Love Those Dirty Waters

Yesterday was Opening Day for the Red Sox. I've been to Opening Day before, the days before getting Red Sox tickets wasn't a crapshoot in an internet waiting room or a suck on your bank account. Those were the days. But I digress. Yesterday, though hovering around 45 degrees, was just as exciting as it always is going to Fenway.

The crowds at the T station near the park were lively but bearable. Hood milk company and a local radio station were posted outside the T giving away K signs to help support Josh Beckett on his first day on the mound for the season. The lines into the bars were stretched around the block as always and the sausage stands were back up and running after what has been a considerable winter. I even saw this guy! I took this picture in 2004 when we first won the World Series. I guess this guy has a secure job with the team.

It was mobbed inside the concourse as it always is and there seemed to be a spirited need to drink lots of beer. Perhaps it was because we all left work early, or because it was freezing, or just because it was opening day. But everyone seemed to be carrying their requisite and limited 2 per person and sloshing all over themselves on their way to their seats.

Part of sitting in the Field Box (we had excellent tickets. Thank you work!) is that there is a TON of people watching to be done. Yesterday was just like that movie Fever Pitch. There were clearly people around us with Season Tickets who have been coming to these games forever. The women in the stands all wear hoodies and baseball caps. New England is not a place for women who need to wear cute shoes and fitted jackets at baseball games. There were the requisite party girls a few rows over who talked to everyone around them and slapped high fives after every good hit. You totally feel like you are a part of Fenway, and a part of history. The park is tiny in comparison to a lot of others but they've found ways to add seats over the years and people still pay to get packed in.

The concession guys coming through the stands must all be told to emphasize their Boston accents. Bee-yah! Wah-tah!Crackah jacks! It's fun to listen to and fun to be a part of.

Ted Kennedy threw out the first pitch. It honestly brought tears to my eyes (I recently read a well-done series by the Globe reporters about the life of Ted Kennedy which I knew very little about). I was very happy for him and glad he was invited. The pitch went about 8 feet into the hands of Jim Rice.
We were lucky enough to be near the alley that they took him off the field with.

The flyover was awesome and Pedroia (MVP! MVP!) hit a homer in the first inning.

The music though, so much fun. It's gotten so much better over the years and Boston has so many established music groups that have just MADE being a Red Sox fan that much better. The Dropkicks are the official unofficial rock group for the Sox. When I hear the opening strains of Tessie my heart starts to flutter. Whomever does the music is pulling in some of their other fun (and not so crass) stuff like Sunshine Highway. There is now a whole playlist of songs that are a must at Fenway - Sweet Caroline, Dirty Water...you know it's just like a giant party when you're there.


To me, any big event like a baseball game or a concert is akin to a religious experience. Every Yoouuuukkkk and the roar for Papelbon when he came out to the close the game...I mean that's religion. Everyone there to support the same thing. Everyone has a fever and fervent passion for what's going on. There's energy, there's passion, there's crazy people, there's little kids in their first baseball hat eating $7 hotdogs. I mean really, it doesn't get any better than this.