"Two Soxes?! That's so retarded! This is why I hate America."

You know what else is even more retarded? Puting the game time as 2:05pm on the ticket when, in fact, game starts at 7:05pm. Lame! This is why I hate America!

So my roommate, Emily, and I ended up reaching Fenway 5 hours early and wondering what happened to the notoriously loyal and excited Red Sox fanbase that inspired the (shitty) movie Fever Pitch. We whittled down these 5 hours by braving the crowds at the campus Barns and Nobles (and came out without any textbooks because the line was really really LONG) and went home to make some chicken tikka marsala and couscous. for lunch/dinner. I took a nap, too, while Emily scanned through the copy of Boston Globe that I stole from the front door. (To be fair, it was 4:00pm and it had been sitting there all day and I doubt the party-heavy undergrads in our condo actually read the Globe.)

When we left for Fenway the second time, we were actually on time and were promptly swallowed by the sea of Sox fans the moment we stepped out of the Subway train. Sorta like the LRT during Oilers game day. But with more people.

(Though I didn't get any beer, I did get one of those 4-dollar hot dogs. I'm only doing it because it's part of the ballpark experience.)

The seats we got were surprisingly good. We sat in row 40 behind the midfield. (Too far to make any possible Ben Affleck sightings though.) The first 7 innings were possibly the most boring 2.5 hours of my life. There were a few wicked double-plays and at one point, the Red Sox had the bases loaded. But just like our slo-pitch games—but for different reasons—nobody made it to home base. No wonder they have gimmicky stuff like the 7th inning stretch (sponsoreded by some corporation, just like everything else about the game) and semi-mandatory sing-along to Take Me Out to the Ball Game (which was like bad karaoke with 36 000 people). We also did the wave a few times. Somewhere along the way, the White Sox was ahead 2-1 and our spirits were a little deflated.

Then, just like those tear-jerking sports stories (or those Oilers-Red Wings playoff games), the Red Sox tried to mount a comeback during the 9th inning. Manny Ramirez stepped on to the plate, the fans worked some hat voodoo:
And then, miraculously, the Red Sox managed to tie the game during the bottom of the 9th inning! That was both exciting and un-exciting at the same time as the game had ran into its 3rd hour and it was getting chilly. Also, the cotton candy that I ate was killing me.




Fortunately, we can always count on the nutbags to bring something interesting to the game. The picture is a little low quality. But the sign read "Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor"

Is that suppose to be an inside joke? A reference to something? An indication of the poor job that the American school system is doing to its youth? I don't know.

Good thing we didn't have too much time to overthink this poster though, because magic happened once more during the 10th inning and after some dude hit the ball into the stands, the Red Sox won. And this concludes my first ever baseball game. All in all, it was a pretty fun and exciting introduction to my first MLB experience. But I think I'd rather check out a Bruins game next time.

I still have more (fun!) pictures from around Boston. However, I'm currently stealing wireless from some dude downstairs and I don't want to dwaddle. So, I'll save that for my next post.