Welcome to the return of Dispatches, a series in which you, the reader, travel somewhere cool (or lame?) and write us a little something about the sporting connection to that experience. It’s open to anyone and everyone; in this case, chief Dispatches correspondent Stensation writes about his weekend journey to Fenway Park and Yankee Stadium. Photo: from inside the Green Monster. Please do enjoy:

*The Sox can synch. During a rain delay Friday evening, Fenway Park’s video board played a “music video” of Jonathan Papelbon and Manny Delcarmen mouthing the words and dancing to “Blame it on the Rain.” It wasn’t bad. The pitchers lip synch just as well as Milli Vanilli. It was the first time the video was used this season (it would be less than 48 hours until using it again) and it was a hit at a local watering hole as it was replayed several times on NESN.
*”The Truth” on Paul Pierce? He could get you into scoring position. The NBA Finals’ MVP threw out the first pitch once things got going Friday. But before he sailed one juuuuuust a bit high and outside to Jason Varitek, the 6-7 Pierce slid into second base after a running start from center field, much to the chagrin of the grounds crew.
*Take out a loan. Concession stand highlights from the two parks: $16 lobster rolls (Fenway), $8.75 jumbo hot dogs (Fenway), $10 chicken tenders (Yankee Stadium), $9.50 Coors Lights (24oz can, Yankee), $7.25 Bud Lights (12oz draft, Fenway) $6 fountain soda (30oz of water and syrup; Yankee).
*Speaker porn. “Sweet Caroline” at Fenway and “New York, New York” at Yankee really are pretty sweet to hear.
*Dress light. At both parks, you’ll be [redacted] to [redacted] with the ticket holder next to you. In our case, that thankfully was a travel companion on one side and the aisle on the other for one game. But when we did have strangers to our side, we were treated to a large text-happy gentleman at Fenway (reaching into his pocket - and thus nearly ours - after every Red Sox play to let someone know “o hell ya”) and a toothless dude in New York who kept offering sips of his beer. Mmmmm. Also, while getting to Yankee Stadium via subway is extremely easy from Manhattan, fighting your way to the train after a game is a crowded underground pain in the rear.
*The Green Monster is just that: Green and Monstrous. We know some people in Boston, and in an unexpected twist yesterday morning we were allowed onto the Fenway field to get up close and personal with the Monster. The outside is peppered with dimples, evidence of 96 years of 310-foot line drives. The inside is narrow, stuffy and cramped, but with great little peep holes to watch the game. We also got to go on top of the Monster, which provides the best view in sports.
*A new curse? We might or might not have exchanged quick pleasantries soon after our Monster visit with a certain aforementioned Red Sox closer out on the warning track. The Sox later blew the lead in the ninth.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 23rd, 2008 at 3:00 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.