Reverse the Curse

Oh, the joys of spending the night at a relative’s house instead of a hotel! We ate delicious BBQ leftovers for dinner last night, when we finally made it home from the Yankees game. We had planned on an early evening since the game ended at 7:00, but as usually happens when we plan on something, it didn’t work out the way we thought it would. We had some trouble at the train station, but eventually we returned to Cathy and Jim’s for the night. We set out for Boston early for a 1:05 game against the Oakland A’s. With another short drive on Connecticut Parkway and Mass Pike, we managed to find a hotel in Sturbridge, Mass., an hour or so outside of Boston, which would give us a head start on the way to Cooperstown the following day. The Olde Publick House proved rustic, woodsy, and very cool! Next we drove to the Riverside Green Line station to catch the train to Fenway. We followed the hordes of Red Sox fans to Fenway and spent some time strolling Yawkey Way, Van Ness, Ipswich, and Lansdowne Streets. I don’t think any ballpark can beat the atmosphere outside of Fenway Park. Taking a tip from Kevin and Josh, we split a sausage sandwich from one of the vendor carts on Yawkey before heading into the ballpark.

We had purchased our standing room only tickets online earlier on the trip to guarantee we’d get in, so we made our way to the level with standing areas and scouted out the best view after wandering the concourse for a few minutes. We finally chose the area with the best breeze off of Yawkey Way, right behind Section 22. We had a limited sightline due to the overhang with no view of the scoreboard, which made scorekeeping a bit difficult for MB, but our angle of the field was not bad. We’d agree that standing was the worst part. After about an hour, your back starts to ache and you’d do just about anything for a seat. Still, Fenway Park ranks at the top of our list. The crowd is phenomenal, the baseball is outstanding, and the ballpark is historic (the oldest in the majors) without looking crummy and run-down. I love the traditions at Fenway Park, like the Green Monster and singing “Sweet Caroline” in the eighth inning. We were really impressed by the fans, who have a reputation for dedication. Everyone in the stadium had on a Sox shirt, and I don’t think we saw the same shirt twice. We each ate a famous Fenway Frank, voted the second best hot dog in the majors by Kevin and Josh. We give them four thumbs up.

For the second time, we experienced rain at a game, although this time it was heavy enough to cause a rain delay. Luckily for us, the delay only lasted about 25 minutes. Shout out to those ground crew guys who have to unroll the tarp and then roll it back up again when the rain stops. When Boston clinched the victory, 5-2, we started towards the Green Monster to get our traditional field-level photos. We actually TOUCHED the Green Monster, which was awesome, but were thwarted from touching Pesky’s Pole (ask a Red Sox fan) by a grouchy usher. Guess we’ll save that for the next trip to Fenway. We opted for a post-game libation at the Cask & Flagon, recommended by several of our friends. While in line to get in, we met Joe and Tim, who hung out with us and taught us all sorts of stuff about the Red Sox and how to sneak into better seats when you have crappy ones. Shout out to Joe and Tim for our first (and only) free beer on the road trip! J and T directed us to our train station, and we got back on the green line and headed to our hotel.

Boston offered a bit of the best and the worst, so here goes: Shout outs to the Toronto natives we met who gave us advice on where to cross the border, and to Megan Kaiser, the music programmer at Fenway, who plays excellent song selections during and after the game. Reverse shout out to the poopyhead usher on a power trip who wouldn’t let us walk 200 feet to touch the foul pole in right field.