The greatest game I ever experienced was undoubtedly the first home playoff game in 2012. I entered the playoff lottery and got 4 tickets. Tickets were expensive, and I was cheap, so we got the best nosebleeds we could afford. We were right behind homeplate, but in the very last row of the stadium. We got to the stadium early, and parked in the elementary school across from the parking lots under the bridge. They charged $5 for parking, and have since the 90's as far as I can remember. We tailgated in the parking lot, a strange experience at a school, but great fun. It was cloudy, and come game time, those last row seats came in handy. It rained like crazy, it was windy, and it was cold. Being in the top row, we had a roof over our heads, so we were mostly dry, but it was cold and miserable, and after a 2 hour (I think, it seemed at least that long) rain delay, I was ready to leave. Thankfully, my brother and father talked me out of it, and we waited it out until the rain delay finally ended. The game started poorly, as the Orioles went down 1-0 in the first. The birds then went up 2-1 after the 3rd, but traitor Mark Texeira tied it up in the fourth. The game was knotted 2-2 until the top of the 9th, when it all fell apart. The result was an ugly loss, but that didn't matter.

I was born in 1983, a month after the Orioles won the world series. I watched the 1997 series on a 13" screen tv with a single antenna and "snow" going across the screen in our kitchen when I was 13, and will still never forgive he who will not be named ruining our best shot at a world championship since '83. Going to an Orioles playoff game for the first time was an experience I'll never forget, and one I hope to have again at the World Series.