Vermont-Maid
Richards Family Breakfast with the Sox at Koto Restaurant in So. Burlington, VT
(From left: Parker Richards, Susan Richards and friends; Photo: Emily J. Nelson, Burlington Free Press)
Susan (FN's renowned book reviewer), Peter, and Parker Richards of Jericho, Vermont were among a standing room only crowd at the Koto Japanese Restaurant in South Burlington who braved the frigid weather to see the first game of the Red Sox 2008 season. Arriving before 6AM, they were able to stay for a couple of hours before heading off to work and school. The Burlington Free Press were there covering the event and interviewed the Richards along with good friends Myra and Joseph Timmins. Photo and story are featured on the front page of the Vermont section of the Wednesday, March 26th edition.
A great time was had by all in spite of the early hour and the lack of actual TV coverage (we were affected by that lack of video connection that many others throughout New England experienced). Radio coverage was pumped out through the speakers (and it was probably better that we didn’t have to see Dice K pitch those first couple of innings anyway!) Our hosts, Hall Communications at WJOY - the radio station where Peter works , offered free breakfasts for all which significantly improved the moods of those who were expecting TV coverage. After Manny drove in the first 2 runs and then later drove in the winning runs as well – all was forgiven. We were all off to work and school and were happy to have seen (rather, heard) the first win of the season for our team!
Visiting Real Red Sox Country
by Susan Richards (Maid in Vermont)
August 19, 2007—My husband, son, and I were down in the Boston area over the weekend. We live up in northern Vermont and there are a fair amount of Red Sox fans up in our neck of the woods but... ... two separate incidents reminded me of the kind of an intensity that I believe is unique to the actual Boston area. On Saturday afternoon, I took my mother to the hospital to have some stitches removed - we were escorted to the doctor's office by a rather gruff nurse who, without any provocation from us, regaled us with a rundown of Friday night's game. As she painstakingly removed the stitches over my mother's eye she bemoaned Eric Gagne's performance - describing, in rather painful detail, her husband's reaction to that final inning of horror as they watched it together at home. She somehow managed to not hurt my mother throughout her tirade - I was equally impressed with her passion along with her ability to balance it with the job at hand.
The second incident happened later on the same day, as my brother, husband, and I were out having drinks and dinner at a popular local spot. We ate in the bar and there were a grand total of 4 large TVs in the room, all with the Red Sox/Angels game on, much to our dismay as by this point of the evening they were "building down" to a 5-0 score. Things were not looking good. Although, the TVs were in prominent positions in the bar, I couldn't spot one person who actually looked like they were watching the game. We proceeded through our drinks and appetizers , eyes averted from the awful reality of impending doom and the loss of another game in the standings to Slytherin of the South. The fifth inning came and we got a couple of runs back.... were a few patrons sneaking looks at the TVs as the bases reloaded and Papi lumbered up to the plate? And then came the first pitch and Papi connected in a way that left no doubt of where that ball would end up. The place absolutely erupted and not just for a few seconds. Everyone at the bar and at every single table in the place were clapping, cheering, high-fiving, and grinning at each other like idiots. I smiled at my brother and husband, who were both doing the same thing and I realized that:
1) Maybe we should have let the Yankees get Gagne - after all, he's already won 3 games for them;
2) I'm going to finally get one of those "David Ortiz for President" bumper stickers - with the season he's putting together, in spite of multiple nagging injuries, and after last night, he's just beat out Hilary and Obama for my vote;
3) this is Real Red Sox Country
Meanderings of a Middle-Aged (and female)
Red Sox Fan
by Susan Richards, Correspondent From The Far Fringes of FenwayNation
As I approach my 53rd birthday I’ve decided to take some time to give a little thought to how baseball, and more specifically, the Red Sox, have impacted my life over the past 5 decades. When I started to think this through I realized that baseball and the Red Sox have indeed had something to say in each decade of my life so what follows is a little synopsis of my 50 plus years with the Sox.
1950’s - The decade of my birth - I hesitate to admit that I was born on Staten Island but luckily was only there for the first 6 months of my life. We then moved to Cincinnati where we spent the next 7 years. My Dad was born in Cincinnati and grew up a Reds fan, with frequent visits to old Crosley Field with his Dad. He has a baseball signed by Johnny Vandermeer who also included the dates of his consecutive no-hitters on it along with his signature. That ball is still on my Dad’s living room bookshelf in the apartment he shares with my mother in an assisted living facility. My Dad, whose memory is failing him now as he lives with the challenges of Parkinson's and Altzheimer's, can still recite the names of the the 1939 Cincinnati Reds starting lineup.
1960’s - In 1960
we moved to Wellesley, MA. The Red Sox, who weren’t doing so well at
the time, still automatically became part of the backdrop of our everyday
lives. It wasn’t so much being a “fan” but just became a
part of your cultural make-up if you lived anywhere in the general vicinity
of Fenway Park. It is still my belief that for every self-avowed Red Sox Nation
member there are 4 “closet” members who just aren’t consciously
aware of their connection to the Nation. In school the big class trips were
to Fenway each Spring. My first favorite player was Dick “The Monster”
Radatz. I’m not sure why I picked him - and I have selected mostly pitchers
as favorite players throughout the years. My current favorite Red Sox player
is Tim Wakefield ( I can’t bear to watch him actually pitching but I
have tremendous respect for his reliability and loyalty to the Sox)
Then there was “The Impossible Dream” year of 1967 - I was starting
my last year of junior high and that Fall the “backdrop” of the
Red Sox was now absolutely front and center - everyone was talking about Yaz,
Rico, Tony, Boomer, and Jim. All my friends were keeping Red Sox scrapbooks.
Each morning in my house I awoke to WHDH and Jess Cain, who would "Call
Yaz”. Even our teachers (the smart ones) knowing that this was history
in the making, would suspend regular class, and pull in a TV to let us watch
an end of season or World Series game in class (yes! games in the afternoon!)
Sure, it was something of a disappointment that the Sox didn’t win it
all that year, but for me (and I know many others) that season was the turning
point in my Red Sox life as I grew from a rather passive fan to the solid
Red Sox devotee I am today. In hind sight, when I think of the three World
Series the Red Sox were in during my lifetime before 2004 - I like to believe
that they came up a game short of going all the way in the World Series of
1967, 1975 and 1986 just so I could pull my act together, find a life partner
(my husband of 23 years), have a son (10 year old Parker), and then be able
to watch that historic win over the Cardinals together with my family. This
of course is a typical Red Sox rationalization but over the years if there’s
one thing I’ve learned as a Sox fan, it is the beauty of a well constructed
rationalization. This is a skill I’ve applied to the other areas of
my life as well and it has served me extremely well.
1970’s - College years - Busy at Boston University, I would occasionally get a bleacher seat at Fenway and watch a game. I watched most of the Sox/Reds World series games on my college apartment TV, keeping in close touch with my good friend from high school who was in college in Ohio feeling a bit overwhelmed with the number of Reds fans with whom she was forced to coexist. My favorite player during most of the 70’s was yet another pitcher, Luis Tiant (“El Tiante”). I just thought his pitching technique was totally cool.
1980’s - End of single years, on to marriage, and a move to Vermont where Red Sox Nation thrived with an occasional Yankee fan from across the Lake shockingly materializing from time to time. Weirdly enough, my favorite Sox player during these years was yet another pitcher - Bob Stanley. (I know, I know - I’m not sure what my thinking was there!) We actually saw a spring training game in 1983 where Bob Stanley was pitching against Nolan Ryan. My husband and I watched the 1986 World Series from the comfort of our Vermont living room. In that 6th game when the Mets came up to bat in the bottom of the 9th there was absolutely no joy in our house - my husband turned to me and said: “Now get ready for the longest half inning of our lives.” Well, you know the rest of that story. Enough said.
1990’s - Still in
Vermont - we broke some sort of sports museum record by going to the Baseball
Hall of Fame 3 times in the same year. Favorite player, yes - another pitcher
- Greg Harris. (a “switch pitcher” who pitched an inning of relief
in a September 28th, 1995 game (the last game of his career) pitched to two
batters right handed and then turned around to pitch left-handed to the next
2 batters, wearing a reversible 6 fingered glove (now displayed in the Hall
of Fame) (Yes, I admit I just googled Harris to get most of that - I only
knew that he was a “switch pitcher” )
I began reading every history of baseball book I could get my hands on. In
1995, expecting our first (and only) child whom we knew was going to be a
boy, and with the Sox looking to make it to the play-offs, I made the somewhat
rash vow to name our son “Maurice Jose” if the Sox went on to
win the World Series. I remain convinced that the fervent prayers of my mother
for the Sox NOT to win (she could not imagine having a grandson named “Mo”
or “Jose”) is what jinxed them that year as they lost three straight
to Cleveland and were eliminated in the first round of play-offs.
2000’s - Celebrating our 20th year of life in Vermont - our son was a “closet” Red Sox nation member - that is until 2004 - when his life as a Sox fan would change forever. I still remember watching the 8th inning of the 5th game of the ALCS and telling Parker he could stay up for the rest of the game if the Sox tied it. Well of course, you know what happened there and I didn’t bother to try to stop him from watching the rest of the games with us until that miraculous moment on October 27th, when we watched Keith Foulke underhand that ball to Doug Mientkavchedkich (you know who I mean) and we popped open our bottle of champagne. Actually, and I’m confessing this for the very first time - we did NOT purchase a bottle of champagne - I really thought it would be a jinx to do so - So I think we just toasted the win with seltzer. Nicely enough, NESN replayed the game soon after and we bought our bottle of champagne for that one - one can never be too careful when it comes to bad karma and the Sox. Okay, why did I start all these meanderings? Well, the Sox have lost something like 24 out of the 25 games in August, including a god-awful 5 game sweep by the Yankees at Fenway and so I’ve been practicing my skills in rationalizing with wild abandon - including: 1) we go to Maine for a week every year in October - I have to say there’s been a “bit” of stress whenever we’re there because of Red Sox angst during playoff games - this year it will be a completely stress-free week, 2) My brother reminded me of how much money he’s going to save this year NOT buying play off tickets 3) Hopefully the Yankees will play like they have been on the west-coast this past week and embarrass themselves badly in the first round of the playoffs. 4) I’m really looking forward to the hoopla of Red Sox off-season maneuvering - what will happen to Trot, Coco, Loretta, Timlin, Gonzalez, etc.? Heck - let’s just skip the rest of this season so we can get to the really exciting off-season stuff! See what a positive attitude I have about life? And I owe it all to the Red Sox. Thanks to these guys, I’ll be watching a Red Sox/White Sox game on my 53rd birthday with my champagne glass not depressingly half-empty but resoundingly half-full! Here’s to 53 years of life with the Red Sox! (And a special thanks to all my beloved pitchers; Dick, Luis, Bob, Greg and Tim)