Day 20: "Hello mister...doctor..."

We were all pretty excited to see Fenway today (especially our resident Red Sox fan, Conner).  We started the day with class and then a group lunch at what Conner accurately described as the “Boston version of Hooters.”  We recommend the pretzel burgers but only if you’re REALLY hungry.  Or if you have an appetite like Bill, who can eat ridiculous amounts of food all the time.  After eating, we were given the day to explore the city.  However, after watching the boys standing on the corner staring at a map with puzzled expressions, Steph and I decided to duck out and head back to the hotel.  I was not about to spend the day lost in the heat, especially with so much writing to do.  Apparently we started a trend because about fifteen minutes later the boys were back at the hotel as well.

I can’t say for sure how much we all got done but we all at least attempted to be productive for the afternoon.  We headed to Fenway around 6:00 and spent some time exploring the historic ballpark.  As you can probably tell if you’ve read any of this blog at all, I don’t know much about baseball but one of the few ballparks I had heard of prior to taking this class was Fenway.  I was excited to see this little piece of history.  Semi-unfortunately, our seats were the few in the whole stadium that hadn’t been redone since 1912.  While they were fairly uncomfortable and cramped (I guess obesity wasn’t really a big problem back in the day), it was kind of cool to imagine all of the different fans that had sat in my seat over the years and to think about how different the game would have been almost a century ago.  I’m sure my seat wasn’t very popular though due to the pole right in front of the pitcher’s mound and the pole right in front of the screen.  Oh well – you win some, you lose some.

The game was a little disappointing because we didn’t get to see the Red Sox win.  They lost to the White Sox with a final score of 7-3.  However, it was definitely one of my favorite games because the crowd was incredible.  This was one of the few games where I didn’t feel distracted by everything else going on in the stadium, like the vendors (I had to ask Madison later if there even WERE vendors) and the big screen (although to be fair I couldn’t really see it).  I felt really invested in the game because everyone around me was so passionate and their excitement was infectious.  I couldn’t help but cheer for the Red Sox even though I had zero knowledge of them prior to the game.  I also really liked Fenway’s Sweet Caroline tradition.  I can only imagine what it would have been like if the Red Sox had been winning. 

Oh that's cool, cause who really needs to see the pitcher's mound anyway?

 Green Monster!