Yesterday when I arrived home from school, Papa Bear was downstairs in the TV room excitely yelling at the screen. When he heard the door close and footsteps up above, he ran up the stairs to greet me. "The Red Sox are really kicking ass down there!", he said. I looked at him blandly, it wasn't as if Jason Varitek or Kevin Youkilis were belting out hits in my basement. As he continued to give me a play by play account of the game, the phone rang. It was Mo~ze recounting her latest woes with her computer: "Bob, it ate our piece. I can't find it. It's in there somewhere. I posted the pictures you sent but they're not showing up either. What are we going to do? Oh, oh, another hit. Oh, I wish I was at the game...you know I had tickets. But this damn article.....".
What is this Red Sox craze? I gave up the Sox one night in the fall of '67. At the time I was a senior at Regis College, a small, Catholic, liberal arts college in Weston, Mass. At the time, Regis was very strict...strict with its curfews and with its dresscode. During the week, curfew was at 7 P.M., Friday and Saturdays at 11 and Sunday, ten o'clock. As for dress, under no condition could you wear jeans, though if you had a long London Fog raincoat, you could hide them as you ran past the nun in the foyer.
The night I gave up the Sox was the night the "Impssible Dream Team" won the pennant. Yes, I was there that night. I had gone that Sunday with several of my friends who attended BU. At the time, the price of a ticket was not that costly and college students could easily attend such an event. After the game, we all went over to Kenmore Square to celebrate the victory. One glass of wine led to several others as the clock ticked on. "Oh my God, it's 11 o'clock, I need to get back to Regis. Where's my rain coat? Oh, no, what am I going to do?" By the time we drove up the long tree lined entrance to Regis I had a plan. Rather then drive all the way to my dorm, I had my friends drop me off at the Tower, and then very unsteadily made my way to the back of Domatilla Hall. I could see my best friend Nick studying in our basement room. The look of surprise on her face I remember to this day. As I was climbing through the window, a loud voice came over the PA: "Would the girl who just climbed through the window, please come up to the Foyer".
Despite the protests from my friends, I made my way to the Foyer. "In a giddy voice I said, "Yes, Sister, it was I...I climbed through the window and I'm so excited, the Red Sox won the Pennant and the Yaz...".
"Elizabeth, I don't really care who won what...do you realize you are in dungarees? And you are drunk! Please go to bed now and we will discuss this in the morning."
The morning soon came and the new student court, instituted in September, convened and the verdict was "a week's suspension from all classes"...and all I could think of was how am I ever going to explain this to Mom! So now you understand why I swore off the Red Sox that day...so no, I did not watch yesterday's game and I did not listen to Robert Goulet sing "The Impossible Dream" as members of the Dream Team came out from behind a giant U.S. flag covering the Green Monster! Instead, I chose to go to Gather and read the featured article on Bob Dylan!
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Comments: 32
Oh, Magi...you made me laugh this morning when I read your comment...I wish the red sox that Santa wears were the only thing I knew about too!
Yes! Write about Regis!
Enjoyed the article immensely!
I have always loved baseball for some unknown reason. Currently, I cheer for the Mariners as I like to suffer. Sometime I would like to be able to visit every major league ball park and do have a start on that goal. My kids and I attended a game at Fenway several years ago. However, I would rather have gone to the old "classic" ball parks not the new ones.
but anyway, what a shame that the Sister couldn't understand that some things should be celebrated, but obviously she was not my Greek teacher who was a Domincan and played baseball or you would have had a better time of it. Maybe that was the reason why my Greek teacher expatriated the Dominicans-- they didn't care for her baseball tactics.
Hockey I can understand, but baseball is a sleeper for me.
Need to think more about the Regis Days...most of the nuns I had have probably died or have alzeimer's...so I guess it wouldn't matter if I told some of the "tunnel stories"!
I, myself, have never really gotten myself in a frenzy over anything so when they have Patriot's Day or Red Sox Hoopla-doopla at my school, I'm really the odd one out! My boys did play sports...Gaelic, baseball (Aaron didn't do so well with baseball, he picked flowers); Aaron did gymnastics and lacrosse and Zach did lacrosse. So I'm with you...including doing "the wave"!
When you come to Boston, Wilma, you can stay with me and I'll get you to Fenway!
Mary, I can only imagine why your Greek Sister had to go. She sounds like my aunt who was a St. Joseph's nun ...she was one wild woman once she was within a family gathering...she really liked to gamble!
Knew you'd love this story, Tim! Did you get my message?
Wish I had been in Boston during 1967. My husband's friend's wife went to Regis, but a few years later.
Never even heard of the Padres, Lisa...are they a "football" team. LOL
What can I say, I love baseball! My secret shame is I love football too. I don't know about you guys, but I blame my mother. If you ask her which she likes better, she'll look at you and say, "Depends on the season."
With baseball, I don't know if you can love it until you've been to a ballpark. When we were kids, my mom used to take my sister and me to games. She was a single mom at that time and it was cheap entertainment. Baseball is good!
We are the Franklin girls, we wear our hair in curls, we wear our dungarees,
just above our knees...la la la Rah Rah Boom De Yay...
anyway, Red Sox are great - however, I have not one sports minded bone in my body - used to love the Atlanta Braves and went to many games but haven't been to one since. I love this story though and glad Papa was happy! Salud.