Boston, MA - Wally the Green Monster

06/07/08 - Boston Red Sox - Fenway Park

There is no greater venue to watch a sporting event than Fenway Park. As soon as you get within a block of the park, you begin to sense the almost fair-like atmosphere. A sea of people clad in red clothes turns what are normally passable streets into congested pedestrian walkways. The smoke from the food vendors - both outside the gates and on Yawkey Way - billows into the sky giving everything the smell of finely seasoned meat-on-a-stick. Once you get through the gauntlet of people and food, you get to enter a place where baseball fans have been watching games since it opened on April 20, 1912. To put it's age in perspective, that's the same day that the Titanic sunk. The underbelly of the stadium is barely large enough to allow the constant sellout crowds to pass through. And the seats are... well, you can see for yourself what a little age and the winters of the Northeast can do.

While at first glance these could be seen as signs that a new ballpark is needed, the common view (and the correct one) is that baseball will have a home here as long as baseball exists. Recent renovations have added luxury seats on the many rooftops as well as on top of the Green Monster, the 37 foot high wall in left field. Even with its age and limited room for expansion, the sense of history that you feel just walking through the tunnel makes it an unforgettable experience. Just think, someone born during the Civil War watched Cy Young and Babe Ruth play here. Then again, in 1912 the average yearly household income was $1,033 and today that will get you 2 Green Monster seats and a beer. Isn't inflation great?

It was my second time to Fenway and no trip for me is complete without a stop beforehand at the Cask'n Flagon and a meal afterwards at the Boston Beer Works. Both are located within a block of the park and while the Cask is great for a little pre-game warmup, the Boston Beer Works and their unique Bluebeery microbrew is the perfect post-game relief pitcher (there are blueberries floating in the beer - a little unsettling at first but delicious). And they have deep-fried pickles!

The Sox (or Sawks as the local say) beat the Mariners 11-3 on this muggy, 95 degree day. It was so hot that when a guy a few rows back tried to hit the beach ball that was floating around, his wedding ring flew off and landed right in the lap of Mrs. Mascot Hunter. You should have seen his face, just staring down at his bare hand trying to figure out how to explain it to his wife. Needless to say he was quite relieved to see what we had caught. As for Wally (he's a Green Monster, like the wall), he isn't as accessible as some of the other mascots so when we saw him walking around the stands in the 7th inning, we went for him. He must have seen us coming because he took off down the section, through the tunnel and into the clogged underbelly of the stadium. We chased him for about 200 yards until he got to the back stairs and began climbing. At this point the little kids pursuing him had fallen off (quitters) and it was just us and Wally climbing onto and across the roof of Fenway. Maybe it was my wife's cries of "Wally, no", a reference to his SportsCenter commercial. Maybe he could hear me gasping for air, a pathetic admission that a few years since college and one too many meats-on-a-stick makes me unable to close ground on a guy in a giant costume on a 90+ degree day. Whatever it was, Wally stopped and posed for our picture just before he disappeared for good into the luxury suites. Best of all, we got back to our seats just in time for the great Fenway Park tradition of singing "Sweet Caroline" in the middle of the eighth inning.

Good times never seemed so good.

Philadelphia, PA - Phillie Phanatic

10/03/09 - Philadelphia Phillies - Citizens Bank Park

Last January, we met up with the Phillie Phanatic during his World Series Trophy tour and we promised him that we'd pay him a visit this season. After all, he had recently moved into a new home and all that we knew of Phillies games was Veteran's Stadium. C'mon, the Vet? Who would want to go there? That's where they booed Santa Claus. He assured us that his new home had all the amenities of the newer ballparks (for instance, real grass) and that we had to check it out. Well, a promise is a promise and after all, they happened to be celebrating Oktoberfest this day so we joined up with the Mascothunters-in-law (both die-hard Phillies phans) and headed into Philadelphia.

First of all, the Phanatic was right. Citizens Bank Park is everything that the Vet was not. First and foremost, it is a baseball park. Not a cookie-cutter, multi-purpose, artificial turf-wearing concrete eyesore. The entrances have statues of old ball players and allow you glimpses of the field before you even get your ticket out. Seats are angled properly to let you watch the game without craning your neck to the side. And as a plus that even some of the newer ballparks don't have, the concourse is open allowing you to see the action while you wait in line for another bratwurst and a beer (did I mention it was Oktoberfest?). The most unique feature has to be the giant likeness of the Liberty Bell above the outfield bleachers. It rings every time the Phils hit a home run or win the game. With the Phils recent success, good tickets aren't cheap but if you are willing to plunk down around $75 a seat on Stubhub, you can find yourself pretty much even with the dugout in the lower level.

Although my stomach got sidetracked by anything and everything ending in "wurst", the stadium offers some good food as well as some Philadelphia staples like Tony Luke's cheesesteaks. We did the cheesesteak thing a few years back when we were in town to see the Penn Quaker and had already gotten our Phanatic pic so today was all about taking it easy and watching a good ballgame. Fortunately, the two teams obliged. The Marlins jumped out to an early lead and withstood a Ryan Howard homer and a late Phillies comeback to hold on for a 4-3 victory. But the Phillies got the last laugh as they are currently still playing (up 3-1 in the NLCS) while the Marlins have been working on their golf game for the last 3 weeks.

As the baseball season comes to a close, a few interesting tidbits:

1. Of the four teams to advance to the championship series (Phillies, Dodgers, Angels and Yankees), only the Phils have a mascot. There are only four major league baseball teams currently without a mascot (the three mentioned above and the Cubs) and if the Phils repeat this year, this may prove something. The Angels had a Rally Monkey, who was fired after they won the 2002 World Series and they haven't been back. The mascot-less Cubs just completed their 101st consecutive year without raising a banner. The Yankees spend and spend but its been nearly a decade since their last title. Coincidence? We'll see who's celebrating in another week or two.

2. This makes 5 major league parks that we visited in 2009 (Pirates, Indians, Mets, Marlins, Phillies). When we went to see a winning team play in their home park (93-69 Phillies, 87-75 Marlins), they lost. When we went to see a team who finished with a losing record (70-92 Mets, 65-97 Indians, 62-99 Pirates), they won. Probably just a coincidence but definitely a good argument for the Nationals or Orioles to give us season tickets.

2009 Mascot Grand National

I'll be the first to admit that British humor is a bit of an oxymoron to me but I have to laugh at one of their newer traditions. For whatever reason (I'll assume a few pints were involved), they started staging a yearly race among mascots of their soccer teams. It's held at a horse track (around other horse races) and I'm pretty sure wagering is permitted, which makes it even better. The 2009 edition took place last Sunday (October 4th) and while I was in Philadelphia, PA to meet up with the Phanatic and therefore unable to attend, here's some good video. OK, here's some jumpy amateur video but it's a mascot race from Europe, what do you expect. I only have one question... is that an avocado? And a little bonus video from the 2007 edition where a streaker tried to join the race only to be tackled by a swan. I take it all back, British humor is funny after all.

Important Election Today for University of North Dakota

At stake today in the Standing Rock Sioux tribal election is the future of the nickname of the University of North Dakota. Members of the local Native American tribe are voting on their next tribal chairman. One candidate, Ron His Horse is Thunder, is opposed to the usage while his opponent, Charles Murphy, is for it. For those of you new to the college nickname p.c. debate, all schools with potentially offensive nicknames were informed in 2005 that they needed to either change their name or get approval of the local tribes or else risk NCAA sanctions such as the inability to participate in the postseason. The Fighting Sioux (not to be confused with the Fighting Sue, which is what you encounter if you challenge whether or not my mother-in-law's pies and cakes are homemade), has been the nickname of the university since 1930. The other Sioux tribe in the state, the Spirit Lake Sioux, has already approved the University's continued use of the name.