Now that the last spring training game is over, I have just one thing to say: Batter up! It’s been a long, cold winter (as always) and there’s something about the start of another baseball season that gets me all excited. Sure, I was really pissed off last August when the team fell apart, but all is forgiven and this is going to be a great year, I can feel it. Sitting in the stands in Fort Myers I was reminded of just how much I love this game and how happy I am that it’s back. So I say bring it on. Monday can’t come soon enough. Let’s go Red Sox!
So I have to say, the biggest disappointment about my trip to City of Palms Park on Monday wasn’t the Sox losing 2-1 to the Dodgers, and it wasn’t the fact that Jason Varitek didn’t play, and it wasn’t the fact that I never got to see Gabe Kapler when I went to the minor league facility. No, it wasn’t any of those things. Instead, my biggest disappointment was the fact that City of Palms Park doesn’t sell Fenway Franks. They sell the Globe and the Herald, and they sell old World Series champ merchandise, and they play “Sweet Caroline” midway through the eighth inning. But no, the one piece of Fenway I was most looking forward to on this trip to see the Sox in their springtime home, that I was denied.
Otherwise, it was a great time seeing the Olde Towne Team in Fort Myers. The whole thing had the feeling of a reunion: for the fans, it was the first time we were seeing the boys since October, and many seemed quite happy to have us cheering for them again. For the Sox, it was a chance to hang out with Nomar and Grady Little (Rudy Seanez and J.D. Drew made no visible attempts to hang out with their old teammates). Getting to the stadium at 10:30 for a 1:00 game meant we could hang out and see the guys bonding, laughing, reconnecting, enjoying themselves. It was really fun. Hell, people were even asking Grady Little for his autograph, and Nomar received some of the biggest cheers of the day. And it was also amusing that if you wanted to find Dice-K, all you had to do was look for the mob of Japanese reporters and fans. They travel with him around the stadium in a pack, just like his own personal entourage.
And as if that all wasn’t enough, the weather was near-perfect, the PA system was playing “Ants Marching” and “Margaritaville” and other sumertime classics, there was a too-vocal yahoo fan yelling out stupid stuff throughout the game, my dad and I sat right behind the Dodgers’ dugout, and best of all, hope seemed to be in full supply (despite the loss). For a few brief hours, it was finally spring. And it was awesome.
But no Fenway Franks. That would have made the trip perfect. Ah well. I’ll just have to wait until I get tickets to see the team play at home.
ps: A really cool “star” sighting at the park was Keith Olbermann. I asked him if he’d be giving Ann Coulter hell for her comments Friday night and sure enough, he tipped me off that even though he was on vacation, he’d be phoning in a segment for that night’s show. And he also gave me a good laugh when he said Coulter was “more mannish” than John Edwards. I love Keith Olbermann. He’s the man. (And clearly Terry Francona thinks so too; Keith sat right by his side at the top of the dugout throughout the entire game.)
I thought this year would be different, what with my new computer and faster Internet connection and all. So I got up early (i.e.: at 9 am, which is early for me on a Saturday) and logged onto RedSox.com to do some recon work before the tickets went on sale at 10:00. And somewhere around 9:45 I clicked on the June 16 game vs the Giants, entered the “virtual waiting room,” and waited. And waited. And waited. I read the page a good handful of times, just for fun. You know, all that B.S. about how tickets are sold on a “first-come, first-served basis,” but patrons are selected from the waiting room “on a random basis.” And I watched the page refresh itself every 30 seconds, waiting on the edge of my seat as the numbers hit single digits, hoping the page would change to something — anything — different. And I waited for the ticket status at the bottom of the page to change and tell me everything was already sold out, but it only updated every hour, so I figured maybe, just maybe, I still had a chance of getting through. Hell, I even tried calling the ticketing phone numbers — both of them — and kept getting either a busy signal or the message that “all circuits are busy.”
Whatever. I’m generally a patient person, especially where stuff like this is concerned, but I waited for more than two hours in this stupid waiting room only to find out the game I wanted to see was sold out. I’m not trying again for another one; I’d rather go out and enjoy the day than sit by my computer waiting for Red Sox tickets. I’ll just have to watch Papi, Manny, Dice-K, J.V. and the boys on NESN like I did last year when I didn’t even bother trying to get tickets. That seems to be the smarter choice. Did anyone get through today? I mean, really — aside from connections and scalpers, how does anyone get Sox tickets in this city?
Gabe Kapler, my favorite Red Sox player, has announced that he is retiring and will be leaving the city to manage the Sox’ Single-A team in South Carolina.
Ah well, another good one gone.
I’ve been a big Gabe fan for a while now not just because he gives Jewish athletes a good name (he even wore a “Challah Back” t-shirt in one of the 2004 season recaps), but because the guy seemed to have an endlessly positive attitude and played with a lot of heart, two things that endeared him to his teammates, who always spoke of Gabe in the highest regard.
The guy gave his all on and off the field. I’ll miss watching him at Fenway, but I know the traits I respect about Gabe will make him a great manager. I’m hoping that he will rise up the ranks and return to Yawkey Way one day soon as a Sox coach or as the manager.
This season of Lost is already off to a great start. The first five minutes of last week’s episode was mindblowing, and then the last five minutes of this week’s episode was equally great. And according to today’s Boston Globe, the show’s creators didn’t just pull the Red Sox reference out of their asses; they had a plan to use it all along. Then again, as Eric Wilbur writes: “You want to see someone go bezerk in a few weeks? Wait until Ben tells Jack the Sox didn’t re-sign Pedro or Lowe in lieu of Matt Clement and David Wells. That’s not going to go over well.” Anyway, Lost is back, and I don’t just mean from summer hiatus. I am totally intrigued by everything that’s happening with the Others, want to know more, love all the possibilities, and can’t believe it’s going off the air after six episodes (it’ll return 13 weeks later, in February). Click on the above image (or click here) to watch the Red Sox clip from Wednesday’s show, or go to ABC.com to watch the full episode.
And while I’m talking TV, maybe I’ll share some thoughts about the other shows I’ve been watching: Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip had a great pilot, a not-as-good second and third episode, and now with the fourth episode I’m a fan again. It’ll take a lot for me not to watch this show, even if I wasn’t enjoying it as much those two middle weeks.
The Office just hasn’t been nearly as good or as funny as last year was. They’ve gone and added the one thing the show lacked: a plot. And now it has prolonged scenes of seriousness (like in the awful premiere episode four weeks ago). Last night’s episode was the best one so far this season. But the show won’t be much good until Jim returns to Scranton. I don’t want to see a spinoff show where Jim moves to Stamford.
Grey’s Anatomy. So good. Sooooo good. One of the few shows I will watch ASAP if I’ve gotten home late. (And by the way, I love the season two soundtrack, especially the Gomez track “How We Operate” and Get Set Go’s “I Hate Everyone.” It’s worth buying.)
I didn’t love the pilot of Six Degrees so I stopped watching. But I had it on last night after Grey’s Anatomy and I have to say, I really enjoyed it. I think I’ll make an effort to keep up with this one.
I still love The Amazing Race. One of the best, most unpredictable shows on TV. (Though I’m still a week behind and need to catch up.)
Like Lost, Desperate Housewives has also been better this season than last. Though I’m not sure why everyone loves Marcia Cross. Eva Longoria is the funniest actress on that show. She’s so good you don’t even notice how good she is.
Otherwise, My Name Is Earl just doesn’t do it for me anymore so I don’t know how much longer I’ll be watching, 30 Rock I recorded on Wednesday and will watch this weekend, Saturday Night Live is a waste of time, I don’t think I’m going to bother with What About Brian, and after one episode I’ve given up on Heroes, Ugly Betty, Brothers & Sisters, and The Nine. With those last four, I figure if I’ve missed them and don’t make any great effort to catch up, then what’s the point of recording them in the first place? So I’m passing on them. I have enough to watch as it is.
Is it so wrong for me to want the Yankees to make it to the World Series this year? I ask because I’m rooting for the Dodgers on the National League side, and wouldn’t it just be great if Grady Little got a second chance to beat the Yankees on the national stage? And wouldn’t it also be great if Nomar could earn his own World Series ring? I’d love to see Bill Mueller and Derek Lowe back in the Bronx, back in championship form like they were in 2004, and for Grady to do everything right — or at least right enough — so he can exorcise his own demons from the 2003 ALCS. And that’s on top of how cool it’d be from a historical standpoint for the Yankees to be playing the Dodgers (I’ll bet Fox Sports is already preparing the intros to hype that series). To clarify, I’m not rooting for the Yankees to win anything. I just think this matchup would make for a fun Series, and it’d be the closest thing we’d have this year to the Sox making it all the way … like they were supposed to have done. (Whoops. I forgot. I no longer hold a grudge against the 2006 team. Strike that last comment.)
It came to pass that a great and heavy storm rained down on the Fenway and washed away the 2006 Red Sox season. And lo, a voice from above gathered the Nation together and said unto them, “We will rebuild and try again next year.” — verse 18:7 from the Same Ol’, Same Ol’ Testament
It’s customary in the week between Rosh Hashannah and Yom Kippur to ask for forgiveness from those who you may have wronged in the past year, and to forgive those who have wronged you. So since Yom Kippur begins tonight, let me say to the Red Sox: I forgive you for imploding and screwing up this season as badly as you did, and for making me so angry these past two months. I hope you will forgive me for turning away from you and not watching a single game these many weeks, and for saying such disparaging things about your playing ability and your prospects for coming back after such terrible losses.
It’s a big day for me: I finally have things to watch on TV again. I mean, sure, for a while there I was content spending my evenings with the Red Sox, but I haven’t watched a single game since the Yankees series a month ago (seriously), and my nights have been rather boring as I waited for the new TV season to begin. (Not that I didn’t have a life or anything. I’m just talking about my TV watching habits here.)
So what will I be watching this season? Here’s my week at a glance:
Monday:Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip at 10
Tuesday: Nothing. It’s a night I can have a life
Wednesday:30 Rock at 8:30, Lost at 9, and (if it’s good) The Nine at 10
Thursday:My Name Is Earl at 8, The Office at 8:30, Grey’s Anatomy at 9, and Ugly Betty at 10 (recorded from when it was on from 8–9) or Six Degrees — unless it’s really bad. This would be a terrible night to call me, by the way.
Friday and Saturday: Nothing. Nights I can have a life
Sunday:The Amazing Race at 8, Desperate Housewives at 9, and (if it’s good) Brothers & Sisters at 10
I cleared some space on my DVR yesterday just in case I don’t make it home in time for some of these shows, so I should be all ready. Let the TV season begin!
Now that the last spring training game is over, I have just one thing to say: Batter up! It’s been a long, cold winter (as always) and there’s something about the start of another baseball season that gets me all excited. Sure, I was really pissed off last August when the team fell apart, but all is forgiven and this is going to be a great year, I can feel it. Sitting in the stands in Fort Myers I was reminded of just how much I love this game and how happy I am that it’s back. So I say bring it on. Monday can’t come soon enough. Let’s go Red Sox!
Martin's Musings 