Yes, I'm Protesting Math

I recently decided with a friend to go to Fenway for a Sox-Rays series in early September. I usually make one trip to Fenway a year and it's usually an incredibly fun time time. It's tough to explain but there are so many things that are great about the park. First of all, if game time is at 7, outside of Fenway is like a party from 5-7. There's vendors everywhere with a bunch of people wandering around excited to see the game. From there, walking into the park and stepping in as soon as you see the field is a great experience. Generally the first thing you see is the Green Monster, a giant 37 foot wall in left. It's probably not as awe inspiring for a casual fan but as a lifelong fan of the Redsox it's one of my favorite moments when I go to Fenway.

From there, the fans are arguably the most knowledgeable in baseball. The reason I say this is there are no "get loud" or "make noise" animations from the scoreboard. Every chant, every piece of noise, every rhythmic applause is started by the fans themselves. There have been quite a few more fair weather fans that have come to Fenway, but generally when sitting in the cheaper seats nobody will leave until the end of the inning causing you to miss very little of the action or have to get up during the game.

This may not be the best analogy but the easiest way for me to describe Fenway fans is to compare it to a wild dog.They're always looking for a sign of weakness, generally always from the opposing pitcher. Sometimes it has very little effect. At this game I chanted "Lil-ly" with the rest of the crowd for 7 innings with very little effect. It was definitely loud and continued for the whole game and Lilly pitched very well.

Then there was this game. Carmona came into the game and after retiring the first two, the crowd got louder after the Mirabelli got hit by a pitch. It was at that time Carmona started to struggle and the crowd was deafening by the time Youkilis got up. It was a really cool experience and when Loretta doubled the roof nearly came off the place. Next year they were down 3-2 to the Indians in the ALCS with game 6 in Fenway. The crowd was chanting "lets go Redsox" as Carmona was warming up, something I had never seen before. There's really no way to tell if he was rattled but he gave up a grand slam in the first and was chased in the third. Again, there's no evidence to point out that the crowd has anything to do with it, but make any mistake or falter a bit and they'll be all over you. 

So, needless to say I couldn't be more excited to go in September which could be in the middle of a playoff race. The Redsox are finally getting healthy and hopefully they can play well in August since there's nothing like a playoff atmosphere at Fenway.

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"As Commissioner, you're supposed to be objective. It wasn't much of a secret though, that I loved Fenway Park, especially how it made you a participant and not a spectator."
--Bowie Kuhn