Red Sox & Red Beards

That was a pretty exciting season for us Red Sox fans!  I can't think of any better way to undo the tumult of the 2011 & 2012 teams than by bringing home The Commissioners Trophy.  Wifey & I saw the Sox play four times in three different stadiums this year: O.Co, AT&T, and Fenway Park.  Ironically, we went to more games this year than we did when we lived in Back Bay.  Go figure?

The beards were a popular story line this year and I decided to participate!  Meet my playoff beard.  It was fun to grow but I'm happy the playoffs are over - that thing was keeping me up at night (literally)!  Next stop: Movember.

David Ortiz's home run in Game 2 of the Detroit series was the best moment of the playoffs.  Here's the YouTube video but the best quality version can be found here.

As it turns out, I didn't see the grand slam live!  I was out with Jake for his night walk!  When I came home, it was a new ballgame.

Dominic DiMaggio (...and Joe too)

I've been catching up on my reading list over the last couple weeks.  ...one of the many many MANY things that makes sabbatical so sabbaticooool.  OK, now that that's out of my system...

I just finished The Teammates: A Portrait of a Friendship.  It is, first and foremost, a story about the relationships between Ted Williams and other Red Sox greats Bobby Doerr, Johnny Pesky, and Dom DiMaggio.

This book was one piece of a larger christmas gift from Ali's parents that contained various different Red Sox memorabilia.  If anyone's struggling to find me a gift, this is a good lead to follow!

I was pleasantly surprised as I read about the roots that some of these guys had in the old Pacific Coast League.  As it turns out, Dom grew up less than a mile away from our current home!  I couldn't wait to get home and run over to the place where Dom (OK - Joe too) grew up: 2047 Taylor Street.

If you look at the map, you'll see a playground that was named after Dom's brother (Yankee and debatably the best baseball player ever), Joe.  Despite an excellent career, often against all odds, Dom never really got the credit he deserved.

Here I am in front of the house.  The entrance on the right leads to 2047.  It's difficult for me to say how much the house has changed over the 90 years since they lived there.

Truthfully, it's a bit underwhelming.  I was expecting, at least, a placard.  In lieu of any identifying mark, I couldn't help but wonder if the addresses have changed over the years.  Perhaps I'm at the wrong house!?  ...wouldn't be the first time.

Back to Boston

There’s no place I’ve been that’s quite like Fenway Park.  Each visit brings an intoxicating mixture of moments frozen in time, a century’s old lore, zealots united, traditions honored, and the promise of October baseball.

We were excited to be back in Boston for a couple days and even happier to have tickets for (likely) the last home series against the Yankees this season.  This is the second time that we’ve had seats atop the Green Monster and we’re fortunate to share the experience with Ali’s parents in celebration of their 40^th wedding anniversary(!).

One of this seasons little treasures is right to announce our disapproval of Alex Rodriquez with even more vitriol than usual.  By the way, he went 0 for 3.  The Boston faithful are somewhat of a spectacle to be observed.  I tried to record some of the fun but the audio didn’t do it justice.  I did, however, capture both the Boston accent and it's spirit in all it's glory.  This “offer” came from the gentleman behind us and was directed towards Red Sox left fielder Johnny Gomes (out of frame).

The Red Sox won and moved one step closer to clinching the top spot in the American League.  I wouldn’t be entirely honest if I didn't admit to the haunting memories of September 2011.  Fortunately, most of that team is long gone!  'Love That Dirty Water' is a little bit sweeter after the Sox beat the Yankees. 

Red Sox in SF

The Red Sox rarely come through San Francisco.  Since they're coming through SF this year, Ali and I jumped at the opportunity to get tickets to the Monday night game.

The trick about AT&T Park is the effect the bay has on wind and temperatures as the sun sets.  We sat high (really high) in the third deck at AT&T and we thought we were going to be exposed to the worst of the temps and bay breeze.  Fortunately, all of the worry was for naught.  We were conveniently blocked from the elements by the safety wall and small overhang above the third tier.  Take that, wind!

We were pretty far away from the field but we loved our seats.  We had a great view of every play and every square inch of the field.  The ballpark is a nice walk from our Apt.  In fact, running along the Embarcadero and around the ballpark is one of my favorite runs.  If you have a good zoom camera, another cool thing about AT&T Park is that you can look into the A's stadium on the other side of the bay.

In the wake of the Boston Marathon tragedy, the Red Sox have been receiving tributes at away games. Ali and I used to live just a few blocks away from it all.  Even though it's been 10 months since we moved, the events were still frightening to us.  We thought the tribute was a very nice gesture.  They even played Sweet Caroline between the 7th and 8th innings!  (So) Good times for the many Red Sox fans that were in attendance.

Red Sox win: 7-0!

Relocation Domination: The Bandwagon

Having just relocated to San Francisco, I find myself asking a familiar question: who do I root for now?  Fortunately, I've walked this path before. It isn't, however, a smooth road.

As a child, my allegiances were so clearly defined: 'Skins, O's, Cap's, Bullets, and Blast.  Life was so simple back then. There were no Nationals, Ravens, Warthogs, or MLS for that matter.  Oh, how I yearn for those olden days!  Since then, the trials and tribulations of life have...complicated things.  First the Ravens arrive in Baltimore and later NISL goes bankrupt (again), and later I relocate to Boston.  Still, my allegiance remains in tact.



...and then it happened.  Things changed.  Slowly at first and then faster.  Before I knew it, all of "my" teams were miserably bad.  They had betrayed me.  Meanwhile, the Red Sox, Patriots, Bruins, and Celtics were all winning championships!  I had had enough!  First I dropped the Orioles in favor of the Red Sox. To this day, it's one of the best decisions I've ever made.  After I started rooting for the Sox, it
wasn't hard for me to dawn the Celtics green and Bruins yellow.

The only affiliation which I still waiver is the Patriots/Redskins. I don't know why?  The 'Skins are still bad and a turn around isn't in site.  I'm certain Dan Snyder will find a way to screw-up RG3's best
efforts.

Now I find myself in a new city with a 2-outta-3 baseball team and a promising football program.  An interesting factor in the battle for my allegiance is that SF doesn't have a pro basketball or hockey team.  By that account, the B's and C's are safe.  My recent subscription to MLB.tv and NFL Ticket serve to further (un)complicate the issue.

It is cool, however, to go to work and have a front row seat for the Giants Championship parade last week. Time will tell, my friends.  Time will tell.

Playoff Season

Ali and I rushed home last night from the Sox - O's game at Fenway so that we could catch the end of the Celtics - Heat game.  Boston split the games last night (Sox won, Celtics lost) but the excitement in the city during this time of year is special.  This city loves our pro sports teams and for good reason: each one of the majors have won a championship since I moved here in January '05.  Six months can't go by without one of the teams making a playoff run.  May & June are the peak of the insanity; as spring turns to summer, both the NBA and NHL are in playoff mode while the MLB season is hitting full stride.  Nothing stirs the pride like a Bruins jersey on George Washington or Celtic jerseys on the 'Make Way for the Ducklings' statues in the Public Garden.

Attending a home game is really a lot of fun.  Some of my favorite memories are singing along to Sweet Caroline at Fenway and the loads of Bobby Orr jerseys that surface at a Bruins game.  Speaking of which, why don't I have one of those yet?

We're not without our hiccups though.  Just yesterday, for example, Mayor Menino referred to Kevin Garnett as "KJ" and Rajon Rondo as "Hondo".  Ooof.  I was hoping that the incident could somehow be blamed on his heavy Bah-ston accent (which it couldn't).  ESPN had a field day with that audio clip...

Yuuuuup!

Ali and I attended a charity auction to benefit the Farr Academy this week.  Since wifey is an e-Bay FANATIC, this live event was sure to test her grit.  It's easy to keep a cool appearance when you're competing against faceless binaries, but in live competition, the rules change.  The competitors are always observing the big dog.  Watching.  Testing.  Waiting for you to tip your hand.

This would be much more akin to Storage Wars than anything even she has ever done.  I knew I was out of my league.  Wifey would have to bare the burden of the paddle today.  We Positioned our chairs so that I could tap Ali on the back anytime I wanted to bid.  Armed with that information, Ali would decide whether or not Paddle #1 would make an official bid.

The good news is that my sports memorabilia collection has continued to grow!  Before the auction, I had a Paul Pierce basketball (a gift from Ali), Ted Williams baseball (a gift from Ali's father), and two Dave Mills Youth League trophies (!!).  Following the auction I was the proud new owner of a Kevin Youkilis baseball, Adrian Gonzalez baseball, and a Milan Lucic puck.

I also won a round for four at TPC Boston.  This is a private course where The Deutsche Bank Championship is played.  Woohoo!  We also won some other stuff...but that's far less exciting.