There are a number of things I miss about being a college student. Today is one of the days I miss the most. Patriots' Day gave us a three day weekend, and though we didn't need it, and excuse to party. That it happened just as the weather was getting nice and the school year was winding down was an added bonus. The cherry on top was that tailgating rules were in force, meaning that nearly all of Lower Campus at BC turned into one large outdoor party while the Boston Marathon trudged by on Commonwealth Avenue.
My junior and senior years, the Yankees were in town for the morning game. Though they didn't win either contest, it was still a treat to be able to watch a Yankee game while stranded in enemy territory. And of course, by the end of both of those seasons the Yankees had the last laugh over their rivals. Even the Yankee losses in those games didn't ruin the rest of the day's festivities for me. Jay and Joe were in attendance for the 2003 game and were treated to a Sox loss, even if Jay did have to watch it from behind a pole.
Though Patriots' Day isn't observed in Connecticut, it often fell during April vacation when I was growing up. Having a morning baseball game to watch on a day off from school was a nice break from the normal drudgery of whatever else was on TV on a weekday morning - even if it was a Red Sox game.
So as our New England neighbors observe the anniversary of the start of the American Revolution today, I'll tip my cap to them. I may not like their team, but as far as I'm concerned, the more hours of the day during which there is baseball to watch, the better.
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Patriots Day, April 11, 2005 The Sox beat the Yankees 8-1. About 8 hours after the game ended my first daughter was born. I like to think she was born after that game to cheer me up.
ReplyDeleteI hear you, Matt. I attended the University of New Hampshire. It's not easy being a Yankee fan in "Red Sox Nation." It's also hard having something in common with a BC hockey fan. But then again, stranger things have happened.
ReplyDeleteOn an unrelated note, was it just me, or did Yankee Universe release a collective chuckle seeing Cameron choke a routine pop fly?
Add me to the list of Yankee fans who went to college in New England. I graduated from URI in 1993. The Yankees were terrible during those years. The Sox fans were tough to listen to even back then, especially in 1990 when they won the AL East.
ReplyDelete@MoE, it wasn't just you.
I'm a huge fan of these kinds of 'local holidays'. I was in Boston for a sailing race on the 2005 Patriot's Day (Sorry, Upstate - it was April 18th that year, the week after the Yankee game). I loved being an incognito Yankee fan in the party atmosphere that was Boston that day - although I hated listening to the Sox pile run after run on top of the Blue Jays.
ReplyDeleteLiving in Phillies' land now, I wish they had something similar... although I guess that honor would go to the 4th of July.
@Jimmy, my bad. I remember that Yankee-Sox game being on during the day. That is why I must have thought it was Patriot's Day.
ReplyDeleteMy collegiate days were good times to be a Yankee fan: four pennants and three World Championships in those four years. I thank God I wasn't there for 2004-2007 though.
ReplyDeleteAs for Cameron, I've always like him as a ballplayer. That's decidedly less so now that he's with the Sox, but I take no special pleasure in him dropping one. The poor guy's had a rough week: twice admitted to the hospital for kidney stones. A dropped fly ball is the least of his worries right now.