They say, once you move to Boston, unless you have strong affiliations to another baseball team, you will become a Boston Red Sox Fan (sorry Indianapolis Indians). Today, I took my first step towards inevitability by attending my first Red Sox game.
My classmate Tye had tickets for friday's game, which was postponed till Sunday due to rain. She was unable to go on Sunday, so I jumped on the opportunity. Luckily she had 3 tickets available, so I immediately called my Boston Culture Guides (brother Dave and wife Rebecca) to join me in the adventure. The met me at my apartment, we walked to the subway and were on our way.
The weather was beautiful. 75 degrees, and low humidity. Our seats provided a great view and plenty of shade too keep us cool and comfortable.
I had heard that a baseball game at Fenway Park was unlike a baseball game at any other park. I've never been a huge fan of baseball. I won't watch it on TV, but I'll enjoy attending a game, but to be honest they can get somewhat boring. For the first 5 or so innings, the experience at Fenway was essentially no different than my past experience. The pitcher pitched, the hitter swung, and the catcher caught. Occasionally there was a pop fly or a foul and if we were lucky, a batter would get a base or two and eventually a run. Go Baseball.
Sometime in the 6th, everything changed. One of the Red Sox hitters cracked a ball deep to left field, straight for the famed Green Monster. The ball bounced off the tall green wall and everyone cheered as the hitter rounded first and slid into 2nd. At this point it seemed as though the Red Sox came alive along with Fenway!
The next hitter was "Big Papi". The entire stadium clapped and chanted his name as he swung and waited through pitches to a full count. At the full count, the stadium clapped in unison, and Big Papi ripped one into right field just feet short of a home run. The stadium erupted and the energy carried through the rest of the game.
A few and innings a few runs later, the Sox were up 3 to 1 at the top of the 9th. The crowd favorite closing picture Papelbon took the mound and finished the game with 38,000 fans focused on one ball moving around the beautiful green field.
Due to backup on the subway, we opted to walk home on the beautiful afternoon, which provided us with this great photo opportunity! Thanks for the tickets Tye!!!
