[Njagdu] [Fwd: [nagdu] Fan's every visit to Yankee Stadium a result of teamwork]

[Suzanne Woolbert]

Hi, Tracy and all,
That's an awesome and very touching story. It's all about freedom and
independence to be able to do what you want, and having the confidence to do
it. I now do things with my dog, Taj that a few years ago I wouldn't have
thought I would.

In the past two years, I have become a single mom. At times, I travel with
my dog, kids and adult friends, but we've been making more solo trips
lately. This past week I was on vacation and my kids and I were determined
to strike out on our own. Bryan, also visually impaired and eleven, and
Lauren, sighted and nine, traveled to the beach at the Hilton in Atlantic
City where Taj enjoyed the sand and the surf. Another day, we went to Bounce
U, one of those very noisy and crowded places for children to jump and play
for two hours. The next night, we found ourselves on the Ocean City
Boardwalk, in and out of shops, restaurants, and on the Cast Away Cove Pier
for amusement rides. UP and down steps, in and out of noisy lit-up rides,
and through crowds of people Taj and I followed behind my two kids.
Yesterday, we went to Clementon Water Park. I spent a lot of time cooling
Taj off with bottles of water over his neck and back, and bowls full to
drink. We traversed the park to find the different water rides, lunch tables
and games. I do believe he sighed a heavy sigh of relief when at last the
Access Link bus pulled up to our home some nine hours later, and we walked
quietly down the steps and made a detour to his favorite spot in a field
next door for a break.

The moral of the story--it can be done! It's all about confidence and faith
in yourself and your dog.

Thanks for reading
Suzanne

-----Original Message-----
From: njagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:njagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org]On
Behalf Of Tracy Carcione
Sent: Thursday, August 19, 2010 7:46 AM
To: njagdu at nfbnet.org
Subject: [Njagdu] [Fwd: [nagdu] Fan's every visit to Yankee Stadium a
result of teamwork]


This story is from last year, but I enjoyed re-reading it.
The other day, I put on the Yankees game for a minute, during the
commercial in the Mets game, and Jane and Pete Lang were in the broadcast
booth.  It was fun listening.  Jane's new dog is Clipper, so he has a Joe
DiMaggio jersey. The broadcasters were remarking how quietly Clipper was
lying there.  People remark the same about my Ben.  I expect my dog to lie
quietly, but JQ Public seems to expect him to be leaping about like a
fool.  Guess they're used to untrained dogs.
Anyway, here's last year's story.


NEW YORK - The doors to the D Train open at 161st and River Ave and they
step onto the platform, one unlikely Yankees fan guiding another through the
dense game-day crowd.

Laramie leads the way. Jane Lang follows at his side. They walk up a
stairwell to the street and past the vendors lined up alongside the famous
ballpark. They circle around to Gate 4, where Laramie stops in front of his
favorite tree. He has earned a quick bathroom break.

"Isn't this place something?" Lang asks when they finally make their way to
her seats behind home plate. This is a spot that gives her an ideal view of
the old ballpark, from the famous facade that looms in the outfield to the
infield grass that is always a perfect shade of green.

Except she has never seen Yankee Stadium - at least not in the way most fans
have. Jane Lang is blind. Laramie, a golden retriever, is her guide dog. For
the past eight years, they have made the trip from their home Morris Plains
to the Bronx too many times to count.

And one week from today, along with 55,000 other fortunate fans, they will
make it for the final time.


"I am very sad about it. I love it here," Lang said. She is wearing a
light-blue Derek Jeter T-shirt and dangly Yankees earrings, and Laramie has
curled up on a Yankees beach towel spread at her feet. "The minute I step
into Yankee Stadium, I feel safe.

"I feel home."

Yankee Stadium means something different to every fan that has walked
through its gates since 1923. The first time Lang made this trip, she
gripped the metal bar in front of her seat, heard those familiar sounds of
batting practice and beer vendors, and couldn't stop her tears.

"What are you crying for?" the usher asked her. "We haven't even lost the
game yet!"

"I'm crying," Jane Lang said, "because I got here on my own."

That first journey was not without an unintentional detour. She had filled
her pockets with eight pieces of candy, one for each stop the D Train would
make, and popped one into her mouth every time the doors opened.

But she must have dropped one piece along the way, because she got off one
stop too soon. It didn't take long to figure out that something was wrong,
though. Laramie wouldn't budge until she got back on the train.

He leads her around puddles in the street and past careless teenagers
talking on their cell phones as the walk. He makes sure she stops on every
corner and waits for the light to turn green.

He walks like a typical New Yorker, never hesitant to bump his way through a
slow-moving crowd. Lang follows at his right side, whispering "good boy"
when he stops at the subway stairs or near the edge of a ramp.

It is a two-hour trip that could test the nerves of a person with 20/20
vision. Lang, 65, makes it about 25 times a year, sometimes with her husband
Pete to help, but often just with Laramie.

"You can't be afraid," Lang said, "because if you're afraid, you can't do
anything."

She has experienced Yankee Stadium in a way unlike any of the millions of
people who have come here. She has listens to the radio broadcast of the
game in one ear and the reaction from the crowd in the other. If the other
fans get angry about a call, she joins them.

"Hey ump!" she'll yell from her seat. "Are you watching the same game I'm
watching?"

Pete planned a special surprise for their 41st wedding anniversary, leading
her onto the field before a game and into the Yankees dugout where Jorge
Posada was waiting for her.
She reached up and felt his face.

"He has such a great smile, he really does," she said. "And he hit a home
run that day!"
She was sitting next to Harlan Chamberlain the night his famous son, Joba,
made his much-anticipated first start for the Yankees. Harlan, who uses a
wheelchair, held her hand so tight she thought it would break, and when she
touched his cheek, she felt the tears.

The Yankees have become her family. Maybe the fans around her are furious
with the team for its struggles on the field this season, but Lang is
grateful that they put a fresh patch of sod outside for Laramie if he needs
to make a bathroom break. She kisses the concessionaire and sends Christmas
cards to the ushers.

She wishes she could meet owner George Steinbrenner some day, because she
knows exactly what she would tell. "You know what I would do?" she said. "I
would touch his face and give him a big hug and say, 'Thanks for giving me
so much joy over the years.'"

Lang hopes she can still visit the new Yankee Stadium next year, but
Laramie, now 10, won't come back after the final trip to the old ballpark on
Sunday. The team even put his picture on the scoreboard screen last month,
congratulating him on his upcoming retirement.

That day after the game, as the two walked down the steps to the D Train,
fans spotted the golden retriever.

"Make way for Laramie!" they yelled, and the crowded parted to let them
through.

He will lead her down those steps one last time next week, and Lang knows
she'll be crying when he does. But they'll leave this place with a lifetime
of memories from a ballpark she has seen in way nobody else has.




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