In 1996, Laura and I rented an RV for a vacation in Alaska. While wandering around Anchorage, I spied a house light that was painted like a baseball with the Red Sox logo on it. We walked up to the house, and saw a sign on the door directing us to a nearby bike rental shop.
The shop was owned by a displaced Sox fan named Peter Roberts. With no way to access any Sox games at that time, Roberts had started the "Far From Fenway" club and was selling sweatshirts and bumperstickers. (I have a membership card somewhere.) Roberts was also the subject of a New York Times article during the 1988 playoffs.
Looking through my blog stats, I see that I have had recent visitors from: Taiwan, France, Venezuela, Korea, Australia, Turkey, and Iran. (Actually, I have had steady, though anonymous, readers from Venezuela since 2003.)
Thanks to the internets, it is now possible to watch and listen to every Sox game and access the local Boston media. Still, I've been curious how fans far from Fenway follow the team, especially those on the other side of the globe, where the time differences are so great. (One SoSH member -- without a doubt the most optimistic Red Sox fan in history -- lives in Manila, 12 time zones away. (And there is the Singapore Sox Fan blog.))
Email me: joyofsox@gmail.com. Thanks. I may devote a future post to the responses I receive.
The guy in the bike shop! That was cool.
ReplyDeleteMinor correction: Alaska was 1996. 1994 was Mexico.
My sweatshirt is pretty raggedy around the collar, but the designs of the new ones he's selling now are really crappy.
ReplyDeleteHey, thanks for the shout-out! Although I'm currently in Germany for a conference and weirdly enough it's often easier to watch the games in Singapore than it is here... you just get used to having games start at 7.05am, just before one heads to work.
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