A running joke in our family is how much I do not do the sports thing.  My brother and I could not be more opposite in our tastes. I am a musician and arts lover, he’s an athlete and avid fan of Kansas City and Missouri sports. A few years ago, we were meeting an old friend from our high school days. Dave was coming from a softball game he’d been playing, and I came from a musical I was performing in. Our friend laughed at how little had changed for us in 30 years.

Interestingly, I married a woman who would much rather watch a baseball game than attend one of my choral concerts. While living in Kansas City, she’d become an avowed Royals fan, putting up with fifteen years of losing seasons.  As fate would have it, last year she moved to New England, and the Royals hit a winning streak  making it all the way to the World Series. This year the Royals are winning again, and hope to make it back to finally recapture the World Series trophy.

Being the loving husband I am, I noted that the Royals would be playing the Red Sox at Fenway and got us some tickets off Stubhub.  After all, Fenway is a touristy thing to do. Janet was a Red Sox fan before she was a Royals fan but tonight was all about the Royals. Truth be told, I don’t mind following the Royals, Chiefs, or Mizzou Tigers, I just don’t have the patience to sit and watch them play. Going to a game, though is a very different experience. Whether or not you like sports, visiting stadiums is an awesome event. Fenway is the oldest operating stadium in Major League Baseball, with its Green Monster and concessions that look straight from the 30s or 40s.  Seats are tighter than the ones at Kauffmann in Kansas City, but its still a thrill to see the game in this venue. In Kansas City, my parents were always giving us tickets to games they’d received from their jobs. Many times we would go and experience more fans from the opposing team than Royals fans. I expected that we would stand out in the crowd with our powder blue shirts.  We were surprised, though to see that there was a healthy amount of blue in that sea of red.

The Royals lost, but there’s room in the standings for a loss or two. Part of the experience is to be a part of the crowd heading back to the subway. Like cattle we moved along the corridors to the station and crammed ourselves into the Green line street cars to make it back to our parking lot.  I don’t know if I’ll go back to Fenway for another game, but it’s one more thing I can add to my list of sites to see!

“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.” – Helen Keller