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| Gary and Josie |
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| G&J with the lovely Skip during the 10 minutes she wore this hoodie. Then she got too hot. |
We went off to Fenway Park on Sunday to meet up with my brother,
Josie and
Gary to take in a Red Sox game. Some impressions from the day:
- We got up nice and early (can you say 6am?) as we had to be out of the house by noon.
- The weather turned out to be nicer than I'd expected. Neither Josie nor I ended up using the throws I brought.
- Skip got quite a sunburn on her face, arms, neck and upper chest. I got a minor one on the right side of my face only. Stylish!
- The tables at the right field roof box (under the Budweiser sign for those familiar with the Pahk) are great for visiting with friends but not so great for watching the game. That was okay with me, as my intentions were 75% socializing and 25% game watching.
- The Red Sox suck! Clay Bucholz gave up a home run in the first and we knew the game was over. Spotting the Orioles a 5-1 lead, the Sox did score a grand slam in the 4th (I think) to tie things up. We finally left at the start of the 13th inning and watched the Sox lose in the 17th when both teams had position players pitching since they'd used up all the pitchers.
- This was a chance to get to know Gary and Josie better and I enjoyed myself with them immensely. My brother and Gary spent time talking about tracking the game (Gary had a pad for scoring) ... adventures in geekland! Skip is shy meeting new folks but enjoyed herself as well.
- It was great having some time out with Skip. She doesn't get out much, mostly just for quick shopping trips and the like. We had time outside, time with new friends, a no-stress outing.
One last thought ... the Red Sox organization has been claiming a sold out streak of many years duration. Unless "sold out" means 90% of the seats in the park are sold, I think their claim is bunk. We saw whole rows in the upper bleachers completely vacant. Seemed to be more open in general than I recall from years past. I noticed the handicapped accessible seats down by the ball boy on the first base line that cost $250 each in 2004 were all vacant. I wonder when they finally admit the park isn't sold out?
7 comments:
I think that MLB reports seats sold, not actual attendance. Since the Cubbies are very popular, it is not unusual late in the season to see a paid attendance of 38,000 and see half the seats empty.
Glad you had a good time. Nice talking with you on the phone during the game.
Light - I think they must be gaming the "seats sold" count for Fenway. Perhaps they give away enough of the unsold seats to ensure the park is "sold out." It was fun talking with you when you called Josie. I had no idea you were en route to play poker with TBC. Man, I had driving in heavy rain, even with my new glasses.
Here is the definition for you.. although I believe your right:
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The Sox embrace an alternate definition that permits them to declare a game sold out even if hundreds of tickets go unsold but others are distributed for free.
“I can understand the confusion,’’ said Sam Kennedy, the team’s executive vice president. “But we operate by a definition that is commonly practiced throughout Major League Baseball and professional sports.’’
The Sox count the total number of tickets they distribute, including an average of 800 complimentary tickets each game to charities and others, as the basis for a sellout. They also count standing room tickets toward the total.
Skeptics might call it a “distribution streak’’ rather than a sellout streak, given the team’s reliance on complimentary tickets.
By giving away hundreds of tickets to Wednesday’s game and selling hundreds of other standing room tickets, the Sox kept their streak alive despite reporting a paid attendance of 37,434 - 61 seats shy of capacity. They did so by including the tickets distributed, which pushed the total to 37,819, exceeding the seating capacity by 324.
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I just asked my husband last night about OUR [Phillies] sold out record. He added that many companies/corporations buy blocks of seat, but they're not always used.. So I guess some seats look empty, but they're really sold.[BTW Now everyone REALLY hates us after the whole Cole Hamels incident. Why can't we just play ball??]
Glad you guys had fun!
Peace,
Muff
Waffles - thanks for giving me that info. Looks like it is a bit of a game to keep that streak going. I'd rather they just dropped the price of tix a bit.
Muff - I agree about blocks of tix not being used necessarily. I wasn't aware everyone hated the Phillies. I think they're a pretty solid franchise. Will have to check it out.
It was a great day with great company. Thanks again for including me.
Josie - you're very welcome. It was great to get to spend more time with you.
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