About this Blog

A little about me…

I’m an incurable Red Sox diehard who attends over 20 games at Fenway a year. I also make an annual pilgrimage to Spring Training, and start a countdown as soon as each season ends. I throw in road trips to other ballparks, and check out the Sox’ minor league teams.

I love keeping score at games; in fact, I’m lost if I have to watch a game without my scorecard. It’s the difference between just watching the game and participating in it.

I enjoy reading about baseball history, and I find statistical analysis fascinating. My latest hobby is trying to get myself photographed with the 2004 and 2007 World Series trophies as often as possible.

I always try to get to games early enough to watch batting practice. It’s fun to see the players interacting with each other in between taking their swings. And I’m always in my seat for the starting lineups, ceremonial first pitch (and often a so-called “second ceremonial first pitch”), and National Anthem. Missing that is considered being late, in my book. Even more important to me than arriving well before the start of the game is always, always staying until the final out, no matter how cold, wet, or uncomfortable it is, and no matter how painful the score may be.

That’s what being a diehard is all about.

I’ve been to over 200 games at Fenway, and I’ve seen a lot of cool things – inside-the-park home runs, a no-hitter, walkoff wins, playoff games, back-to-back-to-back-to-back homers, a 23-run attack, and a steal of home. A few things I’ve never witnessed in person yet are a triple play, someone hitting for the cycle, and a World Series game.

I buy all my tickets directly from the team at face value. I despise all forms of scalping, including the so-called “official” ticket agencies, who buy up huge chunks of tickets, taking them away from the pool available to me, and then jack up the prices. I won’t be a party to that. I do have a Tenth Man Plan, a 10-game package which renews every year. But for the rest of my tickets, I spend hours trapped in the Virtual Waiting Room during online sales, listen to “We’re sorry, all cicuits are busy now. Please try your call again later” hundreds and hundreds of times, and even camp out in the day-of-game line at Fenway. I usually take the T to the games, and I smuggle in a water bottle and stick to one food item, because the less I spend on each game, the more I can go to. It certainly isn’t easy, but being a Red Sox fan never was about taking the easy way out.

But no matter what trials and tribulations I have to go through to get there, I still get excited walking up the ramp to my seat before each game. I believe every game is a chance to see something that’s never been done before. I love the sound Fenway makes just before that big play that we just know is going to happen. That’s why, no matter what else happens, I’ll always be back for more.

And that’s what this blog is all about.

Previous Years

The story of my trips to Fenway from 2001-2008 are at RedSoxDiehard.com’s Diary of a Diehard:

Introduction The story behind this story 2001 A year in the life of a diehard 2002 A new era begins 2003 Cowboy up! 2004 Best. Season. Ever. 2005 The year after 2006 Is there a doctor in the house? 2007 We did it… again! 2008 In progress…