Royal's home opener 2009

This year's home opener has already come and gone. Friday, April 10th was not only Good Friday but also the opening day for the Kansas City Royals. Every year one of our dear friends has access to a handful of tickets to opening day that includes a pre-game party, T-shirt and a ticket to a future Royals' game. This year a handful of tickets were reserved for fellow Cerner peeps and friends.

Bill, Scott, Bryan, Julie and Sarah "Cerner Peeps"

Last year, the weather was cold and rainy and unfortunately, it looked like we were in for more of the same as it was 44 degrees at 9am and raining pretty hard. Mother nature did her thing and by noon the sun was out and it was a balmy 50ish degrees out. About a 100 people gathered for the pre-game festivities and the game itself was sold out.

Bill and Traci

Matt and Amy Sims

Matt "double fisting"

Joy and Chuck

Julie and John Stoner - Yes, it is a Snuggy

Over the off season, the stadium underwent some significant upgrades and changes. Two major changes that were "supposed to" make a huge impact were more concession stands and a higher ratio of toilets per person. Either the area we sat in had LOTS of people or the stadium failed in their efforts. I spent about 3 innings waiting for the bathroom, they ran out of Miller Light and I didn't even attempt to get nachos as the line was TOO LONG at the only concession stand that sold them.

Statue of Royalty??

The Royals just came off a winning road trip and I was feeling pretty confident about taking on the Yankees and coming out victorious. The National Anthem was played by a jazz player on the saxophone and four A-10 Thunderbolts did a fly over.

A10 flyover

Regardless of the fact that we were in the nosebleed section, the view was incredible and we were one of the only sections that experienced sunshine for the entire game. The Royals ended up losing the game 1-4 and we ate way too many sunflower seeds and peanuts... My lips are still numb. Once the game was over, we sat on the tailgate of my truck and watched the mass exodus.

Bill, Matt, Amy and Traci

Someone has been working way too hard. ;-)

I hope your Good Friday was as good as ours!

Bill and Traci