Mar 26 2008 07:16 AM
I post this article mostly for the quote from Mr. Helio Rocha that I've highlighted below. Never heard that before and I love it.
From today's New York Times:
March 26, 2008
For Sox Fans, a Welcome Wake-Up Call
By ABBY GOODNOUGH
Helio Rocha, left, and Tia Watts joined other Red Sox fans for a 6 a.m. game on Tuesday at the Cask ’n’ Flagon bar in
Boston near Fenway Park; the team was playing in Japan.
BOSTON — It had the trappings of a classic home game: the Fenway Park lights ablaze, the sidewalks jammed, the parking — make that pahking — impossible.
Forget that it was 6 a.m. on Tuesday, and the Red Sox were playing baseball’s season opener against the Oakland Athletics oceans away, in Tokyo. Hundreds of fans crawled out of bed and to the Cask ’n’ Flagon, a bar in the shadow of Fenway’s Green Monster, which opened at 5:30 to indulge them.
There was no beer — the state bans alcohol sales before 8 a.m. — but plenty of scrambled eggs and good karma for the team, last year’s World Series champions and Boston’s chief obsession.
“If it was the Marlins, you wouldn’t see people in Florida getting up at 5 a.m.,” said Helio Rocha, a restaurant manager who stayed up all night in anticipation. "And if it was the Yankees — well, their fans aren’t real. They just buy the hat.”
Jennifer Jagolinzer of Wayland said it was worth getting up at 4 a.m. because, from her corner table at the Cask, she could watch the game on 17 television screens. “The intensity, the passion, is incredible,” Ms. Jagolinzer said.
Still, she and other early risers said they were not entirely thrilled about their team starting the season in Japan. This is the third major-league season to open there, as teams look to profit from the popularity of Japanese players like Daisuke Matsuzaka, a star pitcher for the Red Sox.
“It’s tough on the players,” said Jim Laughlin, a lifelong fan from Maynard, “and I hope they don’t come home and get hurt by that.”
Ken Krilla of Arlington added, “I don’t know if our national pastime should start in another country.”
But Mr. Rocha said he did not mind because, like most fans, he could not afford to attend home games, anyway. Fenway is among the smallest major league ballparks, with some of the most expensive tickets. “Honestly, I don’t care,” he said, then roared as the Red Sox took the lead at the top of the sixth inning, going on to win 6-5.
It was springtime in Boston at last. And, bleary eyes notwithstanding, time to get to work.