Being Frank About Fenway

Posted April 8, 2013 by Sarah Barton

Today is opening day at Fenway Park. Granted, the Red Sox have already played six games on the road to start the season, but baseball doesn’t really seem official until the boys of summer suit up within the confines of friendly Fenway. I am not a huge Sox fan, and they aren’t even supposed to be very good this year, but somehow that doesn’t seem to matter. Baseball has started, which means that spring is here and having a few afternoon beers is excusable in the name of watching “tha Sawcks.” (“Tha Sawcks” = “the Sox” with a Boston accent.)

Boston sports teams have more or less of a cult following that can be borderline offensive to the uninitiated. For the next six months, many Bostonians will be living and dying with each and every pitch of the remaining 155 regular season games. I can guarantee you that people will come out of the woodwork to be in the Fenway area this afternoon, and I plan to be one of them. I think that “Red Sox Nation” is annoying and overrated, but it seems like a rite of passage to immerse oneself in the mob of the Fenway faithful.

Simmons is very close to Fenway Park. Weather permitting, I walk past it on my way to the train after class. The area has been fairly quiet for the past few weeks, but that is about to change. Regardless of whether you like the Red Sox, baseball, or sports in general, there is something special about Fenway. I don’t really care how the Red Sox do this year. In fact, if they are terrible, tickets will probably be cheaper and a layperson like myself might actually be able to afford to set foot inside Fenway a few times. If you’re at GSLIS, you should do your best to experience a Red Sox game either in or around Fenway Park. Love them, hate them, or don’t care about them at all, tha Sawcks are close enough to Simmons that you should at least spend an afternoon or evening with them. It’s an experience that is truly unique to Boston.