “Mummy and Daddy’s”over-priced weekend-warrior vessel. Will the neighbors think I finally went over the edge and call the nut house on me? Probably but I don’t care because I have a boat that I can sit on and watch the Yankees game in my driveway on the 4th of July and they don’t!
I’ll be watching the game from the top of a volcano in Mexico, with my buddies Huitzilopochtli and Coatlicue. May have to cut out a few hearts to ensure the Yanks’ victory.
Seeing as how I will be on a plane to Maui when the game is on, and there isn’t any in-flight wi-fi, I will be watching highlights of the game on ESPN from my condo overlooking the Pacific Ocean, sipping some fruity drink.
Not fleeing Boston. Only an idiot would pass up the opportunity to see Toby F’ing Keith at the esplanade!
“On” the esplanade? That sounds better.
I’ll be watching on my big screen television. (Now with 3D technology – Note bexy is not allowed near it if Andy Pettitte is pitching) It won’t be a special day off from work, it will be like any other day. I’m of Dominican descent and too lazy to actually work. I’ll have the best River Avenue hookers that money can be right next to be on my couch made of baby seal skin.
In between commercials I’ll be fighting off Arizona Immigration police who assume I am an illegal alien. At some point I’ll probably be resisting arrest on the lawn. (My house is the one with a metric fuck ton of garden gnomes. They are all named Dustin Pedroia.)
I’ll pull out my wallet and show my pictures of Jim Rice and Bernie Williams. I can only assume the effect is similar to the Ghostbusters crossing their streams.
I will then assume the house is no longer safe. I’ll get in my SUV that is 4 times bigger than it needs to be and be doing 90 on the free way. I have a television within the SUV in the second seat row for when the kids watch Spongebob Squarepants and Pulp Fiction. I’ll set Cruise Control to ludicrous speed.
Post crash I plan on being able to see the end of the game while hooked up to an IV filled with cream cheese at the hospital. I’ll make it just in time to see a clutch Derek Jeter walk off GIDP. While missing an unclutch 1st inning stat-padding grandslam HR by Alex “Steroids and Cameron Diaz is all I do” Rodriguez.
The hookers will then turn to me and tell me the WS has already been won by Run Prevention 2010. Through my tears I’ll tell the hookers to make sure that Daniel Nava is the first unanimous hall of famer. Then maybe light off a few fireworks and call it a day. A few of the old Hand Destroyer 3000s. Celebrating victory against the terriosts and the success of Andrew Brackman even though SBGL says he is a bust.
Im going to be spending July 4th thanking Thor and all my lucky stars for this great country, a great country that allows me freedom, the freedom of press and the freedom of speech, the freedom that allows me to scream at the top of my lungs: CASHMAN IS TEH SUX0R AND SHOULD BE FIRED!!! WHY DONT WE HAVE LEE YET! TRADE JETER!
Instead of a $100 gift certificate to ebay, please simply fax me the cash instead. Thx.
Suburbanites should not be offended — it’s just the mentality of living in the city.
This was funny, I live in the Suburbs now after living my whole life in the city. Moving from the city to a 10 acre, 3100 square foot house with an inground pool, out door whirlpool, clean schools, no traffic, friendly people and fresh air was a huge adjustment. The bad part is that I still travel to the city to work. Oh well, lets got Yanks!!!
The reason people get out of New York on a long weekend is that the Tri-State Area has so much to offer, not just the City itself. From Albany in the north to Cape May in the south, from Montauk in the east to the Delaware Water Gap in the west… heck, you could even include Philly, which is closer than Albany… there’s just so much here.
The reason people don’t get out of Boston is that being Red Sox fans has warped their brains to the point where they can’t think properly anymore, and don’t realize that there are better places to be than Boston. You’ve no doubt seen the T-shirts, saying that “New York 207 miles” is the only good sign in Boston.
I’m going to be watching the game sitting on my couch hoping my phone doesn’t ring to call me in to work.
Don’t I have an exciting life?
Oh trust me, Bostonians have fled to the Cape for the weekend. Freakin vacationers causing traffic when I’m trying to drive to work.
Your mother’s house.
I and a couple of friends will be swimming to an island about 300 yards outside of Wilmington, NC. This is the place where hundreds of people will gather for the July 4th celebration, as well as my 21st birthday. The idea on how to watch the game came from a freak occurence when a few friends and I were doing the chat roulette thing on the internet. Somehow, we nexted to eachother’s computer. So, we’ve got one computer focused on the tv and the other with us on the island!
I will be watching the game in the bathroom of my uncles house as he recently installed one of those new 3D tvs right in front of his toilet.
My big fat ass will be behind homeplate calling strikes like you ain’t ever seen! You know why, because my appetite is pathetic and embarrassing and its grillin’ day at the Joe West Ranch, and on grillin’ day the West family gets there hillshire farm on. GO MEAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!