if you love baseball theres two parks that are holy to you. maybe three. but the top two are wrigley field and fenway park. in that order, if you ask me.
since i was lucky enough to have basically grown up at wrigley, fenway has always been at the top of my list of places to go before i die. last night i woke up in pittsfield mass, drove over to emily dickinson’s house, when she wasnt home i got on the mass pike and headed to the place where the red sox had sufferred.
because life isnt fair tomdog knew someone who worked across the street from fenway and happened to be the sox’s on-call physician. needless to say our tickets were great and everyone knew about baseball.
yes parking was $30, yes it was a bitch to find the place, yes it was a bitch to get there during rush hour but we entered right off yawkey way right next to the green monstah and it was like being on a movie set. it was like being in a dream. it was like being in a tv show. it was totally unlike anything i imagined.
so small, so colorful, so charming, so cozy. it was almost like being at a minor league park it was so teeny.
despite the fact that the sox are out of it the place was packed and everyone had some sort of red sox jersey or tshirt or hat on. they cheered every inning, they stood up every time Big Papi got into the box, and on his second at bat he sent one deep.
it was curt schilling on the mound. it was a perfect autumn evening. it was just a few games before the end of the season. it was tomdog buying 7 hot dogs and tony eating two and drinking beers and being so dazed to even be there that i didnt realize that it was schil pitching a one-run game until the 5th inning.
it was so perfect it made me disgusted with dodger and angels fans for being so lame in comparison.
there was a kid who painted himself red from head to toe running all around the park and getting chased out by ushers. there were people in the standing room only sections until the very last out. there were old people and young people and hot chicks and everyone had a beer and everyone had a smile and everyone cared about this meaningless game and los angeles nobody left early pretending they had something better to do because guess what there is no better place to be than at fenway if youre in boston, which isnt a diss to boston.
afterwards i drove to cape cod, got lost, wound up in Chatham on the cod where tomdog recommended, but because it was 1:20am at that point all the motels were closed for the night since it was off season. so i drove around in the dark and got lost more and got trailed by several cops several times because apparently theres some money out here. and when i finally decided at 2am to get back on the 6 and head toward Hyannis where i had remembered a motel at the side of the road, i got pulled over by a cop right as i was going on the on ramp.
“im just looking for a motel, dude.” i told him.
“theres some down the way a bit,” he said.
“yep, thats where im headed, all the ones in Chatham were closed at this hour,” i said.
“um hmm. i’ll be back in a bit,” and he ran my DL through his driving while black machine and came back and said, “exit 6 should have some motels open. i just wrote your name down, thats all.”
and i was sent on my way wondering. wtf. i wrote his name down too. officer jackhole. black man from cali cant get lost on the eastern tip of america?
drove down and found a Days Inn but they were full, then decided to suck it up and pay for a Holiday Inn room and it was swanky and nice and the dude at the desk was all, $139, but its so late, how about $109. and i called him the man.
“how do you like it out there in Hollywood anyway?” he asked and i told him i loved it and he said he felt scared there even when on the freeways. i said the freeways are very dangerous. then i asked him where he was from and he said New Orleans. and i said thats a scary place too.
and we agreed that neither places are as scary as driving around cape cod in the middle of the night slowly with california plates and an Obey sticker on your bumpah.
and after taking a picture of plymouth rock today, there will be no sleep till brooklyn.