Now THAT's baseball.
One last note from Boston: You haven't seen a baseball game until you've watched one from the Fenway Park bleachers.
On Tuesday night, my compadres and I decided to visit a Fenway-area sports bar to get a better sense of the local scene. Like Wrigley, the stadium is crammed into a neighborhood of old buildings and narrow streets. While circumnavigating the green park, we ran into a pair of scalpers desperate to shed their tickets. Since the fourth inning was about to begin and the duo needed to cut their losses, we talked them down from $40 to $10 a piece.
We quickly strolled to our seats over center field. Like many old parks, it's amazing how small Fenway is. The so-called "Green Monster" is hardly the impressive vertical face I expected. And I couldn't find a pool or retractable roof anywhere!
Thankfully, the vendors weren't hawking Dbacks fare like margaritas and sushi, but rather basics like peanuts, beer and steaming hot chowdah. But the people at the game made the biggest difference.
Compared to a crowd at Chase Field, BoSox fans were far younger, covered a far wider income range, were split about 51/49 women-to-men. Not only did they pay close attention to developments on the field, every one of them seemed amazingly knowledgeable about baseball. A couple rows in front of me, a pair of college girls were rigorously scoring the game. If I wasn't married, middle-aged and an NL fan...
Best of all, the crowd was rowdy without being rude. Sure, they ripped on the lonely Blue Jays fan draped with a Canadian flag, but they did so with a great sense of humor and even respect for his audacity. Everyone else was festooned with BoSox regalia, loudly sang the between-inning songs, and reveled in the cold and windy party.
When David Ortiz scored in the bottom of the ninth for the 1-0 victory, the stadium erupted like it was New Year's Eve. What a night.
BTW, here's something I never knew: Fenway got it's name because it is surrounded by fens, or marshes. I just assumed that a Mr. Fenway had entered the picture somewhere along the line.
On Tuesday night, my compadres and I decided to visit a Fenway-area sports bar to get a better sense of the local scene. Like Wrigley, the stadium is crammed into a neighborhood of old buildings and narrow streets. While circumnavigating the green park, we ran into a pair of scalpers desperate to shed their tickets. Since the fourth inning was about to begin and the duo needed to cut their losses, we talked them down from $40 to $10 a piece.
We quickly strolled to our seats over center field. Like many old parks, it's amazing how small Fenway is. The so-called "Green Monster" is hardly the impressive vertical face I expected. And I couldn't find a pool or retractable roof anywhere!Thankfully, the vendors weren't hawking Dbacks fare like margaritas and sushi, but rather basics like peanuts, beer and steaming hot chowdah. But the people at the game made the biggest difference.
Compared to a crowd at Chase Field, BoSox fans were far younger, covered a far wider income range, were split about 51/49 women-to-men. Not only did they pay close attention to developments on the field, every one of them seemed amazingly knowledgeable about baseball. A couple rows in front of me, a pair of college girls were rigorously scoring the game. If I wasn't married, middle-aged and an NL fan...
Best of all, the crowd was rowdy without being rude. Sure, they ripped on the lonely Blue Jays fan draped with a Canadian flag, but they did so with a great sense of humor and even respect for his audacity. Everyone else was festooned with BoSox regalia, loudly sang the between-inning songs, and reveled in the cold and windy party.
When David Ortiz scored in the bottom of the ninth for the 1-0 victory, the stadium erupted like it was New Year's Eve. What a night.
BTW, here's something I never knew: Fenway got it's name because it is surrounded by fens, or marshes. I just assumed that a Mr. Fenway had entered the picture somewhere along the line.
The fans at Fenway may make for the quintessential classic baseball experience but the "fans" that Red Sox Nation exports across the rest of the country are nothing short of complete tools. Showing up at seemingly every ballpark in the league in mass and with a sense of entitlement that could choke a horse. I'm convinced the majority of these hacks couldn't find Boston on a map. As a baseball fan watching a game at Fenway is near the top of my "must-do" list but the fans can stay in Boston. Lord know they aren't welcome at The Trop.
"What's that? I can't hear you over More Cowbell!"
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You want to know something weird...i was at that same game lol. no joke
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I thought I saw you there...
That was an amazing match-up, but it sure was cold. Kind of tough on a Phoenix boy like me!
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