6/10/08 Fenway Park!

The road trip to Fenway Park started on the NJ Parkway at 9:51 AM. I went with a friend of mine I mentioned in my last entry. He was set to drive the estimated nine hours we had to drive until we got to Boston. He is a Red Sox fan and this was his first game at Fenway as well. I got directions from a friend of mine and we decided to use those and not Google Maps because they would've brought us halfway around the world rather than straight to Fenway but, that's where we went wrong.

After we were on the MassPike, we were supposed to go East at an exit. Instead, the options in Forfa's head said, "Go West" and that's the way we went which put us twenty minutes back from Boston.

The drive through Connecticut had to be one of the most boring, aggravating, and disgusting drives when it's hot outside, ever. Being in 93 degree weather including humidity while sitting on leather seats, sweating profusely and having the sun irritate you with its bright, yellow-colored self isn't pleasant at all. Not to mention you're driving through Connecticut.

I'm guessing people that drive on the MassPike and get too bored when they are driving alone are the ones killing the animals walking around earth. For the record, we saw five dead deer curbside, and one looking to commit suicide but realized it was a dumb idea before moving to the side of the road. Also spotted was a possum, raccoon(?), and a skunk along with its foul smell.

Miles later, we started seeing signs for Boston and our energy quickly shot up. Before we knew it, we passed Boston University and then, as if it was a dream, Fenway Park was in plain view. My heart started to quickly beat and my stomach knotted up. For what? Excitement? Too nervous? I mean, it was my first time at Fenway but why should I be nervous? It felt like the first time I saw a Major League field (July 23, 1996 at Yankee Stadium).

We shortly found a FREE parking spot around the corner from Gate A (Yawkey/Brookline) and walked from there. We were to enter at Gate B so beforehand, we visited the Official BoSox Clubhouse store on Yawkey Way and cooled off in the AC for about half an hour before walking to Gate B and enjoying the history surrounding us.

I bought the cheapest water around at $3 a bottle and killed it in nearly fifty seconds. We were standing in a semi line in the tiniest bit of shade by the entry gates and at 4:03 PM, the gates of Fenway Park opened directly in front of my eyes. In the first group of ten people I entered the world renowned Fenway Park.

I was so excited and had no clue what to do first. Forfa on the other hand was dying from the heat and needed to find a patch of shade. So, we stayed in the concourse for about ten - fifteen minutes, and had a couple of waters and Fenway Franks before taking our first look at the field from the Right Field seats during BP.

I took my glove out of my bag and placed myself wherever I thought that ball was going. This was my view and the competition around me for BP. The kids in yellow were on a Middle School class trip and would not stop begging for baseballs that landed in the bullpen. Even the pitching coach for the Red Sox, John Farrell told them the quietest person at the end of BP gets a baseball but they still wouldn't shut up.

The closest baseballs to come near me was the one I just missed from Manny Ramirez that got tangled up in the seats and fell directly in front of some guy and another was one section over from another ball hit into those seats. But, the closest baseball that came our way just missed Forfa's head by a good three inches. I had my phone out attempting to take a picture and wasn't paying attention until I heard, "HEADS UP!!" and the ball quickly smacked the pavement and then ricocheted of the seats before landing in the Orioles bullpen. I wasn't a happy camper only because I knew that there wasn't going to be another baseball hit that close to us where I wouldn't have to flinch to catch it and also the fact that I knew I would have caught that ball, no sweat. For the rest of the day that clip played over and over and kept on drilling it into my head that I could've caught that ball. But then you think about the fact that it was only a BP home run and had no other significance other than that I caught it at my first trip to Fenway Park.

So I moved on and after batting practice we decided to walk around the stadium's insides a little bit to see what Fenway was all about. It was empty around this time we were in the concourse but by the time the game officially started, you moved at an extremely slow speed.

We found seats behind home plate and took pictures there, watched Manny receive a plaque for #500, watched the first pitch thrown by Al Roker from NBC and heard the words, "Play Ball" before being told to return to our ticketed seats. So much for that. If we had the chance to sit there during the ball game without anybody showing up, which was a long shot, this would've been our seat:

We went to our seats and realized they were directly in the sun so we decided to sit on the 1912 seats in the shade which had a TERRIBLE view of the game. I wish I can share it with you but by 6 PM I turned my phone off because it was about to die so I didn't have a camera to snap a picture with. I couldn't see the batters box from that seat at all thanks to the huge green poles holding the Right Field Roof Box seats so after an entire row of people showed up, we chilled on the Right Field foul line until the end of the 4th inning.

We then decided to walk around the entire inside of the ballpark and watch the game from every view possible while being escorted out of every section that we entered and told, "Go back to your ticketed seats!" I got my picture taken by FanFoto to have some type of documentation that I was at Fenway Park in a good, clean quality rather than a picture taken from my phone from the top teck. We watched the game from a Standing Room Only section and then found the best/cheapest seat in the house. Again, I don't have a picture of the exact location but we were located on the Big Concourse behind the bar in fair territory.

There were about six other people watching the game with us while others hung over the railing in the bar, sipping on beers and talking about all of their Red Sox experiences and games they plan on attending this year. We stayed there until the 8th inning before leaving and trying to get an "early jump on the road" but, that didn't happen as planned.

Apparently, in Boston, Massachusetts it's cool to shut down gas stations and use them for parking spots down the street from Fenway instead of having them open to get gas and air for your tires. It took us nearly five hours to arrive in Boston from New Jersey and we thought we would only be on the road for four hours or less on the way back but driving around looking for gas stations set us back 45 minutes before officially getting on the road. At about 11 PM, my eyes were closed as I decided to kick back and relax and Forfa also decided to doze off and I guarantee almost immediately his car shifted to the left, having us slam into the divider, smacking his head against the inside of the top of his door and moving a lane away from the wall before stopping on the side of the road before passing a toll to check the car. There was a ton of wall dust on the side of the car that water got off quickly but the front left headlight had a piece missing from it and there was a dent next to it.

For the first time since the game started I turned my phone on and had a ton of text messages and missed calls. I called a few people and told them what had happened before turning my phone off again and taking a break from the road. A storm was going on in New Jersey but nothing was near Massachusetts yet and the sky was blinking on and off which had been going on in New Jersey for the past week. After we got back on the road, we stayed wide awake the rest of the way home. Saw seconds of the storm and that was the only rain we passed through.

Once we got back into town around 3 AM, we saw that the storm that passed through earlier that night had destroyed the streets and a lightning bolt decided to rip a HUGE hole in the top of a roof a couple of blocks away from my house. I got inside and immediately went to sleep because of work the following day at 12 PM.

Fenway itself was awesome. It felt really good to be there and actually see a game in an environment like no other. Everyone at the game is so into the game and it feels like a family. The only thing wrong with Fenway Park is the lack of space to move around. It's too tight and the seats are WAY too close together. Hopefully sometime soon another visit will come about but as for now, I'm planning a trip with three of my friends to US Field and Wrigley in Chicago then off to Cleveland's Progressive Field for an August 9 - 11 ballpark tour. More information on that weekend when I receive some news.

Here's a Panorama from Fenway Park: