Confessions of a Dramamine Queen: Bruce Chen Really Is My Brother

There are three potential explanations for the glorious events of last night at Camden Yards:
1) The Amy Chen curse has finally been broken.
2) The Amy Chen curse never existed.
3) The Amy Chen curse still exists, and I'm a closet Yankees fan.

We can sit here and debate the options until the cows come home, but really, it doesn't matter. What is important is that the Orioles finally ended their trillion-game losing streak and completely CLOBBERED the Yankees (17-9) in a sweet, victorious (albeit drawn-out) miracle for which I was present to observe in all my drunken glory. With me were two Yankee loyalists, Sex Coldren and Birdman, who -- despite their allegiances -- are great guys and were impressively tolerant of an effusive and inebriated Asian girl rooting loudly for her home team. I ask: are there no better friends than those who will feed you beer at a sporting event, and not look away in embarrassment as your "whooos!!" become more frequent and, quite possibly, more obnoxious? No. There are not.

Sex Coldren and Birdman, my favorite Yankees fans.

Even without the win, last night would still have been one of the most memorable nights I've had in recent history. It's not that I haven't enjoyed the past few weeks of Beirut and 2am IHOP trips. And I always had a good time at Nationals games this summer at that fixer-upper of a stadium they call RFK. But finally getting to see the O's play again at Oriole Park - especially with good company - was a refreshing change. Also, Javy Lopez is hot.

What did kind of blow, however, was the horrible O's fan turnout. I mean, I know that this team kind of went south of cheese over the summer, but it is still sad when the chants of "Let's go, Yankees!" emanate so clearly and even Phillies and Red Sox caps are popping up all over the place. *sigh* Isn't it so endearingly contrarian of me to root for a team whose fan attendance at a home game was far outnumbered by that of its rival? As I've said before, being an O's fan is kind of like owning a 16-year-old dog that's riddled with degenerative diseases. The going gets tough and things get frustrating, but even when it's on its last breath and the vet is about to put it down, you're still going to be there, holding its paw.

But all that aside - what an awesome night. The cherry on top came with Boston's defeat by Toronto, which means that I got to see my team win without having the Yankees fall behind. Come this weekend, I will hopefully see a few crushing Red Sox defeats, and finally get to cheer at the same time as Sex Coldren and Birdman. Rock on!