One of my all time favorite TV stimuli is the one that says "Sox on Fox". When I had a house, I could have a dish that got me Fox TV from Boston on which I watched the Red Sox play. The show was promo-ed as "Sox on Fox". Dr. Seuss was a native of Massachusetts, albeit from the westerner end at Springfield, so the homage is just. While near Springfield last weekend, I got my Red Sox hat - the Boston Rob one with the velcro back. That takes a bit away from it. Like the little Nike logo. I can carefully snip away the embroidered Nike swoop, like we used to with logo dress whirts when they first came out in the early 80s. I can't, however, snip away the Boston Rob-ness.
I have had many hats. As a diaper wearer, I had a Toronto Maple Leafs minor league hat. I sat in the Fenway bleachers in 1973 in my Expos hat watching Luis Tiant. I still have a wool Atlanta Braves retro one I bought in the early '80s because I did not wear it as much as the lemon yellow Bardall oil mesh hat I loved so much then. I often admired the 1970's red hat, black brim Sox hat but never had one. But I like my new all black one. Nike was good enough to even put a lable inside that says "Genuine Merchandise". You gotta love it when it is genuine.
All of this to point out that despite my lack of access to Sox on Fox and Gerry Remy's dulcet tones, this weekend and next I get to watch the Jays get smoked over and over by the Sox, starting tonight with a homestand in the second awfulest place on earth to watch baseball - the Skydome. The worstest apparently is in Montreal but I have never been. After sundown tonight, I will hunt out a fading WTIC 1080 for the later innings audio to synch with the Jay's homie video.
Comments
portland - May 13, 2004 11:00 am
pally, i'll get you a proper fitted hat. they're pricey but you feel more batting practice than boston rob when you have one. size?
and since nesn bought the sox there's not much sox on fox anymore (once a week) but the remdog does the nesn broadcast so.....
and everybody slags the big "o." well, sure it isn't great but let me tell ya that with the roof off it wasn't half bad and the seats were big and comfortable (big man - you'd have atough time with a fenway seat), and the food and beer was affordable (that's a swipe at you skydome), and it was easy and fun to get to (on the tube with all your expo friends)(i once rode home with rodney scott and i met vin scully and don drysdale on the subway once), and there always were (and still presumably are) people in the bleachers who know something about the team. the bleachers, by the way, were one dollar for the longest time and are three dollars now i think and they are not bad seats. i could go on and on and on.
my point is that it was never a truly truly horrible place to see a game (not great, but not truly horrible) and people who soley blame the stadium for the team's demise are kidding themselves. now the skydome on the other hand - don't get me started. you need to reverse your order. it is a truly truly horrible place to see a game. you're either up over the action like it was rollerball or you're under a concrete overhang like you're waiting for bombs to fall.
plus, the big o was actually fun for a while which the skydome never was. going in one day in the early eighties we were smuggling in beer, which everybody did in those days. "what do you have in the bag?" asked the guy at the door. oh oh, caught, we'd better be truthful, we thought. "beer," we said. "how many?" asked the guy. "i dunno, tweleve?" we said. "show me" he said. there were eighteen. he accused of lying to him and would not admit us until we had stood outside and drank six. and so there we were, people filing past us, checking out the 3 stupid maritimers shooting beer lest they miss the opening pitch.
i mean sure sure, that's a puerile silly drinking story (there's more!)but nobody who has ever attended skydome has anything like that. "i saw a game at the skydome," is the most you ever get out of them. everything about the jays suck. everything.
Alan - May 13, 2004 11:13 am
I bow to your superior yokelry.
Alan - May 14, 2004 8:10 am
So much for smoking the Jays. Batista looked good on the mound for them and Shilling was only amazing on 80% of his throws. Is it the architecture getting to them? Anyway, they are now in second behind the evil empire and the evilians play the Seattle slackers all weekend.
portland - May 16, 2004 5:41 pm
pedro lost today. you know i'm not a guy who gets down early in the season. i say if you're at 500 at the all- star break and you're not facing down a team that started 27-1 or something stupid like that, you're in the running. who looks at the standings before july? not me.
but these sox can't catch the ball. its killing them and while i've seen teams turn around thier pitching and hitting over the course of a season, i've never seen a team turn around its defense. defense is set when you leave spring training like a kitten's personality is set when you take it home from the pound. i'm officially worried about this year's edition of the sox. you don't go long without, at least, adequete defense. they're not even at that level with pokey reese vacumning up everything in his path. i see dead people. well, okay, maybe not dead people, but i'm worried.
Alan - May 16, 2004 9:12 pm
I think I really don't know. I watched a bit of the Braves and Brewers last night and there was one poor sap in the Brewers outfield who was dropping balls I would catch. I think there are bad stretches in defence but I know nothing about it in baseball. Once Nomah returns along with Trot there are 2/7s of the fielders improved.
portland - May 17, 2004 12:15 pm
i think its a karma thing that last a full season. i hope trot and nomar bring them around but i dont know.