My Intro (with apologies to the Celts)

Well, I am glad to be aboard the rootbeerandbacon crew. I hope my arrival does not cause any internal rumblings at rootbeerandbacon the way Rick Reilly’s arrival at ESPN has. Unlike ESPN, at least everyone at our website makes the same amount of money: none. It’s true, I used to work with the esteemed writers of this page in the real world and I believe it was that Sox game in April that put me over the top as a member of the blog world. My first post will include some thoughts from that night. (I know, I know, the Celtics just won an amazing game 4 and I should be blogging away about that. But I had already written most of this blog as my intro piece so shush and enjoy). It was at that first Sox vs yanks game of 2008 where I learned some things.
First of all, as I’m sure all of you rootbeerandbacon fans know, Ben has already written at length about the unruly fans in the bleachers that night. ( Back in Action ) . Yes, yes, most people could probably do without 4 drunken 20 year olds screaming all kinds of inappropriate filth about Joba Chamberlains mama. Most could probably do without the horrible things they were saying about his ill father as well (ok, maybe that was a little rude). These fans didn’t limit the filth flinging to opposing players; they made sure anyone wearing a yankee hat felt welcomed as well.
While Ben was not impressed by the vile these drunks were spitting out, I was quite impressed that there are still true fans that actually attend games. That’s right, I called these sad sacks true fans because at least they knew who the players were as opposed to the thousands and thousands of “pink hats” that attend the games these days. I was so much happier to hear things like: “Hey Joba! Your mothers (lady parts) smell like (blankety blank)!.” It was so much nicer than hearing some rich yuppie ask “What is a Joba anyway?” as they sip the fine (Fenway) wine and nibble the finest of (Fenway) cheeses. So yes, the fans were rude and inappropriate and probably should have been kicked out more than a few times, but that doesn’t justify the number of wannabe Sox fans that are able to attend games and get good seats because they can afford to pay for them.
Let me move on from the unruly fans, something else important that I learned at this game is that I would be a terrible baseball scout. I’ve watched millions of hours of game footage. I’ve been watching the Sox religiously since 1986 (7 years old). I have lost count of the number of times I’ve acheived World Series glory with a team I created from scratch…on Xbox. None of this has helped. At the aforementioned Sox game, my seat was directly next to the yankee bullpen and I was able to watch Chien Ming Wang go through his entire bullpen warm-up session. After watching the session, I was certain the Sox would give the yanks a good whuppin’. Every pitch the guy through was in the dirt or bouncing away from the catcher. I even saw the catcher leap for a pitch that crashed against the bullpen wall. I couldn’t wait until that ever so patient Sox offense started taking their walks and then running around the bases when Manny or Papi drove them in. I told everyone around me “are you seeing this? We’ll be crushing their bullpen tonight!”. Cut to 9 innings later as Wang was completing his 2-hitter and I was sitting there in realization that I better keep my boring insurance job.

P.S. I will try to have more current topics going forward.