Fenway Magic
So Em and I went to Fenway last Friday night, and it was awesome. When we bought those tickets in February we had no way of knowing that the Sox would be on their hottest streak of the season, but they were. The game was good, we won 5-3; the seats were good, with lots of action happening right in front of us; the weather was great, perfect baseball weather.
Friday was also the day of the Jimmy Fund Radiothon. About 15 oncologists walked in from center field to toss the first pitch, and they received a prolonged standing ovation all the way from the Monster to the mound. It was something to see, and so nice to see 35,000 fans honoring everyday heroes. In a moment that brought tears to my eyes, a four year old cancer patient sang the national anthem perfectly. The radiothon raised over $1.5 million dollars.
Before the game, we headed out to Rem Dawgs on Yawkey Way where you can get a $7 hot dog. We did get to see NESN color commentator Jerry Remy signing autographs and chatting with folks. He's a lot shorter than I imagined at about 5′8″, and we saw him chain smoking like a chimney. Over at Rem Dawgs we also saw Tom Caron and Jim Rice preparing for the pregame show. I could almost smell TC from 20 feet away (I chatted with him once in Pittsburgh and he makes liberal use of cologne).
As for Fenway, the old girl looks better and better every time we go. Em and I have been to a few new parks in the past couple years and it's interesting to see how they try to emulate the old style ballparks. They end up doing "old" better than Fenway, one of those honest-to-goodness old ballparks. That's starting to change, though, mostly due to the influence of the new ownership. Yawkey Way becomes part of the ballpark, with activities and concessions. Inside, signs on the walls are newly painted in the style of old advertising, and it looks great. Under the right field seats is a wide concourse like you find in the new parks. It all looks great.
And remember, the Boston Red Sox urge you to use public transportation whenever possible. We've found taking the commuter rail from South Attelboro is a little too restricting (if the game runs a little long, you miss the train and have to wait til midnight for the next one). Now we drive up to Braintree and catch the Red line into Boston. It's a bit of a drive, but much better than driving to Fenway and dishing out $40 to park just so you can sit in traffic on the way out. Taking the red line in is a lot easier, and to avoid the crowd you can walk to Huntington Ave or Ruggles to get back after the game.
We'll be going back in a couple weeks to see the Sox play the Devil Rays, and then hopefully sometime in October, too. I can't wait!