Red Sox Nation

When you move to Boston, it is quite possible to get swept into the fervor of loving the Red Sox and hating the Yankees. The rivalry is long-standing and after we won the Series in 2004, things haven't been the same.

You'll notice that I said "we" won the Series....because that's how Red Sox fans feel. We ARE the Red Sox. In the past few months, I've gotten pretty close to actually becoming one of the Red Sox (as close as you can when you aren't actually employed by them) through a friend who works in their corporate office! Pretty cool.

My friend "M----" (who I know through the famous Mary Frances Giles) works at the Red Sox corporate office and heads up the "Red Sox Nation" program. They often auction off seats on the infamous "Green Monster" which sell for a very shiny penny. The people who "win" the auction get a friendly escort who takes them to their seats, gives them their free t-shirt, player stats, water bottles and concession vouchers.

That friendly escort is sometimes me! And it is sometimes Ryan too.

When you walk these folks to their seats you are getting one of the most awesome deals around. Here's why:

1) You meet friendly people and take them up to the Green Monster. They usually think you're an all-star member of the Red Sox staff.

2) Once the game starts you get to watch the game from the Green Monster in the "standing room" section.

3) After you volunteer for 3 games, you get free grandstand tickets to watch a Red Sox game!

This summer we worked *hard* to earn our tickets!

We had to eat Monster Dogs..... Yes - that is a giant hot dog. The largest hot dog I have ever tried to eat. Wait - the largest hot dog I have ever eaten. I recently examined the nutritional contents on a package of *regular* hot dogs. Each dog had roughly 13 grams of fat. I think the Monster Dog probably accounted for my WEEKLY allowance of fat.

It was TOTALLY worth it.

From where we stood on the Green Monster we had the most incredible views. I mean, it was a lot of work watching the game from up there. Er, yah - that's what I meant.



Now that my "baseball boyfriend", Johnny Damon has sold his soul to the devil (he started playing for the Yankees) I have to enjoy the quirky personalities of other players. Like Manny. Manny Ramirez is one of those guys who often gets caught doing something stupid. Like not paying attention during the game.

That's pretty stupid - but nobody seems to mind too much. We love Manny.



Here he is in the outfield. Looks to me like he is checking out a hangnail on his right hand. Who can blame him? He's so far out in the grass that it must be lonely and boring.

As you can see it was a lot of hard work (eating Monster Dogs, standing, documenting Manny's behavior, watching Ryan eat Monster Dogs...) that eventually led to a great reward. 4 tickets to another game where we got to sit in the Grandstand. Sweet. My sister and nephew came for a visit in August so we saved our tickets to share with them.

One of the perks of being a friend of M----'s is that she will do nice things when you get your Grandstand tickets. Case in point....we took my sister and nephew (Stacy & Daniel) through the corporate office on our way to the game. We got our photo taken with the World Series Trophy from 2004. Not many people can brag about that.



After our photo-op with the trophy, M---- took us down to the field. That's right. THE FIELD where we watched batting practice. As you can see , this made us all quite happy.

(Stacy's new hair cut is so cute! Wouldn't you agree?)

We saw a few Red Sox players at bat and then got a very quick glimpse of Papelbon on his return to the locker room.


Daniel waited around with a big smile hoping for Red Sox autographs, but had no success. The photos went home as shiny and unmarked as they had come.



The Detroit Tigers (the evening competitor) headed out to batting practice and then Daniel really got some home-run opportunities. Autographs AND photos. His glove is now covered with signatures and I think he forced my sister to take some of the red dirt home in a plastic bag. I'd normally say something like "the things we do for kids!" but honestly, that dirt is the stuff of legend.



That's where the good luck ended. After many innings, the Tigers went on to defeat us. But when you're a Red Sox fan you take them when they're up and when they're down. We cheered loudly, clapped and shouted - we took care of our team.

One last word on Johnny Damon...... .....who was famous for great plays but also his Christ-like hairdo and beard. Now that Johnny works for the devil, I mean, Yankees, folks aren't so keen about him. Case in point:

We saw a T-shirt about Johnny Damon for sale outside of the ball park by a street vendor.
It said,

Looks like Jesus
Hits like Mary
Acts like Judas

Let that be a reminder to anyone who trades in their Red Sox uniform. We are die-hard fans and it's best not to double cross us.

Play ball!