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..