2009 NU Family Day at Fenway

By K.J. Cardinal

Ever since Anna was born, I have been dying to take her to Fenway. The perfect opportunity finally posed itself on Saturday, so we jumped at the chance to partake in the 2009 Northeastern University Family Day at Fenway.

Northeastern is a sponsor of the Red Sox and I'm sure that partnership is somehow responsible for this family day. Anyway, the tickets were only $7 for adults and children were free, so it was a no-brainer.

I am SO glad that we went. We showed up right at noon when the gates opened and we pretty much had the place to ourselves.

They had a free photo station set up where you'd pose in front of a green screen and then they'd put your photo on a ticket (pictured right). They actually gave us four printed tickets and that was probably my favorite part of the day because it's such a cool keepsake.

After getting our photo taken, we meandered around for a while and the two big hits of the day for Anna were CoCo the monkey and Wally the Green Monster.

CoCo the monkey (pictured left) was awesome. This little monkey was trained to do everything from catch and throw a football to dunk a basketball.

Anna thought CoCo was one of the coolest things she's ever seen. She would squeal and laugh when he'd jump around and throw the ball. It was so cute.

It probably costs a pants-load to get CoCo to come to a private party, but I got the guys card anyway and we'll see. I can't really see anyone, young or old, not getting a kick out of this little guy. He was pretty neat.

After CoCo, we walked over to get our picture taken with Wally. When we approached the "Green Monster", Anna wanted NOTHING to do with him. She was clenched to my arm so tight and didn't even want me to bend down so we could talk to him.

So, we didn't get the perfect photo op, but Angie snapped this photo at right that pretty much says it all.

Immediately when we walked away, however, it was like Wally was Anna's new best friend. She kept on saying his name and pointing to the direction where he was stationed. So, we had to make a few trips back and forth to see Wally.

Anna is still enamored with the big green fella and I'm sure that this blog post will get LOTS of hits by me alone as I'll have to pull it up a few times a day to show Anna this photo... I actually just printed a copy of it for her to avoid having to have it on my computer screen all day :)

People started to file into the park as 1 p.m. approached, so we jumped in line to get our photo with the 2007 World Series trophy and then we were going to leave to avoid the crowd. Before we could wrap up the photo-op though, Anna had clearly had enough.

It was time for her nap and she wanted to go watch people play Wii Baseball while we were in line, so the photo of us with the trophy is pretty comical because Anna's crying. I'm sure when she's older she'll spin it that those were tears of joy for experiencing Fenway for the first time, but we all know that wasn't quite the case.


Notice the airbrush tattoo that she has on her left leg... it's little paw prints.

Anyway, the day was so much. We love nothing more than taking Anna to new places and showing her new things. She's such a curious little sponge these days and the cutest thing ever, so her reaction to everything makes us so happy.

I'm sure that the NU Family Day at Fenway will be an annual rite of passage from this year on.

BELIEVE!

By K.J. Cardinal

I'd be lying if I wasn't VERY concerned about the Sox chances last night as they trailed 7-0 heading into the bottom half of the seventh inning...but I was hopeful.

The Sox bats couldn't get any colder, so I was praying that they'd somehow find a way to string a few hits together and that they did. Definitely the best baseball game I've ever been to.

Nothing makes a REAL Red Sox fan happier then to see the self-proclaimed "Fenway Faithful" leave the game early, giving up on their team, only to see the Sox pull off the largest postseason comeback in an elimination game EVER. What a rewarding night.

I'd also be lying if I said I didn't feel like I personally played a key role in the Sox victory.

My buddy Scott scored two HALF PRICE tickets (that shows you the state of Red Sox Nation) in Section 30, so we were amped up to have the opportunity to go to the game...especially for only $50.

After the top half of the seventh, Scott and I ran downstairs to grab our last two beers of the night. While we were down there, the Sox rally began. We were faced with the ultimate dilemma...do we stay under the grandstands so we don't jinx the comeback, or do we risk it and head back out. We opted to keep karma on our side and waited until the end of the 7th to return to the action.

With many "fans" having hit the exits early, we decided to slide into a few box seats down in left field. It was awesome.

When Dan Wheeler came out to pitch for the Rays in the home-half of the sixth, we were on him...BIG TIME. We started the classic "Wheeler, Wheeler, Wheeler" chant. When I say "we started it", I mean that people all around us were looking at us and laughing, but we weren't giving up. We believed!

As the eighth inning played out, it was apparent that we were in Wheeler's head. By the time J.D. Drew launched a two-run homer deep into the right field seats, the entire park had joined us in the Wheeler chant. It was priceless.

I don't really have a voice this morning, but it was all worth it. This Game 5 brings back memories of the Sox epic Game 5 victory back in 2004 when Dave Roberts stole second to change the complexion of the series. Let's hope history repeats itself the rest of the way too. BELIEVE!

Earrings, Red Sox, Pockets and more...

By K.J. Cardinal

My apologies for the lack of posts lately. I have been somewhat unmotivated, somewhat incapacitated and somewhat inebriated. A friend of mine, Amy, just started her own blog, and her enthusiasm has lit a fire under my keister to get back on the bloggin' trail.

Anyway, here's a recap to what's been going on.

- Anna got her ears pierced. Being just like my father, I was definitely against the notion of poking a hole in my daughter's ears for cosmetic purposes at such a young age. The way I figure it is if she wants earrings, then when she's old enough to express that, we'd get her earrings. The thought of making a life-altering decision for your child wasn't necessarily something that I wanted to do, but Angie really wanted to pierce her ears, so as you can see with the adorable picture on the right, Angie won out.

Now that her ears are pierced though, I must admit that it's pretty cute. And, I'm surprised that she doesn't pick at them or anything. She's so curious these days that I thought I'd have to worry about her constantly trying to rip them out and then pulling a Houdini act and making them disappear in her mouth, like she does with anything else she can get her hands on.

- What a weekend we had. Saturday started off with the final BU women's lacrosse PackCast of the season (exciting, I know), but the day was highlighted by Angie and I taking Sammy and Matt to the Red Sox-Yankees game, which was their Christmas present. Despite the rain, we had a blast at the game. We hung around for the first hour or so of the rain delay, but when they pulled the tarp off the field and then put it back on, we decided we'd had enough. Plus, it was the eighth inning and all the beer stands were closed, so that also played a role.

After the game, Matt and I went over to the Cask to meet up with Glenn, Cassani, Jamie and the man of the night, Pockets. My buddy Dan (AKA Pockets) was up from New York for the weekend, so we tore it up in the city after the Sox game and then crashed at Jamie's in Medford. It was a blast to say the least. On Sunday morning Pockets came back to my house to hang out with Anna for a little while before going back to NYC. As you can see in the picture at the right, Pockets was a fan of Anna's and she took a liking to him as well. My favorite part of that photo is that Dan is still wearing the wristbands from the night before.

- Sunday started off by picking up the pieces from Saturday night and heading back to Hudson. I was definitely feeling kind of blah and hungover. I planned on planting myself on the couch for the day and watching The Masters. But then around 11 a.m. I got a phone call from Tiff saying that I had a new niece...and this definitely put a lot of pep in my step! Talk about the ultimate cure for a hangover. Anyway, as you read in the post below, Natalie Jane was born on Sunday morning and she's so precious. I can't wait to see her again.

- Monday and Tuesday were supposed to be rather uneventful days, but of course some came up. Last week I took the Mazda to get inspected. The inspection sticker actually expired in November, but since we rarely drive the car we let it go until April before getting an inspection. As expected, the Mazda failed emissions. We were concerned it may cost a lot to get fixed, but were pleasantly surprised that the work only ran us about $400. We got the car back last Friday and drove it throughout the weekend like the mechanic told us to.

On Monday afternoon, Angie was coming home for lunch when she calls to tell me, "the car broke." Well, not exactly, but something definitely went wrong. So, we brought it back to the mechanic for $200 more worth of work and picked the car up yesterday after lunch. Angie then calls me later in the afternoon to tell me that "the car's rattling." So, the car is currently back up at the shop getting fixed. I'm pretty confident that they just have to tighten up some bolts or something on the exhaust and that it won't cost us any more money, but that car has been the bane of my existence lately.

Well, those are the main happenings of the last week or so. I also wrapped up all the graphic design jobs for Vermont, produced two PackCasts and went to a PawSox game with my buddy Mike. So, thanks Amy for getting me back on the blog-wagon. I'll be sure to do a better job over the next couple of weeks...especially next week when we're on vacation at Steele Hill.

6:05 first pitch too early for Anna

By K.J. Cardinal

I woke up early this morning to watch the Red Sox season opener, but Anna couldn't bring herself to wake up until about 7:45 a.m. The 6:05 first pitch proved to be too early even for Anna, who had been eagerly awaiting her first-ever opening day.

Once Anna woke up, I gave her a bottle, put the game on the radio, gave her a bath and got her geared up in her Dice K pink Red Sox t-shirt. By the time we returned downstairs to watch the game, Dice K had already been pulled, so his poor start had nothing to do with her wearing his shirt.

Anna enjoyed about an inning and a half before passing out on the couch...as you can see above. Also, I had to re-post this picture of Anna (see left) from the first time she wore her Dice K t-shirt from Vicky back on October 29, 2007, when she was just 24 days old. I can't believe how big she is already.

Anyway, it's apparent that Anna is somewhat of a good luck charm for Manny Ramirez though. The night she was born he hit a walk-off homerun to win Game 2 of the ALDS versus the Angels and he just ripped a two-run double in the top of the 10th to give the Sox the 6-4 lead. Coincidence? I think not.

As you all probably know by now, Angie and I are big fans of bringing Anna anywhere and everywhere we go, but I'm torn on what to do with her when it comes to going to her first Red Sox game. I know that I'll be going to quite a few games this year, like usual, but I'm just not sure if Fenway would be a good idea for her just yet.

We might bring her to one game just so we can say that she went to a game this season. It would be such a project to get her there though with all her gear and whatnot and, in case you didn't realize it, the seats at Fenway aren't too spacious. So, it would probably be a bad experience for all of us all around.

When I went to Game 2 of the World Series last year with Adam, I actually contemplated bringing Anna in just to get a picture with her near the field and then bringing her back out for Angie to take home. I opted against it, which was probably a good call since it was a mob scene down in Kenmore Square, but it would have been cool to get that photo of her.

So, we'll have to see what happens this season, but regardless Anna will be "watching" the Sox all season long at home...but the 6:05 a.m. starts are tough.

A wonderful world

By K.J. Cardinal

Anna's just over three weeks old and she's already experienced a Red Sox World Series. Lifelong Red Sox fans that came before her lived a full life and went to their graves having never witnessed the Sox take home the title...it took Anna a mere 23 days.

Spoiled? Some would say that Boston sports fans these days are spoiled. After all, the Sox have won the World Series twice in the last four years, the Pats are on the verge of becoming the NFL's greatest dynasty of all-time and the Celtics are FINALLY relevant again. While Anna may be spoiled in this regard, I'd like to think that she actually had a little something to do with the Sox luck in the postseason this year.

Born at 5:47 p.m. on October 5, Anna had to wait less than seven hours to experience an unbelievable playoff moment. Angie and I were in our hospital room enjoying the new bundle of joy that we just welcomed to the world as game two of the ALDS was playing in the background between the Sox and the Angels. As the game continued to play out, it started to get more and more attention from Angie and I. A nurse came into our room to check on Angie at the exact time that the Sox were putting together a scoring rally in the bottom of the 9th.

So, here I am holding my newborn daughter, standing directly in front of the television when Anna got her first dose of "Manny being Manny." With two on and two outs, Ramirez sent a rocket over Fenway Park's Green Monster as the Sox "walked off" with the victory. I was probably the happiest person on the planet at that moment.

That's not the end of the story though. On Saturday, Angie dressed Anna up in her pink Daisuke Matsuzaka shirt that Vicky bought her. Dice K responded to Anna's fashion statement by not only throwing 5 1/3 innings of three-hit, two earned run ball, but also knocking in a pair of runs with a single that gave the Sox a 5-0 lead in game three of the World Series.

Anna's definitely spoiled when it comes to the sports bliss that has engulfed Boston these days, but at least she's doing her part and is a total team player. What a wonderful world she lives in.

On a related note, I don't want to give Anna sole credit for the Sox World Series victory, Papa and Andrew can be seen wearing matching Red Sox caps practically every day, so I'd like to think that they had a hand in this thing too.