I'd like to thank the Boston Red Sox, and their fan base, for waking me from my sports coma.

In case some of you haven't noticed, and for those of you who have (and by those of you I mean Craig, the most loyal fan of non-updated Sportsomedy posts a guy could ask for), I've been beyond lackadaisical in my blogging.  To be honest, I've been immersed in Bruins playoffs, and Celtics playoffs when the Bruins are in between periods or off that night.  And, when I'm not busy watching sports that are impossibly hard for me to write about, I've been in a sports-related coma since an officiating crew refused to call Tom Coughlin for running onto the field during the most important game in the history of the NFL.  

Nothing for that like Red Sox-Yankees.

Today I went to the Sox-Yanks game at Fenway with my girlfriend, her brother and my buddy Ben, and we lucked out with an instant classic.  In what may go down as one of the great slugfests in the history of this rivalry, two of the better pitchers on each staff got belted around like they had never thrown a baseball before.  The game then became a test of endurance for batters and bullpen alike, with each team in and out of the lead like Lohan Rehab visits.

With the Red Sox down 6-0, I started to think about what score would be out-of-reach enough to convince my cohorts to leave early to get a head start toward the T.  Then all hell broke loose as in the bottom of the 5th, Jason Varitek cut the lead to within one with his third career grand slam, and Jason Bay erased their lead and padded their own with a two run double in the 6th.

This is about the point where my cell phone vibrating started to get drowned out by the rabid Sox fans making ancient Fenway Park shake with sheer energy.

Now I'm not talking about the few fans who stand up during every full count from the sixth inning on and yell at the fans who are in their seats, screaming about how "real fans" stand up at important times in the game.  It's almost as if they don't know I paid 65 hard-earned dollars to sit in this seat in right field built for a Polynesian midget and facing away from home plate at a 110 degree angle directly into the Yankee bullpen.  

I'm talking about the palpable electricity coming from every fan in the architecturally ridiculous stadium.  That intense feeling that you're watching something that's incredibly special, and you're a part of it.  And by the Time Mike Lowell's 4th, 5th and 6th RBIs bounced off the Green Monster, nearly killing Johnny Damon in the process, you're uncontrollably smiling from ear to ear.  And that's coming from someone who truly believes Boston would be best suited with a brand-new stadium in Boston and turning Fenway into a foul-smelling museum of some sort.

It takes a unique kind of team and fan base to send chills up people's spines when Jonathan Papelbon lightly jogs out of the bullpen in the 9th inning to "Shipping Up To Boston" trying to protect a five-run lead in a basically meaningless April baseball game.  I'm not even sure it's possible anywhere else.

So thank you, Red Sox, for my sports awakening.  I couldn't have done it without you.

Opening Day 2009 has come and gone and did it ever feel like spring was in the air when day 1 got rained out by the April showers. I recently got a call from a gentleman I do some work with from Jacksonville, David, and he had always wanted to visit the fabled Fenway park. He offered to buy the tickets and we were set. Being a Boston resident and having been to the park many times, you really have no idea how spoiled you are until you go with someone for their first time. David and I met up and took the train into Boston on round 2 of Opening Day (luckily he was able to stick around the extra day) and got into the Bean around an hour before the gates were opened. I decided it'd be a good time to share the local talent and brought him over to downstairs at 'Game On!' to enjoy. Must have liked it since he fed me several beers off his tab. Around 2pm, with the gates being opened, we sauntered over to the park and went straight inside (after grabbing another beverage of course) and I first asked David, "Do you want to head to our spot or first see the best view in Boston?" His answer was obvious. I brought him up the walkway that come up right behind home plate and he just stared and quickly busted out his camera to take pictures of everything from the "Monstah" to the "Fenway Park" sign. He was amazed and hilariously his first statement was "It looks a lot bigger on tv." Most of them do. We ventured up to our SRO spot and strangely, 2 hours before opening pitch, my usual spot was full so we moved over a section. Next to me was a strange corral area and I knew they had never had that before. After hearing some murmers and seeing a lot of Red Sox peronnell in the area, we quickly concluded this would be where the players would descend onto the field from. All of a sudden, a loud roar came over our section as I see the faces of Mike Lowell, Big Papi, Manny Delcarmen, Jacoby Ellsbury, Ramon Ramirez, Hideki Okajima, JD Drew, and Takashi Saito approah the stable. From this point on was somewhat of a blur but I took many phone pictures and shook hands with Lowell and Ellsbury, who both have had horrible starts to the season. Pure coincidence, I swear. The game went on, my vision got blurrier and the Sox pulled out on top. But this opening day, my first at the park and his first in Boston, neither of us are likely to forget.