Man, was that fun. Sitting along the third bass line in a sea of Cubs fans last night at Tropicana Field, and having the last laugh. And being artfully obnoxious to boot.

I picked up my media credentials at the Trop and grabbed a seat in the last row of the press box. It being a professional environment, there’s no cheering allowed in the press box. I went to a concession stand and bought a 24-oz. Bud Lite and brought it back to my seat. That’s when I found out there’s no drinking in the press box.

I was in the mood to drink. I was in the mood to cheer. I joined my pal Bobby J, who was sitting close to the field in a morass of blue — bright blue emblazoned with “C’s” and “Cubs,” way more so than the dark blue of the Rays.

This article appears in Jun 18-24, 2008.

Eric Snider is the dean of Bay area music critics. He started in the early 1980s as one of the founding members of Music magazine, a free bi-monthly. He was the pop music critic for the then-St. Petersburg...