With opening day coming up shortly (33 days to be exact...but who's counting), my favorite time of year is about to start: Baseball season. The Red Sox are down in Florida preparing for another season, and while we wait for them to come back to Boston, please enjoy a list of 10 things that every Red Sox fan knows to be true:
1. David Ortiz is Red Sox baseball. He is the unofficial leader of the team, and after all these years he still continues to amaze. After hitting his 500th home run last season, he is officially one of the greats, even though we have known that all along. And he is a member of our community off the field as well - who could forget his speech after the 2013 Boston Marathon Bombing? Baseball season will not be the same without Big Papi.
2. Fenway Park is like a second home. Sure, it may not be as fancy as some of the newer stadiums, like Yankee Stadium or Angels Stadium, but it has a history that many other stadiums don't. And it's not just the actual ball park that you love, but everything around it: The Citgo sign, Yawkey Way, and Landsdowne St. bring a smile to your face. Since 1912, it has been home to our favorite team, and I'm sure that everyone, both fans and players alike, can remember their first experience walking in and seeing the field under the lights for the first time.
3. You would sell your soul for Green Monster seats. Sitting up behind left field in these coveted seats is something that all Red Sox fans dream of doing sometime in their lives. Every major league player dreams of hitting a home run over the Green Monster, and what better place to witness this than right on top of them?
4. Yankees Suck. There is really no other way to put it. You may agree that Joe Girardi looks like a villain in a mob movie, and that it doesn't matter how well Jeter ever played - he's still a scumbag. For as long as you can remember, you have hated this team from New York. You may not even know why, you just know that growing up, you were taught that the people in pin stripes were the enemy, and to this day, there is nothing so satisfying as watching the Red Sox beat their rival.
5. The years 2004, 2007, and 2013 have a different meaning for you. The years the Sox won the world series, it was a great time to live in Boston. Especially in 2004, this win reinforced your love of your team, and your Boston pride. 86 years is a long time and we had waited long enough. And in 2013, after our city was hit with such tragedy, we came back stronger than ever to show that Boston is not a city to be messed with, and our team reflected it as well.
6. Going to Fort Meyers to see spring training is on your bucket list. The start of a new season always gets every baseball fan excited, and seeing your favorite team early is like a bonus. Getting to travel to warm sunny Florida, during one of the coldest months of the year, to see how the Sox are shaping up for the new season sounds like a dream come true, and many Red Sox fans intend to make that dream come true at least once in their lifetime.
7. There's no party like a Duck Boat Parade. After the Red Sox win the world series, every Boston fan knows that means one thing: a parade that includes some of the ugliest vehicles on the planet, and some of the greatest people. With people from every town in Massachusetts coming together to celebrate in the streets of Boston as our team comes home, there is nothing like it.
8. You have so much Red Sox gear, you don't know what to do with it. You have your traditional shirts, hats, and sweat shirts. But then you also have key chains, cups, blankets, socks, phone cases, posters, signed balls, ornaments, jewelry, etc. And everyone who has visited Fenway has that mini helmet that held your melting ice cream at your first Red Sox game, and it is now proudly displayed somewhere in your home.
9. You understand that Red Sox players are just better looking than normal people. Who cares about celebrities like Justin Beiber or Dave Franco when you can have Xander Bogaerts or Brock Holt? No contest.
10. There is just something about Boston that makes it the best sports city in the world. Being a member of Red Sox nation makes you a part of something special, that is unlike any other team in the world. ESPN sports reporter Rob Neyer once said, "...if you're a baseball fan, you haven't lived until you've heard 30,000-some New Englanders sing their victory song, [Dirty Water] in the greatest ballpark in the world."
