And It Was A Good Time Had By All

As Mr. Pingree informed you over the weekend, I was recently in Fenway for the three game series against the Milwaukee Brewers. And while I cannot tell you the velocity at which David Aarsdma threw the ball or the air speed velocity of an unladen swallow, I can tell you that if you don't take trips like this at some point in your life you are missing out on a lot. To put some perspective to this, I'll tell you this. My two friends (in the picture it goes me, D-Train and Swain) and I have decided once a year we will get tickets to a baseball series at a ball park. The only caveat is that we see a different team each year. Everything else varies. Last year we saw a three game series against the Detroit Tigers at Fenway, and ended up becoming friends with Wily Mo Pena and going out to Boston Billiards with him to his private room. This year we decided to go back to Fenway, seeing the three game series against the Milwaukee Brewers. Between the games and the fun after the games we had a great weekend, and while I can't give you every detail (wouldn't you like to know) I can tell you what happened over this weekend.

FRIDAY: I left my house around 7 or 8, and I yelled as I left "Yo home, smell ya later"...Ok, so maybe I stole that from Will Smith, but still. I met my friend D-Train in Augusta, then we went to pick up my friend Swain. We decided to stop and get some lunch, and inevitably missed the Amtrak from Portland to Boston. We then had to take the next train, getting into North Station around 5. We got a couple slices at Halftime Pizza across the street (great stuff if you've never had it), then got picked up by the girl we were staying with. From there it was on to Fenway. Unfortunately, Friday nights game was rained out. We drank at Who's On First till the make up game was announced, then met up with some friends and went to Jake Ivory's. If you haven't been there I suggest you do, great club to go to. There I got adopted by a bachelorette party, and this is where I leave parts out. Around 2 AM we started hanging out with a different group of girls, and eventually made our way back to their house. We get there, I'm talking to this girl in the corner, we're hitting it off, then I look up and realize one of my friends have left and the other one is being told to get a cab. I still don't know what they did, but they pissed some people off, and I ended up going with them because that's what friends do. We got back to the place we were staying at 3:30ish.

SATURDAY: Doubleheader time...only I have a massive hangover from about 75 bucks worth of drinking. We go to the first game, and make our first prop bet of the day. I win the bet, which was how many walks would Dice K have. I took the under, with the line being 4. Then we meet up with some friends at the Uno's down the street and end up being late to game 2 of the doubleheader, showing up mid 1st inning. The prop bet for this game was over under 8 runs. I win again, taking the over. Second straight free round of drinks for me. After that we go out with the girls we were staying with to Jake Ivory's and then Tequila Rain. We also got promised by some Brewers fans that they would buy us each two beers tomorrow because we were "the men". Those beers never came. From there we got a cab, only the cabbie didn't like the fact that there was a girl sitting on my lap because there was five people in the cab. He kicks us out onto the street, and we end up at their place around 2:30. He was clearly a hater. Regardless, we go to bed around 4. On a side note, the picture up top is us that night. We had seats that night, unlike the other two games where we had standing room, and they were pretty nasty. Box 89. This guy was completely passed out as chants of "Lets go Red Sox" competed with "Lets go Brewers", with chants of "We Want Gagne" and "You Can Have Him" also mixed in. He eventually woke up after getting hit with three quarters from guys up about 10 rows and us yelling and shaking him. He then told us he "f#$ked Matt Damon and Ben Affleck". We didn't know how to respond.

Sunday: This is when it's time to man up. All three of us are working on next to no sleep, but we are ready to go. We get pumped up by watching about half of Varsity Blues then watching part of The Replacements. Then it's off to Fenway, where we have our second set of standing room only tickets. First, actually, is Popeyes chicken off Fenway. After being tricked into getting extra food by the spinning Popeyes food wheel (it was similar to Wheel of Fortune, great idea by whoever made it) we head to the pahk. There I meet up with some other friends and end up on the Green Monster, while my two buddies stayed in standing room behind home plate, where they got hit on by a really hot 35 year old. One of my buddies on the monster had the comment of the day when he saw a Brewers fan and said "You guys are gonna get swept, but at least you have Brett Fa...OH yeah." The prop bet for this one; Beckett strike outs, over or under 7. I take the under, and I would've won had Beckett not came out for the 7th after giving up 6 runs. Unfortunately, Francona has a brain fart and leaves him in, and Beckett strikes out two more just an inning after giving up his 5th and 6th run on solo homers to Braun and Fielder. I lose on a prop bet at Fenway for the first time in 7 tries. After that we walked/took the bus back to Brighton where we were staying, then walked/bussed back to Fenway, hopped on the green line, and went to North Station and made it in time to see the atmosphere of Eastern Conference Semifinal Game 7. Then we got some supper and drinks at Boston Beer Works, and got on the Amtrak at 11:20. We get back to Portland around 2:30, and after everyone is dropped off and I get home it is 5:30 AM on Monday. I once again man up and still make it into work at ABC by 10:30.

Also, Ryan Braun is an absolute beast. I know the Sox swept the series, but he was the best player in the ball park. He was unbelievable.

All in all, a great weekend. Plans are already being made for next years trip. Personally, I would like to go see Wrigley Field, but we won't know for a while.

I'll get out an NBA Draft preview in the coming weeks, but for some breaking news, here is the order.

1. Chicago Bulls
2. Miami heat
3. Minnesota Timberwolves
4.Seattle/Oklahoma City Sonics
5. Memphis Grizzlies
6. New York Knicks
7. Los Angeles Clippers
8. Milwaukee Bucks
9. Charlotte Hornets
10. New Jersey Nets
11. Indiana Pacers
12. Sacramento Kings
13. Portland Trail Blazers
14. Golden State Warriors

~Aaron Jackson