Let's go Red Sox!

Swing batter batter something or other! Picture Courtesy of Steve

Another poorly timed/made update but I'll keep on...
So last Friday we had a work outing! Our summer interns finished and as we were so pleased with some of the work they did on some high profile client stuff, including with some very late nights thrown in, myself and colleague Steve campaigned for a goodbye send off for them. We all went to a Red Sox game! Now I wasn't sure what to make of it, or if I would even enjoy myself as I am not exactly known for my sporting prowess for to say the least. Now I have been, I can say though, that I still don't really understand the point of rounders... I mean baseball, but I had a great time!

Me, Jess, Matt and then Greg, in the hat is turned away. Lauren was inbetween Matt and Greg at this point I think. We did seat swap!
Picture Courtesy of Steve

My boss helped me chose some great seats, and we all sat together in the middle of the Bleachers at Fenway Park, underneath the New Balance sign that my company designed (it uses special energy saving bulbs, and when the Sox win, it flashes WE WON on the outside of the stadium for all of Boston to see. Although they haven't done much winnin' yet!) The place was heaving with people and the weather was perfect. The game started at 7pm and after taking the T there, and walking from Kenmore we entered the stadium (is it a stadium?) via our gate and got our $billion costing drinks and snacks. I went for a soda in a free refillable collectors cup and a bag of peanuts that were in a bit of a state and still cost $5. The atmosphere was amazing. The kids in front of us took their tops off and wrote a players name on there (Wakefield, one of the pitchers) and there was a lot of chatting with the guys next to us (Oakland fans!) and the guys in front, who fancied Lauren and laughed at pretty much every mumsy English thing I said. Near the end everyone around us was speculating towards the relationship of the couple next to Matt. We all thought at first they were father and daughter... until Lauren pointed out that the young lady (who looked about 13 and had a CLASS OF 2014 year book... high school or college? in her bag) started grabbing the crotch of the older guy that looked to be about 40. Gross. They left about the 7th inning, and that is when everyone started to speculate as to the situation. Gross.

The highlight of the entire night was doing a MexicanWave (as they call it in the UK)/The Wave (America) around the stands. It started in our section and it went around 5 times! I couldn't believe it. Amazing. Someone even had a beach ball floating around but the security guards got a hold of it, and stabbed it. Everyone in the crowd BOO'd at this point. There was lots of booing and cheering at various points. Some rounders... I mean home runs from Ortiz and Pedroia, but alas the Red Sox still lost to Oakland. On the walk back to the seats we had, walking up the stand, some random guy stuck his arm our and I had to high five him. That was really odd, but I did it anyways! There was some singing and dancing at the 7th inning. 7th inning stretch I think it was called. We all had to get up and sing a song about "the old ball game" or something. Thankfully the words were on the screen... oh! The screen! Every so often they would show pictures of the crowd and watching their reactions was hilarious. Some girl/guy would notice she was on the jumbo screen and elbow their mate who would look at her and then do a double take... then they would both start frantically waving. Over and over. Each reaction was slightly different but always with the same goal. Oblivious to insane waving in 0.02 seconds.

I'd definitely go again, if only so I can have some soft serve ice cream in a souvenir hat bowl and some fries which looked delicious! Hah! I know guys from work have gone and sat front row in the New Balance area, but I think it would be more fun where we sat. I'm going to try and get some cheap tickets so Patrick, Steve, Nikki and I can go again mid September. I would also like to say that Red Sox fans as a rule are insanely fanatical but are really nice! Everyone was SO nice to me and explained things. Even the lady who served me my drink was lovely and called me 'hun'. I felt like part of the family, even though secretly I didn't care if the Red Sox won. If we are honest, I couldn't follow the scoring at all, but that was partly due to my terrible eyesight and the seemingly complicated rules. Surely you should just hit it, and run? But apparently not. (This is where rounders is more style!!)

Jess and I left early, so we could avoid the mental T. We left during the 8th inning and it was already getting mental. The game ends after 9 innings, and we waited trying to get on a train for ages. 3 came by with something dumb like 2 carriages. It was as hot as balls in the station so we decided to walk to another T stop and then get on there. We left Kenmore and then made our way to the river and ended up just walking all the way along the Charles, crossing the river and into Harvard Square. The first week at school for the 'freshman' had finished and Harvard Yard was JUMPING with parties and music and excited young people. It made me wish I had made more of my time at University and been a little more confident and enjoyed myself. We both quickly got over it and carried on walking and just went home from there. When I got home I tallied up our walk back on that balmy night and it was 5.8 miles along the route we did from Kenmore to my door. This does not include the time we spent trying to get across Storrow Drive, where we eventually just jaywalked and screamed as ran in the dark across the busy dual carriageway.

Such a great night, and the walk along the river made it a bit better. I got to see Boston by night from the river which was really pretty. I always wanted to take a stroll along the Charles but it has been so hot or we have been so busy we never had the chance. Hopefully we can do it again soon!