Wednesday, July 9
4 hours at Fenway…
I left for Boston this morning to participate in the Sojourn Collegiate Ministry board meeting. I’m here for just over 24 hours.Tim Hawkins and his staff are doing great things at Sojourn. They have created a culture that is finding ways to change the lives of college students here in Boston. You may not know this, but I’m told there are more college students in Boston than any other city in the world.
We got to take in a Red Sox game this afternoon…what a game. It was probably 90-95 degrees, extremely humid, but we had a great time. Great seats in the right field corner. An extremely long game, the Red Sox won 18-5, and there was a triple play that was overturned.
This is my second or third time at Fenway and I have to say I believe the best fans in sports are quite possibly Red Sox fans. There is something different than SEC Football fans, or Cubs/White Sox fans, or NFL fans…(go ahead, feel free to argue with me…)
Just watch the Jimmy Fallon movie ‘Fever Pitch’, then you’ll understand…Speaking of ‘Fever Pitch’…
Here’s a picture of Tim and Joe Belzer participating in a Fenway Tradition, singing Neil Diamond’s ‘Sweet Caroline’…
Mark Nelson at 10:23 PM 4comments
4 Comments
-
at 12:01 PM
The Adkins Family said... I'd like to know what you mean by saying they are the "best" fans.
I'm not sure I would say that SEC football fans are the best... I would say that they are in general the most passionate but I don't think that equates to the best... I mean, they send moving trucks to coaches houses, call in to talk radio shows every second of every day trying to get coaches fired... they love you when you win and hate you when you lose.
Red Sox / Cubs fans seem to love their team win or lose so maybe that does make them better. Maybe a bit less passionate but that's probably a healthy thing.
Also, Phil Fulmer should be fired if he doesn't win 10 games this year.-
at 10:31 PM
ragamuffinminister said...
Ah, but what about b-ball fans at Duke, Carolina, Kentucky? What about the Yankee fans? College football? I'm gonna have to hit a Saux game and see for myself.
-
at 8:03 AM
Mark Nelson said...
I think the best way for me to describe it, and I hope this makes sense, is that it's a 'romantic feel' to fandom with the Red Sox. Even more so than with the Cubs, for one main reason, the Sox have won a lot more for a longer time.
Also, Fenway fans are incredibly knowledgeable...I think, more than Cubs fans...
Each time I've been to Fenway, it has felt like a family reunion (not those family reunions that are from hell, the other kind) You get some of that from 'Fever Pitch. I don't get that at college football or basketball games.
A lot of it simply has to do with baseball and the fact that there are 81 home games compared to 6 or 7 in college football.
Yankees fans, at least my experience, resemble college football fans a little more...
SEC fans are much like Greg described...we all know if Crompton throws three straight incomplete passes the fans will devour him and he might get shot in the parking lot or at least they will kill his dog...
Sox fans cheered Julio Lugo, starting shortstop, no matter what (including hitting .190 for much of last season), because I believe he was a part of their team, i.e.- family.
I was expecting a great amount of disagreement...so keep it coming...-
at 9:07 AM
said... It's all relative. But our different versions here are still, I think, less "fanatical" than what you see in Europe for "real" football/futbol. People have bought plots of land in their football club stadiums to be cremated and buried with their beloved clubs' homegrounds for decades. That's just starting to happen here, though with our own branding take on it: e.g., getting custom-made team logo'd caskets.