Game Two (a.k.a. BEST NIGHT EVER!)
We Kept The Faith!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There are no words to describe what it was like to be at Fenway Park for Game Two of the 2004 World Series.
Oh, hell, sure there are. And here are mine:
Honestly, there were a number of moments throughout the night where I found myself at a loss for words, sort of staring around me in awe, chills running up and down my spine, almost getting teary. It was that great, it was that inspiring, it was that unforgettable.
We went into town around 3pm to meet up with some friends at Jillian's across from Fenway to watch the Pats go for another record win (btw, has there ever been a team so decidely good that is so decidedly an afterthought as this year's Patriots?). First chills moment of the day: Walking over to Jillian's, seeing the signs "The Curse Is Dead" and "ALCS Champs" and "Papi Is My Dadi" in the windows of Fenway High while hearing the Standells warm up "Dirty Water" from the park.
I'm not sure whether getting in that early was good or bad. I looked at my cell phone clock no fewer than 300 times that afternoon. One point of discussion: If it goes to Game Seven, will they postpone the election in favor of the Sox victory parade? We're not really kidding. Finally at a little after 6pm we headed over to the park. The streets were already swarming with people. Free pins, t-shirts, bumper stickers, rally cards were flowing. We took a nice shot of us with the Manny Keep the Faith sign in the background. We headed into the shrine.
No luck for batting practice. The weather had been crappy all day and by the time we starting walking around behind home plate, it was misting heavily. Only people out on the field were the TV crews and the ground crew. Walked by the curly-haired boyfriend (a.k.a Dan Shaugnessy) and fought the urge to yell, "Curse this!" Headed over to our seats in the right field bleachers, passing Scott Van Pelt on the way and then seeing Erin and Jessamy from "Still We Believe" sitting a few rows in front of us. (I promise, my celebrity sightings get better!).
From our seats we have a fantastic view of Curt Schilling rising out of the Red Sox dugout and making his way across the field, as the entire park gets to its feet, light bulbs flashing all over the place, all of us oblivious to the fact that the man woke up that morning unable to move. Serious chills moment.
A lot of the pregame is a blur. I remember what happened but couldn't be sure what order it all happened in. I do remember:
* The jumbotron was basically replaying the entire history of the Red Sox, with the Exhorcist soundtrack in the background. Cool ... but did we really need to replay all the bad moments too? I mean, Bill freakin' Buckner? This must be the work of Fox! (Although I think it says something that I was even able to just type that name.)
* Another rousing ovation when Varitek made his way over to meet Schilling in the bullpen. Chills.
* Rousing welcome for Mr. Mark Bellhorn. Bellhorn signs abound. (Related note: On the way into the park, listening to sports talk radio, a caller asks, "Boston loves Lou Merloni because he's from here, and Jerry Remy because he's from here. Bellhorn was born in Boston but why doesn't he get the same kind of love?" Hosts say it's basically because Merloni and Remy actually grew up here while Bellhorn was just born here and then grew up somewhere else. Caller says, "Okay. That' all I got.")
* Showed the Nike commercial showing Fenway through the years. Chills. Had chills and was teary just watching it on my computer; multiplied by 10 seeing it from my seat in the right field bleachers.
* No cringing pregame moments (think: Cowsills in ALCS and horribly lip-synching 13-going-on-30-in-a-disturbing-way country singer girl from Springfield). From the Standells singing "Dirty Water" to the Teammates throwing out the first pitch to the kid from the Boys and Girls club presenting the game ball and milking the moment for everything it was worth ... it was all chilling.
* All they had to say was "Stockbridge to Boston" and the crowd goes nuts for James Taylor. I'm usually more in favor of those who belt out the anthem, but JT was perfect. Just perfect. The night was off to a good start.
I'm feeling a little like Bill Simmons right now. I've typed for way too long and I haven't even started talking about the game itself. So...
We won! And it was great.
Well, parts of it were really ugly. I was in the bathroom when Varitek and Mueller tried to make out. Chad said he was happy I was not in the stands for that. I blacked out on the second Mueller error. Felt like time was standing still for the third Mueller error and then the Bellhorn error. But somehow the errors didn't matter. It's like we held out a silver platter of the finest caviar to the Cardinals and they said, "No, thanks, we're full," so we scarfed it all down ourselves. Unreal.
Despite the errors, there was a sense of excitement and positivity throughout the whole game. We were on our feet more than we were sitting. We were chanting, "Morris! Morris! Morris!" with little children's glee. We were belting out "God Bless America" with hometown girl Donna Summer. We were just waiting for the 8th inning so we could sing "Sweet Caroline," and it was indeed, so good, so good, so good. We cheered as Foulke made his way back out to the mound for the ninth inning, with common sense telling us he's going to have to blow it sooner or later, but with our hearts telling us, It's not going to be tonight.
And it wasn't! The place exploded at the last out. Chills all around. We didn't want to leave our seats ... but we had passes to an after-party in the Red Sox .406 Club (have I mentioned what a God Tyrone Brooks is?! Thank you, thank you, thank you, Tyrone!) so that helped get us on our way.
Seriously ... we could have lost that game and it still would have been the best night of my life (oh and by the way, at one point in the game Chad essentially gave me permission to stop pretending the night was on par with our wedding.) But not only did we win, with super-human Curt Schilling on the mound, bringing us to a 2-0 World Freakin' Series lead, but then I got to hang out with the cool kids in the .406 Club.
The cool kids tonight included Mike O'Malley of "Yes, Dear" which is on CBS which is why none of you have heard of it, but you'll recognize him as "The Rick"; he is also my friend Rachel's cousin. Another surreal moment of the night: The Rick yelling across the bar to me, "Sull, get a beer!"
Also there were Jimmy Fallon, formerly of Saturday Night Live, and Seth Myers, currently of SNL. Jimmy Fallon was exactly like you would imagine -- cute, chatty, and wasted. Seth Myers -- adorable! Very underrated! And also afraid of me, I think. I insisted he had to get Jimmy Fallon to come back to SNL for one last Red Sox skit when it's all said and done, and he said, "We hope so, but he's kind of busy." Priorities, man! BTW, yes, we took pictures, and yes, I fought the urge to yell, "Tommy, did you get that? Tell me you got that!"
Open bar, clam chowda, and rubbing elbows with VIPs -- what a way to end the night. Top that! Okay, so there was no Jerry Remy, but still. BEST. NIGHT. EVER.
Check Out Our Pictures (thanks to Chad for putting together the photo gallery)
Oh, hell, sure there are. And here are mine:
Honestly, there were a number of moments throughout the night where I found myself at a loss for words, sort of staring around me in awe, chills running up and down my spine, almost getting teary. It was that great, it was that inspiring, it was that unforgettable.
We went into town around 3pm to meet up with some friends at Jillian's across from Fenway to watch the Pats go for another record win (btw, has there ever been a team so decidely good that is so decidedly an afterthought as this year's Patriots?). First chills moment of the day: Walking over to Jillian's, seeing the signs "The Curse Is Dead" and "ALCS Champs" and "Papi Is My Dadi" in the windows of Fenway High while hearing the Standells warm up "Dirty Water" from the park.
I'm not sure whether getting in that early was good or bad. I looked at my cell phone clock no fewer than 300 times that afternoon. One point of discussion: If it goes to Game Seven, will they postpone the election in favor of the Sox victory parade? We're not really kidding. Finally at a little after 6pm we headed over to the park. The streets were already swarming with people. Free pins, t-shirts, bumper stickers, rally cards were flowing. We took a nice shot of us with the Manny Keep the Faith sign in the background. We headed into the shrine.
No luck for batting practice. The weather had been crappy all day and by the time we starting walking around behind home plate, it was misting heavily. Only people out on the field were the TV crews and the ground crew. Walked by the curly-haired boyfriend (a.k.a Dan Shaugnessy) and fought the urge to yell, "Curse this!" Headed over to our seats in the right field bleachers, passing Scott Van Pelt on the way and then seeing Erin and Jessamy from "Still We Believe" sitting a few rows in front of us. (I promise, my celebrity sightings get better!).
From our seats we have a fantastic view of Curt Schilling rising out of the Red Sox dugout and making his way across the field, as the entire park gets to its feet, light bulbs flashing all over the place, all of us oblivious to the fact that the man woke up that morning unable to move. Serious chills moment.
A lot of the pregame is a blur. I remember what happened but couldn't be sure what order it all happened in. I do remember:
* The jumbotron was basically replaying the entire history of the Red Sox, with the Exhorcist soundtrack in the background. Cool ... but did we really need to replay all the bad moments too? I mean, Bill freakin' Buckner? This must be the work of Fox! (Although I think it says something that I was even able to just type that name.)
* Another rousing ovation when Varitek made his way over to meet Schilling in the bullpen. Chills.
* Rousing welcome for Mr. Mark Bellhorn. Bellhorn signs abound. (Related note: On the way into the park, listening to sports talk radio, a caller asks, "Boston loves Lou Merloni because he's from here, and Jerry Remy because he's from here. Bellhorn was born in Boston but why doesn't he get the same kind of love?" Hosts say it's basically because Merloni and Remy actually grew up here while Bellhorn was just born here and then grew up somewhere else. Caller says, "Okay. That' all I got.")
* Showed the Nike commercial showing Fenway through the years. Chills. Had chills and was teary just watching it on my computer; multiplied by 10 seeing it from my seat in the right field bleachers.
* No cringing pregame moments (think: Cowsills in ALCS and horribly lip-synching 13-going-on-30-in-a-disturbing-way country singer girl from Springfield). From the Standells singing "Dirty Water" to the Teammates throwing out the first pitch to the kid from the Boys and Girls club presenting the game ball and milking the moment for everything it was worth ... it was all chilling.
* All they had to say was "Stockbridge to Boston" and the crowd goes nuts for James Taylor. I'm usually more in favor of those who belt out the anthem, but JT was perfect. Just perfect. The night was off to a good start.
I'm feeling a little like Bill Simmons right now. I've typed for way too long and I haven't even started talking about the game itself. So...
We won! And it was great.
Well, parts of it were really ugly. I was in the bathroom when Varitek and Mueller tried to make out. Chad said he was happy I was not in the stands for that. I blacked out on the second Mueller error. Felt like time was standing still for the third Mueller error and then the Bellhorn error. But somehow the errors didn't matter. It's like we held out a silver platter of the finest caviar to the Cardinals and they said, "No, thanks, we're full," so we scarfed it all down ourselves. Unreal.
Despite the errors, there was a sense of excitement and positivity throughout the whole game. We were on our feet more than we were sitting. We were chanting, "Morris! Morris! Morris!" with little children's glee. We were belting out "God Bless America" with hometown girl Donna Summer. We were just waiting for the 8th inning so we could sing "Sweet Caroline," and it was indeed, so good, so good, so good. We cheered as Foulke made his way back out to the mound for the ninth inning, with common sense telling us he's going to have to blow it sooner or later, but with our hearts telling us, It's not going to be tonight.
And it wasn't! The place exploded at the last out. Chills all around. We didn't want to leave our seats ... but we had passes to an after-party in the Red Sox .406 Club (have I mentioned what a God Tyrone Brooks is?! Thank you, thank you, thank you, Tyrone!) so that helped get us on our way.
Seriously ... we could have lost that game and it still would have been the best night of my life (oh and by the way, at one point in the game Chad essentially gave me permission to stop pretending the night was on par with our wedding.) But not only did we win, with super-human Curt Schilling on the mound, bringing us to a 2-0 World Freakin' Series lead, but then I got to hang out with the cool kids in the .406 Club.
The cool kids tonight included Mike O'Malley of "Yes, Dear" which is on CBS which is why none of you have heard of it, but you'll recognize him as "The Rick"; he is also my friend Rachel's cousin. Another surreal moment of the night: The Rick yelling across the bar to me, "Sull, get a beer!"
Also there were Jimmy Fallon, formerly of Saturday Night Live, and Seth Myers, currently of SNL. Jimmy Fallon was exactly like you would imagine -- cute, chatty, and wasted. Seth Myers -- adorable! Very underrated! And also afraid of me, I think. I insisted he had to get Jimmy Fallon to come back to SNL for one last Red Sox skit when it's all said and done, and he said, "We hope so, but he's kind of busy." Priorities, man! BTW, yes, we took pictures, and yes, I fought the urge to yell, "Tommy, did you get that? Tell me you got that!"
Open bar, clam chowda, and rubbing elbows with VIPs -- what a way to end the night. Top that! Okay, so there was no Jerry Remy, but still. BEST. NIGHT. EVER.
Check Out Our Pictures (thanks to Chad for putting together the photo gallery)
posted by Erin/Sull @ 8:32 PM
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