Me? Watching Sport?! Surely not…

On Saturday Michele and her friend John took me to Boston to watch the two biggest baseball rivals – the Rex Sox (Boston) and the Yankees (New York) play at the infamous Fenway Park Stadium. Not that we were actually *in* the stadium; tickets are hard to come by as every game sells out and most season ticket holders have to inherit their seats! Now, back home, I would never so much as entertain the idea of watching any sort of sport as it bores the (British) pants off me, but when in Rome and all that. Baseball is incredibly popular here, possibly more popular than any sport in the UK and so I’m glad that I was able to experience this one as it’s given me a far better insight into the local culture than I could otherwise have obtained.

The area surrounding Fenway Park was awash with all manner of red and navy Red Sox attire, with a peppering of dull grey Yankees shirts for good measure. Adorned in a borrowed Red Sox t-shirt, I fitted right in! The atmosphere was electric – something I’ve only ever previously experienced whilst at a gig. Fans filled the streets and the humid air was heady with the aroma of hot dogs. The excitement was tangible.

Being in a bar, with good food, drinks aplenty and a generous sprinkle of cheesy rock music helped to make the experience all the more enjoyable for me. I was fascinated by the game at first – trying to make sense of it, with Michele’s help. Our closest equivalent would be Rounders, I think. A Rounders game which lasts an average of three-and-a-half hours! The bar was packed with supporters, every eye riveted to the huge screens displayed at every available angle. They cheered loudly, clapped madly and sung along to whatever song was played when the Rod Sox were scoring. I was fortunate enough to see a good game – the Red Sox beat the Yankees 14-1. These two teams had already played each other the evening before (and they were to play again the following day, with each game’s score counting separately). When the game was finally over, everyone – except me, it seemed – broke into a rendition of ‘Sweet Caroline’, which I now understand to be something of a tradition (Michele gave me the film ‘Fever Pitch’ to watch as ‘homework’ but I only saw it after the event) and this was followed, much to my surprise, by the Dropkick Murphy’s ‘Tessie’. I had no idea that they were affiliated with the Red Sox or that ‘Tessie’ is some kind of unofficial theme song for when the Red Sox (finally) won (they’d had years and years of losing every game) back in 2004.

I don’t think I’ll ever be a sports fan but I’m really glad I got to experience the atmosphere – all-in-all, it was an enjoyable day!