Boston: Days One and Two (April 7th/8th)

1) Sunday

Sunday evening was relatively uneventful. I did discover how blissfully easy it is to take public transit from Logan Airport to downtown. Roughly an hour after landing, I was checking into my bed and breakfast in Back Bay, near Kenmore Square. I am never taking a cab to and/or fro Logan again.

I had dinner at Joe's American Something (Bar? Tavern? Restaurant? It escapes me.) on Newbury Street. I have been racking my brain trying to describe it, and the best I can come up with is casual semi-fine dining. It is a large, very nice place with a fairly extensive, all-American wine list, a number of local craft beers on tap and an extensive menu, that includes just about anything a non-foodie would like. (Maybe that is the label: a fancy, non-intimidating restaurant for non-foodies.) I had one of the specials, BBQ'd duck, which was nice, crispy, if a little dry, and made me realize that obscene portions are not just a Southern US thing. There were two large duck breasts and enough of the two sides (mashed and spinach, both quite nice and just garlicky enough) to feed two people. At some point, I may start ordering half-orders.

2) Red Sox Home Opener.

Bliss.

Pure bliss.

That pretty much sums it up.

It was a gorgeous, almost storybook day, the temperature in the high 60's/low 70's (I miss Fahrenheit), the sun blaring and not a cloud in the sky. The outfield grass was a vehement shade of green, virginal in its anticipation of the coming season. The requisite red, white and blue bunting was hung. The park was bursting with fans, all of them (except me and a handful of Orioles fans) wearing Sox gear. And the crowd was enthusiastic. They expect, no deserve, better treatment from their team than the travesty that was 2012.
And the crowd was loud in its enthusiasm. As players were introduced during pre-game ceremonies, the loudest cheers were heard not only for the usual suspects (Elsbury, Pedroia and Lester) but for the team's young up-and-comers (Middlebrooks, and Jackie Bradley Jr.). The prodigal manager John Farrell was also greeted loudly; I am guessing the cheers were meant to show not only support for Farrell himself, but for the return of professionalism to the position.

As for the game, Clay Buchholz pitched seven innings of three-hit ball; the Red Sox hitters finally strung together a few hits against the O's (Not Bruce) Chen culminating in a Daniel Nava three-run shot over the Green Monster; and Joel Hanrahan survived a shaky ninth to get the case for a 3-1 Red Sox victory.

I was sitting in Right Field Box 1, as per the picture I posted yesterday, which is the first, lower box in RF that faces the infield, right beside the visitors' bullpen. From memory, there was only one play in RF, a pop-up caught by Nick Markakis, right beside the Pesky Pole.

Random observations:

- The Sox took the field to 'Lunatic Fringe' by Red Rider. I suspect that the 97,6 per cent of the crowd who we not Canadian were probably thinking 'Cool song; I know I've heard it before; wonder who plays it?'. Yeah, Can Con!

- Buzz Aldrin was in attendance and was introduced on the main video board. While the crowd gave him a nice reception, he did not get a standing ovation, which boggles my mind. Rough crowd: what else can a guy do to prove his worth?

- Matt Wieters is a large individual.

- I had a Green Monster IPA, brewed by a local craft brewer, whose name I cannot remember. Yes, I felt goofy ordering it, but it was a passable IPA (although not hoppy enough for my tastes).

3) Boston Gahden

I finished the daily sports double by watching the Bruins beat the Whalers 6-2.

Afterwards, I finally made it to Sullivan's Tap, across the street from the Gahden. Yup, it's a Bruins' bar. Yup, I felt at home. Sully's spans an entire building, in fact, an entire block. The front half is long and narrow; the back half has a room to the side with golden Tee and the like. It is another one of those bars that look like they have not changed in 40 years or so (well, other than Golden Tee and reminders of the '04 World Series...) These types of bars are common in most American cities I have visited. I wonder the fascination is in Ottawa with ceaselessly renovating bars, instead of letting them get that lived-in atmosphere...

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