Chapter 113

In the blink of an eye, my baby Abel has grown so big." Houston, at a mansion in the Oak River community. Alia Smith looked at the heroic teenager in front of her with emotion and couldn't help but speak. Alex said: "Time passes, you and I are both old~" Seeing the touching expressions of the two old men, Abel quickly changed the subject: "That's right, when I was walking on the street, grandpa said there was a program tonight, what program was it?" "Hey hey~" Hearing him say that, Alex burst out laughing. Under his wife's helpless eyes, the old man touched several bags on his body. Then— "Dangdangdangdang ~~" Alex shouted loudly and took out three things that looked like movie tickets. Abel looked closer and saw three tickets. He took it, looked at it and discovered it was a ticket to an MLB game. MLB stands for Major League Baseball, one of the four major professional leagues in the United States. The famous NBA in China is also one of the Big Four. In the Big Four, if we have to talk about rankings, we can look at the number of spectators, the number of fans and the number of people coming to watch. Among the public, the most popular is obviously the NFL, which is football. The annual NFL Super Bowl, which can be called the Spring Festival Gala in the United States, is a grand celebration. The reputation of the famous NFL team Yankees in America is higher than Bulls, Lakers, Celtics, etc. Below the NFL, it's the turn of MLB, which is baseball. At the bottom are ice hockey and basketball, both of which are vying for third place. Sometimes he was third in the NBA, and sometimes third in the NHL, in ice hockey. But this is only possible if we include the United States, if we include Canada. The NBA completely tanked because ice hockey is so popular in Canada. And with the number of fans in America, baseball is worth it! This is related to its extremely high penetration rate. Basically, Americans have their favorite baseball team, but not necessarily their favorite soccer team. It is difficult to comment on attendance rates. Basketball courts have the smallest surface area so basketball attendance will likely be the highest. Like most American families, the Smith family also has its favorite baseball team. This baseball team is the Texas Rangers. The reason I like the Rangers, besides the fact that their family owns a small portion of the team. Also because the Rangers' home field is in Arlington and Arlington is only about 12 miles from Fort Worth. And the city of Arlington falls under the jurisdiction of Tarrant County. This belongs to the hometown team. Tarrant does not support him. Do they support the Houston Astros? "Astros vs. Rangers~ well, the last interleague game is the Texas derby." Looking at the ticket, Abel smiled and said: "It's still a VIP seat, dear Alex, you spent a lot of money. Okay, I'll find two girlfriends to watch the match together, don't waste these three tickets. The old man stroked his beard, glared at him, wanting to snatch the paper from his hand: "Give it back to me, I can only give you one, the rest is for me and Arya, if you have a girlfriend then go buy it." yourself!" " Abel stepped aside to stop his grandfather from tearing up the ticket and laughed: "Be careful, don't tear up the ticket! Alex really didn't want to take the ticket, he was just acting, grandfather and grandson were used to getting along like this. "GOOD." As usual, Arya came out with a conciliatory smile: "Don't steal, Abel, if you can really find two girlfriends, then I can give you a ticket." So where is your girlfriend? » "My friends all work, they are very busy so I can only visit him with my grandparents in the evening." Seeing Abel calmly say these words, Arya's heart shook. She has some ideas. But seeing Alex wanting to fight Abel, she temporarily suppressed this thought in her heart. Smile and make peace between grandfather and grandson. After dinner, Abel will drive. Alex and his wife sat in the back compartment, and other bodyguards drove other cars in front and behind. The entire team was at the site of the MLB Texas Derby this evening. This is also the home field of the Houston Astros and the current name is still Houston Astros Stadium. Parallel in time and space, this stadium will be two years later. The Coca-Cola Company named it Minute Maid Stadium at an annual cost of approximately six million US dollars. Not far from the old couple's villa by car. It takes about half an hour to get close to the stadium. Half an hour passed almost near the golf course and the road became particularly congested. Tonight is Astros VS Rangers, the only major game between two MLB teams in Texas. Or Texas, the final game of this year's MLB season. Not just local Houston fans, but also a large, wealthy Texas fan base. Especially Tarrant County fans, able and wealthy, almost all flock here. The stadium obviously couldn't hold that many people and tickets were sold out. But even these loyal fans cannot go to the stadium to watch the match. They are also ready to watch live broadcasts and listen to live cheers inside the stadium, hundreds of meters away, in the square outside the stadium. This way, there will be too many people. To the point where the stadium was crowded and blocked. "It was so vivid." Abel, who was driving, couldn't help but feel moved. After his resurrection, Abel rarely drove. At first I just made money in New York and bought a few sports cars. Ferrari, Porsche, Pagani, Lamborghini and the American Corvette supercar. Anyway, at first it was good, before the Renaissance you couldn't be poor, but sports cars also had no chance of living. After reincarnation, if you have money, you can open things that were previously untouchable. At first, he was naturally more excited and very interested. But New York traffic jams are famous, and Manhattan traffic jams are even more famous around the world. Drive a sports car while stuck on the streets of Manhattan. This type of taste is called sour taste. When the novelty wore off, he quickly felt bored with the supercar. Later, in addition to occasionally driving with girls, he rarely drove alone. This time, mainly thanks to his grandparents, he volunteered to be the driver. It's not a big deal when you're downtown, but when you get close to the stadium it gets too crowded. Luckily, he doesn't "fight" alone, even with the Cadillac Escalade he drives. Nearby were four other cars driven by his bodyguards. Four cars surrounded him from front to back and opened the way for him. Abel just needs to follow the Toyota Sequoia in front so he doesn't have to worry about being hit from behind or being hit from behind. In other words, you don't have to worry about rear-end collisions because it is your own car, after all. Traffic congestion among the rich is very modest. "There will be a big fight tonight." Alex is clearly a baseball fan, even in his seventies. "Everyone was there so of course it was very exciting. Alexander said he wanted to come but I couldn't get him a ticket! Arya wanted to denounce her husband's boasting because her son Alexander did not talk like that. Additionally, Alexander is not a baseball fan. But without Arya, Abe could point to his grandfather's boasts. "Try your best. Grandpa, my dad doesn't like baseball. He just loves football." Abel destroyed him mercilessly. Over two meters tall and as strong as a bear, Alexander was the captain of the university team. Alex was a little angry but had no way to refute. They all come from their own families and can be fooled by things like this. The old man changed the subject: "Um. Let's not talk about that anymore. Look, the stadium is very beautiful, isn't it? Astros Stadium just opened this year." Arriving at the parking lot, the convoy had not yet entered the public parking lot. Led by Alex, the team went to the stadium's VIP parking lot. This parking lot is small and the number of cars parked is not many. But these are mostly luxury cars because this is where only fans who have purchased VIP tickets can park and enter the field. Parking the car, Abel looked towards the stadium not far away. The former site of this baseball stadium was Houston's Union Station. The stadium's architectural design cleverly retains the old station building and serves as a gateway. It looks a bit old but is surrounded by beautiful modern buildings. Alex was clearly not there the first time. The old man knew the way and led the way. As he walked, he said: "This stadium is still in relatively good condition. It is very magnificent and much larger than our Stadium of the Americas." Abel shrugged, "There's no way to compare. Stadium of the Americas opened in 1994, when I was fourteen years old. Now I'm twenty years old and the stadium just opened this year." For things like stadiums, new is of course better than old. Additionally, Houston's population, economy, etc. are much larger than Arlington's. The Astros are better than Merriquise and that's okay. "Okay, what you say makes sense. But I still love Stadium of the Americas. Hey, I designed its locker room!" Alex said. Three generations of the Smith family have all graduated from Rice University. Abel University studies fine arts, Alexandria University studies business and Alex University studies interior design. It's just that after graduation, Alex and his son returned to honestly inherit the family business. Grandfather and grandson just entered the stadium's VIP channel and chatted. VIP channels are there and they are not the only ones. There were other guests who bought VIP seats and these guests were all rich people. The most popular ticket prices for tonight's match are said to have increased to $80 per ticket. You should know that its normal price is only 12 USD per piece. In the MLB tournament, each team's home ticket price is different. In general, the East, especially the East Coast, is more expensive. For example, for famous Yankees, ticket prices are usually 15, 25, 150, 325 yuan. Houston, usually 12, 20, 100, 220. Because it was a special derby, it was returned by surfers. Tickets worth $220 will cost thousands of dollars. But in reality these are just normal tickets, in addition to these tickets there are also VIP tickets. There are two ways to get VIP tickets. One is rich so you can buy it directly. Regular price is $1,888. The other is related, like having a relationship with the team's senior management, like the team's senior management proactively sending you tickets. Alex and Abel don't know if it's the latter or the former. If this had happened before then it would have been very costly. Unless purchased in advance, today's VIP tickets are estimated to cost at least five or six thousand dollars. VIP tickets are very expensive so there must be a reason. VIP parking, VIP entry channels, VIP seating guide, seats with the best views, VIP gifts and drinks, free drinks, snacks and more. Wealthy individuals can enjoy this type of premium service at a lower cost. It really can't be better, it can even be said to be the cheapest consumption. Ten minutes later, Abel was sitting in the noisy yard with his grandparents. After sitting down, Abel judged that Alex's ticket should not be simply bought with money. Due to their seats, it is located next to the away team's Rangers dugout. Not far away on the left is Rangers coach Anthony, who has entered the field. This location is probably impossible to buy even if you have the money. Recalling the fact that the Smith family is a minority shareholder of the Rangers, Alex is also a baseball veteran and he may have helped rebuild the Rangers back in the day. Being able to sit here is probably because of this relationship, not just money. "It was so vivid." After taking his seat, Abel, who watched this big match for the first time since his resurrection, couldn't help but sigh with emotion. He looked around and saw that all the seats were almost full. Alex has just determined that this new stadium will have a capacity of about 41,000 spectators. With additional seating, it could accommodate between 42,000 and 43,000 people. The situation tonight is clearly that there are no seats left. In other words, there will likely be more than 42,000 spectators on site. In terms of atmosphere, the place is naturally filled with people and drums. In this atmosphere, even Abel couldn't help but feel a little excited. People who have never attended a large-scale sports competition or concert will hardly experience this feeling. Humans are group animals, when a group is excited about something. This feeling cannot be described in words. The young billionaire was as excited as a child. He suddenly saw his grandfather and Alex standing up. He also saw Alex waving in the lower left corner, where the Rangers were resting. "Hey, Herbert. Good evening, I didn't expect you to come too. » Alex said loudly with a smile. The team rest area is at the bottom left. Followed by some entourage, a smiling old white man who was talking to the head coach and team staff looked up and saw Alex and Abel. Then he smiled and answered Alex loudly: "Hey, it's you Alex, I know that. The others may not come. But you will come." "Haha~" Alex said smiling, "I can't do it, because I love baseball!" (end of this chapter)