Independence Eve my wife and I enjoyed hanging out with some 250 of our closest friends, their spouses, (some of their) other family members, their friends and associates, and some clients. What better place to hold such a gathering than Citifield, home of my beloved (albeit underperforming in won-loss records and certain aspects of playing a game I know rather well) New York Mets. This outing represents the fifth year running these kind of outings. Each year gets better.

The outcome (The Yankees won.) on the scoreboard matters less. I enjoy bringing people together. Many get introductions. Possible business opportunities. Even some of the seating seeks to facilitate those possibilities.

It starts with Gotham City Networking, Inc.® which accounts for 80 percent of the tickets. The other 50 tickets served as a fundraiser for the foundation sponsored by my home FDR 613 “lodge” of the fraternal order Knights of Pythias.

As early as Shelly and I arrived, we found some Pythians already in their seats including the President and Treasurer of our Kings-FDR Tolerance Foundation (It’s a very Pythian thing to arrive VERY early!).

People (including three of those above) came across the Hudson from as far as Princeton and Monroe Township, New Jersey and New City and Nyack in Rockland County. By car, subway and rail; sometimes in combination.

There were attorneys, CPAs, teachers and retired educators, business owners, realtors, an appraiser, architects, PR pros, union leaders, Sales Pros, IT specialists, bankers, a franchise adviser, one of the smartest political operatives I’ve ever worked with, and some of the sharpest state and federal legislative aides I know (and worked with).

There were entire families – three generations so in several cases.

Not unsurprisingly, there were folks who could not make it and a need to get others in their place. We got it done. Of course.

Many posted to social media (I found some “interesting” comments there.).

Though sold out, people were able to move about and sit with others during parts of the game; it’s certainly part of the fun.

Pythian lodges are led by a “chancellor commander” (“CC”) and a typical CC message in our newsletter reporting on an event, concludes, “a good time had by all.” A special thank you you our NY Mets group sales representative Aaron Ryley for his special help and assistance in making a special night a real blast.

Believe all would agree.

p.s. Fred Klein took the pic (notice the black bat) of me taking Gotham-FDR scoreboard acknowledgement that appears as this blog’s Avatar. Check out his Facebook for some interesting pics.