Baseball, Beer and a Slice of Heaven
By: Kylie Wang
A University of Miami night on the town with baseball at Mark Light Field, a beer at Titanic, and post-game, a jalapeño
and pepperoni pizza from Miami’s Best
They say the years you spend in college are the best of your life – and, as a University of Miami (UM) graduate, I tend to agree. So, on a recent Wednesday evening, I brought along a friend to relive the good old days at school, back when we could do a night out on a measly $20 budget offset by free student tickets and discounted beers.
The U might be known primarily for its football team, but its baseball games at Mark Light Field are not only more economical, but, in our opinion, just as fun – and closer to home. We picked up $17 general admission tickets online a few days before an evening game versus home rivals Florida International University (FIU), which promised to be a packed, high-energy spectacle. But, of course, we started the night the right way by first heading to the nearby Titanic Brewery for a quick drink before the game.
Nearly everyone at Titanic was seemingly doing the same as we were, though we were lucky enough to grab a parking spot right out front an hour before first pitch. Over glasses of Triple Screw ($7 during happy hour), an easy-drinking German-style light ale, we scrolled through the Hurricanes roster and schedule to make our predictions alongside a boisterous crowd of ‘Canes fans.
Right around game-start at 6 pm, we crossed the street and made it just early enough to grab one of the Light’s iconic milkshakes, though we had to wait in a quickly lengthening line. We chose the Columbus (double Oreo, double sprinkles) and brought it up to the benches. For a slightly higher price, you can reserve seats on the field instead of sitting in the concrete grandstands, but we preferred to rough it like
the students we once were. Unfortunately for us, the ‘Canes were not in winning form that evening. At the end of the first inning, FIU was up 5-0, which is when we made our first pit stop for glasses of ice-cold beer – luckily for us, only $4 on Wednesdays. We won’t disclose how many trips we made back underneath the stands for a refresh, though we will say the final score of 10-2 did contribute to our slightly off-kilter walk to Miami’s Best Pizza at the end of the night.
Despite the loss, the game was still entertaining, full of the kind of energy and verve one can only find at a college sports game. The faithful Hurricanes die-hards chanted, booed, whistled, and roared right up until the final pitch, and, caught up in the moment, we found ourselves doing the same with a spirit we hadn’t felt since our own days as students at The U.
Finally, we followed along with the crowd to Miami’s Best, where we nursed our disappointed egos with a jalapeño and pepperoni pie and some oil-soaked garlic bread rolls that easily brought us back to life. As they say: you win some, you lose some. But we’d still count the night as a win.