98.5 The Sports Hub

I got on the radio last Friday, for roughly 15 seconds before I was dumped on air to go to commercial. 

   Last Friday was one of those days where you question your career choices.  In thirty minutes I went from ready to begin my lessons, to wondering if I ever should have left St. Anthony's. More than once I found myself thinking, "F these kids."  I was supposed to have lunch duty that day as well, but I was able to switch out of it...thank God.  If I did have lunch duty that day, I promise you there would have been a 13 year old with a black eye.

        However, it was Friday.  I had tickets to the UNH vs. Northeastern and BC vs. BU games at Fenway Park that night.  I was ready to enjoy my weekend and let off some steam.  I was also going to donate blood at Children's Hospital.  I try to donate as frequently as I can, and have donated over one gallon.  When the nurse told me to drink plenty of fluids, I replied that I intended to.  I don't think she meant pitchers of Blue Moons at Copperfield's, but thats what I did.

On my way to Children's, I was listening to Felger and Massarotti on 98.5.   These guys keep me entertained each day, and I like them better than when I would listen to Mike and the Mad Dog.   While I drove on Route 9 they were talking about how Adolfo from the morning show was walking from the studio in Brighton to Gillette Stadium in Foxborough.  Roughly a total of 24 miles.   He would be wearing a football uniform with a Wes Welker Jersey and one of those Fathead cutouts of Welker on his back.

     Adolfo called in and talked about his trip so far.  He had some staff following him on his journey and they were going to drop him off at a hotel before it got dark. He was in great spirits during the trip and it sounded like he was enjoying himself.  When he was giving the update he had traveled 14 miles. 

   I am thinking, holy shit.  This guy is has three days to walk from Boston to Gillette and Bea and I did our 270 plus mile journey in two weeks.  This is ridiculous. 

   I was hesitant about calling, I mean would they care?  What they think I was lying? Then, oh my God I got through. The person who answered the phone wanted to know why I was calling.  I was pretty nervous but I said that I was calling about Adolfo's trip.  

"A few years ago, a buddy and I walked from Yankee Stadium to Fenway Park.  We averaged 20 miles a day and finished in two weeks.  Its totally doable."

The person on the other end sounded a little impressed, (maybe it was my imagination) and told me to hang on the line and that he was going to put me through. "Make sure your radio is down" was the last thing he said to me.

   I turned my radio off and could hear the radio show on my phone.  The caller ahead of me was talking about the Patriot's chance against the Ravens.

  Then after his conversation Mike Felger said, "we have an update on Adolfo's jounrey."

What followed was awful, and luckily I got to hear it.

me: hi, I am calling about Adolfo's journey. He's gone, what 14 miles so far.

Felger: yes

me: well, I just wanna say that its totally doable.  A few years ago a buddy and I walked from Yankee Stadium to Fenway Park.  We did it in two weeks and averaged 20 miles a day.

Voice that was not Felger, "Were very proud of you"

then a commercial 

I was confused and hung up the phone.  I turned up the radio in the car and got to hear to whole thing.  Oh my Go was it was painful. 

So, yeah I made it on air, and embarrassingly was dropped within the same breath. 

All done and ripe for the recapping

Another journey is done and more lessons learned. The last two days were about as different as any two over the whole week. Thursday was rainy, miserable, and had four flat tires (the most of any day. Friday, on the other hand, was sunny, hot but not overly so, and had no mechanical malfunctions greater than a chain coming off. We were also done with the day earlier than any other, getting to Fenway before 1pm with almost the same mileage. Needless to say it was the best way to end our journey.

While not really fair to this trip, I can't help but compare it to last year's (again). One thing that was similar to last year was what it was like to arrive at Fenway. The stadium sneaks up on you as a part of the city and before you know it you smell hot dogs and everyone is wearing red, grey and navy blue. We were again greeted by Lucias bearing Dunkin Donuts iced coffee and again we celebrated by touching the plaque of Tom Yawkey. Once again we were also met with a sense of anticlimax as few people around seemed to notice that, while they arrived by SUV, we arrived by way of physical exertion and mental determination.

As much as discussion regarding the rivalry, this trip was also a learning experience for me in other areas. I am now much more confident in my bike maintenance abilities. I'm hoping to build a road bike in the next year, so this was a good intro for that. While I am no expert by any means, it was cool to have the tools to adjust brakes and change tires when in the middle of nowhere. I also learned a great deal about no budget doc filming. Of course, most of it was what not to do, but c'est la vie. Working with my footage from this and last year will be a good exercise in editing, but I'm not sure yet what the end product will look like.

As far as the Rivalry, it's still extremely interesting to me. I can't just make myself a baseball guy in a week, but I never fail to enjoy the heated "discussions" that are generated by the love of these teams. Walking around Fenway yesterday and today I noticed several couples and families representing both sides. It might be like other situations involving different groups of people. Those who continue to champion the impression that "Yankee fans are a-holes" or "Boston fans are d-bags" are probably people who haven't really spent much time with the other. Once they do, it seems that mutual respect over loving the game overcomes the dominant prejudices.

Now that doesn't mean there's less trash talking. In fact, there's probably more because it doesn't get personal as much. Over this week John didn't hide his dislike for Pedroia just because Liz was around. It just stayed there. It wasn't about Boston or Boston fans sucking. The only moment of that this week was yesterday when the cashier at the liquor store was giving John a hard time for being a Yankee fan and talking sh*t about New Yorkers being whiney. I'm no Yankee fan, but the guy was being a douche. I'd bet that this guy hasn't ever watched a game with a Yankee fan or really hung out with one.

There's nothing wrong with good natured ball busting, but the best baseball fans I've ever known are the ones who understand that can appreciate other baseball fans. Just as I enjoy debating politics with people who vote opposite of me, a great debate over baseball seems to be one of the best things about being a real fan. The personal attacks should be saved for those who deserve it -- fairweather fans.