To Ft Myers..

Here i sit on the eve of my trip to Fort Myers, nearly completely packed up and sitting in a dark room watching Moulin Rouge on my mac. (i dont know if "dreamy" is a word i have ever used to describe a man, nor do i think i'll ever again find myself using it, but if the word applies to anyone it is Ewan McGregor in this movie. sigh.) my hands are cold, my hair is straight, and for once i'm actually not thinking about baseball. ...until i just wrote that. oh well, then..

tomorrow at 8:30am i board a plane destined for Fort Myers, FL. i'll be down there for about a week and i really have no idea of what i should be expecting. i know that i will get up close and personal with some players; i know that i will wear flip flops or sandals for the entirety of my stay; i know that i will meet up with my friend/colleague Lori; otherwise, there are a lot of variables. what i most look forward to i spending time in leisure, whatever that might mean for each moment i'm there- going to bed early, walking along the shore, reading in a cafe, spending hours at the Sox training facility. being alone will help me recharge. 

also, i've sworn off chocolate for the last 3 weeks. i am very excited to indulge again once i'm finally in florida.

i'm hoping to get as many autographs as can fit on a baseball or two, and once i take some pictures i plan to get them printed and have them signed as well. i have a great michael bowden pic on my wall and i love the idea of adding to that theme.

...my computer died while i was writing this last night, and now i'm headed out the door in less than ten minutes- lots to tell when i get back i'm sure...

Churchin with Justin Masterson

Some people like to collect memorabilia, unique items that are signed or are otherwise special- i think my thing is collecting unique experiences. I heard Justin Masterson preach twice this past Sunday at Park St in Boston. How many people can say that? He and Meryl did a 5 to 10 minute Q&A with Athletes in Action man Walt Day- the Mastersons are a riot, i will say that much- and then Justin spoke for the rest of the service. I went to the 8:30am service, ran into a friend, Nate, from college (we went to the same college- but he's of the age where i actually went to college with his younger brother, who was a year ahead of me) and we sat in the center of the balcony. My brother came in for the 11am service so after having breakfast at Finagle a Bagel across the street with Nate and Pat, Pat and I assumed our seats in the second row, center. And you know noone ever sits in the front row. Yup, if i'm doing something i'm gonna do it right. We had a pretty clear view of the action that ensued (including a full 30-40 member childrens choir mere feet in front of us).

Justin Masterson. The guy is 23- my age- and he was a goofball. My favorite part of the experience was that he felt like a peer- unless one grows up in Hollywood, i think it's kind of hard to realize, to grasp one's celebrity status at this young of an age. Justin and Meryl showed no signs of .. how should i put it... no signs of elite-hood or of elevated status. He wasnt exceedingly eloquent but i felt like he was honest and he spoke genuinely. He faltered with his words a few times, even- once, the first time it happened, a woman a few rows back from where I was sitting shouted out whatever word he was looking for, and he accepted it and kept going. The next time this happened, he was clearly trying to come up with the word "interpreted" (referring to Joseph, who had the gift of being able to interpret dreams) so after he had drawn a blank for a few seconds, i suggested the word and once again he humbly teased himself a bit because of his slight struggles and moved on.

if you want to listen, here's the link:

http://www.rededicate.org/media/audio/2009-02-08-am-pod.mp3

i know, sort of an abrupt ending to that little story. not much more to tell. just nice to have something else to tie me over until spring training. i think justin's style would have fit better at the Vineyard, since the V is less... academic/intellectual/traditional. But oh well! it was fine and i'm sure everyone loved having him.

baseball takes up about 33% of my thoughts/energy at present... and another 40% is too dramatic to even bother with here. that's why this will be a one-track blog for the time being, because the remaining percentage is work, sleep, and figuring out what to eat for meals/stopping myself from eating chocolate until i see Dustin Pedroia.

spring training begins in less than 3 days- well, that's a bit of a stretch, as all that will take place in t minus 3 days is pitchers and catchers reporting to camp. but by the time i get there (a week and a half until my first and very own vacation) the whole squad will be in the midst of their third practice as an entire team. the first thing i'm going to do when i touch down is run for the Sox's minor league complex.

a word on A-Rod: i realize i might have to backtrack in the future if there turns out to be more truth than has been exposed thus far; with that being said, i have nothing but compassion for A-Rod and i have never had the sort of hatred that pulses so deeply through the veins of most true Red Sox fans. i think that, again, if he is being fully upfront, that he is handling things admirably and short of never having touched the "substances" he couldnt do much better for himself. for crying out loud, the man was an emotional wreck in front of Gammons. (i talked to Peter Gammons face to face, one on one at a pre-event party about a month ago and ever since, it has been so surreal to see him on tv.) now there are lots of little counter arguments against A-Rod's case here, and if i hadnt spent a good chunk of my day defending A-Rod from a coworker who knows a thing or two about baseball (and also from one who doesnt really, but who was getting pretty heated over the whole conversation) i would detail all of my thoughts on the subject. As it is, i am exhausted from the topic because, come on, how unnatural is it for a Sox fan to spend any amount of time at all fiercely defending Alex Rodriguez?

some randoms

Favorite Sox-related Song: Tessie, Dropkick Murphys

Favorite Sox-related Possession: I like baseball "stuff", especially as each item ages but continues to carry sentimentalities and memories, but for this question i would have to definitively say my bobbleheads are my favorite possessions. I have 4 different Pedroias and one Youk. My collection will definitely grow this season, as i plan to get at least 4 others (they are given out at certain minor league games, and they're quality). They all sit on my dresser (except for a Pedroia that i acquired as a Secret Santa gift this past Christmas- it's still in its box) and i call them Bobblehead Alley, collectively. Sometimes if i'm feeling silly or overly excited while watching a game on TV (think Game 2 of the 2008 ALCS when Pedroia hit two homeruns in one game) i will run in and bobble them all together. I call it the Bobblehead Alley Rally.

I have never bought a beer at Fenway Park. I think it's silly to pay that much for cheap beer.

The first MLB game I ever went to was at Fenway when i was much younger and much more foolish... I loved the Yankees because they had my favorite pitcher Jimmy Key, and so i remember sitting in the right field GS facing the outfield (not home plate) and being absolutely disgusted that my father had brought me to Fenway first instead of Yankee Stadium. I think we even left early, because my mom was bored and there were poles in our line of sight towards the infield (not super obstructed but enough).

I have no idea why Jimmy Key was the player of my childhood, but I still have about 20 different Jimmy Key baseball cards (and a number of duplicates) under my bed here where I live right now.

I do not think that baseball is slow or boring. Ever. If i could, i would go 2 hours early to every game I attend to watch the field, and to see the park slowly fill with fans.

...Ok, i take it back. The 2008 All-Star Game was a mediocre ballgame and though I stayed up for all of the extra innings, I was bored (this also probably had something to do with the fact that back then, we didnt have cable and so I watched all games on ESPN.com 's stat-tracker).

Yes, until August 2008 i watched all games that i was not at on a play-by-play stat-tracker. And it was still exciting (enough so for me to keep doing it, at least).

I used to have a strong dislike of Red Sox fans, and less-so the Red Sox themselves. I just didnt understand. And now I am very much one of them :)

last year i went to over 30 games at Fenway. i work within 10 minutes' walking distance of the park, so often times i'd go on craigslist during lunch and find a cheap pavilion standing room ticket, meet the seller at the park, and be blissfully alone in the midst of 38,000 avid fans. they're like family in a way. i got to recognize ushers... i made friends with a scalper or two.. i became a regular, which is a feeling we small-town Mainers aspire towards, i think (or maybe it's just a natural tendency). Fenway was the best home i had for a while too, because in the span of 4 months i moved from my old home outside of the city, to a couch at a friend's, to my new home in Somerville.

talk about an addiction.. i have felt the anguish of being so close and yet somehow so far away from the next Red Sox game this offseason. Every day when i take the red line train to work and then home again, i see that Citgo sign across the city. Every day when i walk to the T station after work, i can see Fenway on the not-so-distant horizon. i have attended a lot of Red Sox-related events and they have helped, but it's not the same of course. 

now you'll be surprised to know that I've been a Red Sox fan for less than a year. April 19th, 2008 was the day the Red Sox stole my heart, to put it femininely (I'm allowed). Sox vs Rangers, Wakefield on the mound. Game 6, Bruins vs Canadiens, was happening simultaneously across the city at the Garden. how many times have i told the story of that night? it was only my second-ever game at Fenway Park. i'll never forget that night.

hopefully i will get back in the swing of writing. especially from my solo adventures, there's always so much to put down. i am a lot less timid about talking to the people i want to talk to and seeing the things i want to see when i go it alone, and so i've got some good stories. 

hopefully, more to come..

a little survey in the meantime.

Top 3 Live Red Sox Experiences: this one is certainly one of the top, if not the best.. I went to a Sox vs Diamondbacks game with my friends Jay, Dave, and Jeremy. we were in Pavilion SRO, 3rd baseline, lined up with the pitchers' mound. middle of the 8th, Sweet Caroline comes on. we're all singing along, and the music fades earlier than usual (at the 'warm, touching warm' part, super early)... but everyone is gunning to get to the chorus, so all of Fenway screams out the rest of the prechorus a cappella... as we hold "touching youuuuu" i scream "2, 3, 4" to keep the time like out of a movie almost, and Red Sox Nation sails into the chorus. Petey was standing at the plate for a good 20, 30 seconds after the music had faded. i cant imagine what that must have been like for him, if it made such an impression on me.

also, Game 5 of the 2008 ALCS.

also, this is kind of a funny one... during the second to last game of the 2008 regular season, the yankees were beating us. the afternoon was overcast, and i'd never heard Fenway Park so quiet. the Sox had Papelbon on the mound, so it was one of the late innings... i would guess 8th, because the game wasnt over. no one was cheering, so from one of the front rows of the State Street Pavilion (section between first and the mound) i shouted out "HERE WE GO CINCO OCHO, WHOOOOOHOO". and back to near silence. and i love that moment in time because if ever a player on the field heard something from the stands, Jonathan Papelbon definitely heard me right then. i felt almost self-conscious right then because it's a rare thing to hear your cheer stand out at Fenway Park (sorry paps for cutting into your concentration!)

Favorite Tickets (price and view): Pavilion SRO, 3rd baseline

Favorite Person To Catch A Game With: Jay LaValley, or just by myself (call me antisocial..)

Favorite Player: The day I became a Sox fan, I also decided I would be a Pedroia fan. I had no idea about most of the people on the team last April, but I knew that I had seen Petey play as a Sea Dog (I'm originally from Maine and still have family up there). I have a thing for underdogs and he fit the bill. However, 10 months and 900 awards later, he seems to have lost the whole underdog thing, and so while he will always be one of my Red Sox heros, i am moving along to other rookies and young players. I do have a thing for the young ones, they fascinate me. Michael Bowden is a big one for me lately. When he was promoted I couldnt and still cant shut up about the virtues of Justin Masterson. Jon Lester, what a pitcher and what a story. Jed Lowrie?! I am all about the guy. Then we've got the up-and-comers (i suppose Bowden fits in this category a little better)... i've got my eyes on the likes of Zach Daeges, Josh Reddick, Argenis Diaz, Mark Wagner, and a bunch of others. 

I'm cutting this short as I've got a train to catch. More later, because i have lots of downtime these days..