theparkerfamily.org

Tag: Sports | Boston Red Sox

  • found photo: boston red sox, washington, dc

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    photo.jpg, originally uploaded by [ecpark].

  • the end of baseball in washington

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    photo.jpg, originally uploaded by [ecpark].
    i might be about done with the washington nationals.

    the austin spaklers are in town for the lady sparkler’s birthday, and to get some some quality time with her belly. it’d been a year since we saw a nats game, so we tossed in one of those for good measure.

    it turned out that we had three sets of friends there, and we had a great time all around. the food — ben’s chili bowl, again — was fantastic. the stadium is beautiful.

    but the game was awful.

    of course, part of that might be because the nationals are awful. luckily, they were facing the orioles … who are equally awful.

    the two teams are averaging 6 runs allowed per game. together, they allow more people on base than any other teams in the league. washington leads the league in errors, and baltimore is close behind. both are in last place in their division.

    all that futility should mean a scorcher of a game. but alas, did i mention it was awful?

    i swear, there was 20 minutes between each inning. it took until the 5th inning for washington to score its first run (which would also be the last). the game was over in two hours and 31 minutes, but i would have guessed it was twice that.

    in fact, when nat’s shortstop Cristian Guzman homered in the 5th i was excited … until i realized that it tied the game, vastly increasing the chance it would go into extra innings.

    (not to worry, tho, as baltimore “stormed” back to win 2-1.)

    but worst of all, we had to watch all the happy O’s fans … who have to win the award for most socially awkward fan base in the country.

    i know that baseball is a game of stats (which is probably a polite way of saying math geeks) but O’s fans makes red sox and yankees fans look normal by comparison … preppy or thuggy, as the case may be, but without that certain “a/v club” veneer.

    but, at least the O’s have fans.

    honestly, the nats would have better success if they built a giant bar, with great food, a huge HD television, and a $25 cover charge. that way DCers could come and socialize, without feeling guilty about paying attention a baseball game.

    (wait, that’s actually what they did …)

    in the end, the two-plus hours where i didn’t watch the game was great, but the 20 minutes of the game i watched during pauses in the social agenda felt like an afternoon at the dmv.

    it took forever, and no one was particularly happy with how it turned out.

  • dear mr. alex rodriguez, sir …

    arodpursei have to confess, that up until this moment, i’ve hated you. i’ve hated you as long as i can remember. heck, before i knew you … i hated the idea of you.

    a bloated contract from the yankees that signifies everything wrong with modern baseball. a personality uniquely unsuited to (and unappreciative of) the public spotlight. a track record of behavior on (and off) the feild that is awkward at best, or painfully embarrassing at worst.

    but, with this week’s revelations about your steroids use you have a chance to turn a new leaf, and the respect of an entire nation of baseball fans.

    in short, it’s up to you to save baseball.

    baseball needs *you* to come out of this latest round of steroid rumors better than you went in. the public can’t handle ten years of continual reminders of the steroids era as you bat your way towards the top of the home run list.

    we need you to hit this one out of the park for us. the key? a good, thoughtful, honest response from you.

    first off, let’s see what you don’t do … let’s look at how everyone else took their turn at the steroids plate. barry bonds lied (that didn’t work out so well). roger clemens denied (and is still digging his grave). mark mcgwire refused to talk (good luck with your next 10 years in new york if you choose that path). rafael palmeiro’s “i didn’t know what i was being injected with” defense has proven to be less then effective as well.

    so, let’s try something different … like, being honest.

    yes, you used steroids, but it was only one season (right?) way back in 2003. since then, you’ve been the most tested athlete on the planet, so people will be reasonably receptive to the notion that you aren’t still using.

    so, let’s get a head of this thing and say:

    • i did it. i was stupid. i used in 2003, but realized that using is a betrayal of the game and an offense to my fans. i saw all the big boys using around the league, and gave into the excuse that i needed to keep up … i have wanted to be the best for as long as i remember, but steroids just aren’t the way to do it.
    • with a steroid test on my record, i know that i have a lot to prove to get into the hall of fame, but i am committed to working everyday for the next ten years to earn my way back in.
    • i believe that my record can stand without the 2003 season, which is why i am voluntarily returning back to the league the (now tainted) awards i got that season, including the MVP trophy, and the award for being the best hitter in baseball. those awards are not a reflection on who i am, so i don’t want them a part of my resume, or sitting on my mantle.
    • yes, the tests that “outed” me were supposed to be confidential, and yes i am the only one out of the 104 who has been identified, but there is absolutely no reason to breach that confidentiality by releasing the rest of the names. two wrongs do not make a right, and i will take this round on my shoulders.

    • players and owners need to rededicate themselves to testing. our fans are rightly skeptical each time they hear another steroid denial, and we need to test early and often, to prove everyday that we deserve their respect.

    i know that’s a lot to say, but you have the chance to quite literally shift the landscape of baseball with just one press conference.

    please, mr. rodriguez … as the biggest figure in baseball, and the idol of everybody this side of boston, so you are uniquely positioned to save baseball from the steroids era.

    and, who knows, if you do this right … you may just earn your way back into the hall of fame at the same time.

    sincerely,
    baseball nation

  • confessions of a (late blooming) red sox fan

    the red sox pulled another rabbit out of a hat, last night, and their improbably run through the playoffs continues.

    i hate to say it, but i didn’t think they’d make it out of the first round this year … with Manny almost single-handedly destroying the team and the team bogged down with so many injuries.

    So, when new kid Jed Lowrie slapped in new kid Jason Bay last night at the bottom of the ninth, the moment was that much more magical. and, all this excitement …

    … just made me feel guilty.

    earlier in the day, i had (yet another) water cooler conversation about playoff baseball.

    one was a brewers fan, who was (mostly) content with Milwaukee’s valiant run to the playoffs, which would have been the envy of every small market team in baseball if the Tampa Rays weren’t still in the thick of things.

    the other was an orioles fan was reminiscing about the last time they had young, promising talent good enough to win the rookie of the year award (answer: never) and bemoaning the groundswell of “fans” jumping on the red sox band wagon since ending their 86 year championship drought in 2004.

    that’s when i felt the guilt … i was an orioles fan (*gasp!*) as recently as 2002.

    it all started in earnest when i moved to a place about eight miles from Camden Yards. growing up, i had been raised to root for the home team: my Vermont brother (red sox), my Maine father (Boston braves, and then red sox) and my new york grandfather (Yankees) all supported the local teams. I’d argue that it’s your civic duty.

    but then 2003 happened. i moved to dc (who was desperately trying to get their own team, one which i root for in the National League) which relieved the Orioles of their position as the team next door. I also came to the realization that Peter Angelos, owner of the Orioles, was actually the anti-Christ based on his sad attempts to keep a team out of DC (a rant already rant-ed at length).

    so, without a team to cheer for (the Nats hadn’t arrived yet, and i had blacklisted the O’s) i started shopping around.

    basically, everyone in my family who follows baseball, follows the red sox … so there was some attraction there. also, i had already built up a healthy, low-boiling hatred of the Yankees (sorry, grand-pa) based lightly on those annoying 25 championships, but mostly on their thuggish jersey-based fans who streamed into Baltimore for the games each year. (if there is one thing the red sox and orioles share, it’s an un-abiding hatred of the Yankees.)

    so, after spending most of 2003 without a team to cheer for, the post-season saw me rooting *against* the Yankees yet again, which based on their ALCS match up with Boston, meant i would need to root *for* the Red Sox.

    i watched all seven games of the series that year, and got (what turned out to be) my only true flavor of the misery that being a Red Sox fan is associated with: series tied at 3 a piece, game tied 5-5, Yankees at bat to begin the bottom half of the 11th inning … first pitch is knocked out of the park by Aaron Boone. Yankees win the game. Boston loses the series.

    (ironically enough, Aaron Boon is now with the Washington Nationals, and is the one player i can’t bring myself to cheer for.)

    i barely knew what a baseball was during the last major Sox tragedy (Bill Buckner and the ball between the legs in ’86) but if it sucked anything like this did, I’m glad i was too young.

    and, from that point on, i was hooked. i even converted the lady sparkler into enough of a fan that she believes “@$%#$” is J.D. Drew’s middle name, knows that Big Papi needs to get his act together and start bringing in some runs, and thinks Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia are cute (I’ll take my in’s how ever i can get them).

    so, there you go. red sox nation member since October 2003. five years and two championships later, life on the bandwagon is great. i just want you new punks to know that i was hear first, even if it wasn’t by much.

  • fenway park, south

    MVI_1583 — Originally uploaded by [ecpark]

    the red sox had a home game today in baltimore, maryland … with more red sox fans in attendance than they can even fit in fenway park north (i.e. the one in boston).

    you think i am exaggerating for effect, but:

    • there we no orioles fans in three rows below, six rows above, and one section to either the right or left. zip, zero, none.
    • two or three times an inning, the “lets-go-red-sox” chant would take over the stadium (see audio/video above). during the first two innings, a handful of orioles fans booed, but by the third inning they had all but given up.
    • red sox garb outweighed orioles garb (conservatively) by four to one. even in the season ticket seats down each baseline.
    • a sox bus tour in left field started “the wave” immediately after Jason Bay’s second homerun, and there were enough Sox fans in the crowd to sustain it for four or five circuits around the yard.
    • the only time i saw flash bulbs the whole night was when papelbon took the field in the 8th, and when they came there were enough for an olympics opening ceremony.

    i actually feel bad. it’s incrediably tough to be an orioles fan at these sorts of games — i followed the O’s myself for neigh on two decades, until i finally had my fill of peter angelos being nasty to d.c. — and the true fans must just stay home.

    as proof, some of the people behind us were kidding with one of the beer guys about how the only people who wanted beer in our section were the ones on the top row, but the beerman snapped back, saying: “i can’t wait until friday when the real fans come back.”

    the sad thing is he’s right … the fan’s just didn’t show, obviously biding their time until the sox (or yankees, who actually manage to have even more offensive fans) leave town. even the ushers looked beleagured.

    funny aside: we played “count the manny ramirez jerseys” today at the park and got up to just four. four! and he was only traded from the sox to the dodgers (for jason bay) three weeks ago.

    now, for reference … there were 200+ papis, 100+ papelbons, 20+ becketts/dice-ks/youks. there were even a dozen brand-spanking-new jason bay tops. but the manny jerseys have been euthanized from red sox nation.

    i’d wonder what that says about red sox nation’s feeling for manny, but i think it’s pretty apparent that it translates to “don’t let the door hit you in the !@#$@# on the way out.”

  • so, i know i’m the only one who cares …

    … but i had to share that I am in first place in my fantasy baseball league. i’m only two points up (out of 2908 points scored) and there is no way i will still be in first by tomorrow, so i’m going to tell anyone who will listen today before i begin the long slide back towards mediocrity.

  • banner no. 17

    [Photo]
    Wow, it’s been 22 years since the last Championship, originally uploaded by Pink Knitter.
    well, it’s a good time to be a sports fan in boston.

    the red sox have won twice in four years. the patriots blew their chance to be a perfect 19-0. (oh, btw, i like all teams in new england *except* for the patriots.) the revolution lost their fourth major league soccer title game in six years. (oh, the revs … *hate* the revs, too.) and, the boston celtics just won their first championship in 22 years.

    now, i don’t want to say that the culture of new england has changed … but it has, so i guess that phrase was an empty blogging device.

    my father and i talked after the celtics won game four, in los angeles, to take a commanding 3-1 lead in the best of 7 series.

    if this was 2001 — with the red sox in an 80+ year drought and the celtics in a 15 year skid — new englanders would be talking in hushed tones about how the lakers were a great team who were the odds on favorites to come back and win, especially knowing *our* (ie. new england’s) luck.

    but, you throw three super bowl rings and two world series trophies into the mix, and these crazy yanks get down right cocky.

    talking to my father that night, he guaranteed — OUTLOUD! — that the celtics were going to win the championship, and odds-on it was going to happen in five games. needless to say, given my comparative old age and experience, i was looking for any piece of wood available to knock on.

    sure enough … my boy was right. he wiffed on the number of games — it was six not five — but a championship none-the-less.

    and all was well in beantown. again.

  • too much free time. more playoffs, please.

    [Photo]
    Kevin Garnett, Boston Celtics, originally uploaded by Paul Keleher.
    so, my father is a lockdown celtics fan.

    now, i often say that i don’t remember anything before 7th grade (which is sad, yet still true) but, due to my father’s Boston brand of religion, some of my best childhood memories involve the celtics, including:

    1. my father sneaking us into the old Garden, and then sweet-talking the staff after we got caught. the parquet playing floor wasn’t down because of a Boston Bruins game, but those Championship banners were sure up in those rafters.
    2. watching the Celtics win Game 7 of the ’84 finals against Los Angeles, giving them Championship #15. To this day, I still hate that whole squad of Lakers, especially Kurt Rambis. (sorry, Nadav…)
    3. “havlicek stole the ball!” actually, that wasn’t a childhoold memory (because I was born almost 20 years, to the day, later) but CBS used to play it over and over anytime the Celtics made the playoffs … to the theme from “Terms of Endearment,” no less.

    of course, with said favorite memories, came some of my least-favorite childhood memories, too:

    1. waking up after the ’88 division series loss to the Pistons, realizing that the Celtics just weren’t the “Celtics” anymore. (which would have been revealed a year earlier if not for a last second gaff by the Pistons.)
    2. len bias.

    i was seventeen when Larry Bird retired, and the Celtics launched a 15-year “forgettable” streak. over that span, they had only three winning seasons, three playoff series, and just two players named to an All-Star team. last year, they lost 58 games and won just 24.

    but, everything change this summer, when Celtic GM danny ainge — who was in contention for “worst GM ever” until that point, which is saying something considering recent Celtic history — pulled of the steal of a lifetime by snagging Kevin Garnett from Minnesota.

    now, i watched the Celtic’s new “big three” during the regular season, but i knew they were going to choke … so didn’t get too attached. in fact, i was more optimistic about the Red Sox’ chances in 2004 … and they were facing down 86 years of history, not a pedestrian 20.

    however, once the Celtics made the playoffs, we started watching. and watching. and watching.

    and yes, that was “we” — as in the lady sparkler’s been watching, too. and she’s been screaming at the television when Ray Allen bricks another three. and she’s been twitching non-stop during every road game waiting for the choke to come. and she’s been wondering how Paul Pierce became the team hero when Kevin Garnett has him beat in every major stat category except assists.

    at this point, the lady sparkler and I are guessing that we have seen 15 of the 20 playoff games so far, for 50+ hours of basketball. there has been a game just about every other day since the end of April. which brings us to why I am blogging about this today … there hasn’t been a game for four days. and won’t be one until the finals start this Thursday.

    basically, we are in withdrawal.

    All day Sunday, i felt like i was missing something … and it didn’t go away until I realized that I would have been watching Game 7 had they not clinched two days earlier. today, i felt like i needed to do something when i got home. but no. it was just an even number of days since the last game.

    and so we wait.

    and it sucks. and i can’t imagine what it’s like for someone (like my father) who’s been around for all the rest of the 16 championships, 20 conference titles and 26 divisional titles, and has had to wait 20 years for the next glimmer of hope … because the anticipation is just *killing* me.

  • home: halloween

    [Photo]
    IMG_0849, uploaded by [ecpark].

    We had a couple of halloween parties to go to tonight (even though we only made it to one of them).

    After many long evenings frantically digging through our closets, the lady sparkler decided she would go as David Beckham, and I decided I would go as the Pool Boy that my beloved brought back from Belize. You’ll notice the “Why Not Us?” Red Sox t-shirt which was a late addition … because the parties were poorly timed to coincide with Game 3 of the World Series (the nerve, really).

    It’s incrediable how much you have to think when you are wearing a sarong. Getting in and out of the cab was almost comical, as was me sitting demurly on the couch (with my legs crossed at the knees) at the party. I don’t know how girls do it … well, except for Britney Spears who doesn’t seem to try very hard.

  • Travel: Fenway Park, Boston


    IMG_0187.CR2, Originally uploaded by evancparker.

    I was in Boston (well, Cambridge, actually) for a conference, and had an afternoon to kill. Being a good Red Sox fan, I walked over the Charles and down to the stadium. Even took the tour. Unfortunately, I found out that good Red Sox fan’s DON’T take the tour, because it is largely a waste of money. You spend $8 and get to sit in the bleachers, and hear someone talk about the Pesky pole for 45 minutes. Oh well.

    Fenway Park, Boston
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/unclevanya/sets/…7113/