Andy and John Buchanan at FanSherpa.com sent me a copy of the Wise Guide to Fenway Park ($10) and asked me to review it. With the home opener scheduled for tomorrow afternoon, here are my comments:The pocket-sized, 84-page guide is written in a breezy style that is still very informative. Each topic gets its own page, laid out in a simple, yet hip, format. The information comes from actual fans, so you'll get some tips that are unlikely to be in a standard guide book: cheap parking possibilities, how to see a game and enjoy yourself for under $30; how to deal with sidewalk ticket sellers; sections of Fenway you might want to avoid sitting in; how to figure some basic stats; what the "Red Seat" is; how to keep score; how to sneak down into better seats in later innings; a nice list of nearby restaurants and bars; and some other historical sites in Boston (including the site of the Huntington Avenue Grounds, the Red Sox's pre-Fenway home).
The Guide errs when it includes the CHB's poorly-researched Curse book among the top Red Sox reads ("Red Sox Century", which is not on the list, should have been the top choice) and encourages fans to do the wave. But these are more nitpicks than criticisms.
FanSherpa has also published guides to Wrigley Field, Yankee Stadium (this one will need to be revised) and the place where the Giants play. Red Sox obsessives probably won't get much out of the guide, but it would make a nice little gift for a casual (or new) fan.
"Encourages fans to do the WAVE????" Send it to HELL!!!
ReplyDelete(What's the book's position on beach balls?)
I don't think beach balls are mentioned.
ReplyDeletePage 28 is "Follow The Rules":
1. Follow the game and stay to the end.
2. Do the wave.
3. Keep cell phone use to a minimum ("do it quickly and quietly" and "never" stand up and wave at the camera).
4. Have a sausage.
5. Smoking is prohibited in all areas of Fenway Park (so go out on Yawkey Way to puff).
6. Respect Fenway (a "raucous church").
As rules go, that's pretty good. 5 out of 6.
Five out of six is good.
ReplyDeleteRecommending that CHB crap is worse than recommending the wave. One lasts a few minutes (though an awful few it is), the other could poison a mind for a lifetime.
But overall it sounds like a cute book.
I am SO getting some of these!
ReplyDeleteManny being Merlot...classic!
Although one has to wonder about the quality of the aforementioned beverage. Seems like a gimmick. Oh well....went to the Jamie Kennedy Wine Bar after the *joke* game on Saturday and tasted REAL wine, and man! Screw that Ontario shit, this stuff was amazing.
ReplyDeletethe Jamie Kennedy Wine Bar
ReplyDeleteGreat place.
Red wine and those Yukon fries = heaven!
L-Girl: I agree wholeheartedly about CHB.
ReplyDeleteA silly but endearing Fenway tradition that seems to be waning or dead is fans making a high-pitched, rising, "wooooooo-OOP!" sound as a ball fouled onto the screen over the seats behind home plate rolls down and back onto the field. The last couple times I was at the Park,either they didn't do it or I couldn't hear it where I was sitting (in "the old days," fans were scarce enough that it echoed through the Park.)
Does anyone know if they still do that?
oh yeah, we had the poutine and wanted to order another, damn tasty!
ReplyDeleteThey sell those Red Sox wines at my local supermarket.
ReplyDeleteFanSherpa has also published guides to Wrigley Field, Yankee Stadium (this one will need to be revised) and the place in which where the Giants play.
ReplyDeleteha ha! pacbell, SBC, AT&T - those of us who live in the bay area can't keep it straight either. "and the place in which where the Giants play" is a great description - kind of like "the artist formerly known as prince".
For the Canadians, Jose Canseco will be doing a one-on-one interview on Off the Record on TSN tomorrow night.
ReplyDeletejack: i catch at least a game a year near that area, and I haven't heard it (estimate 8 years of useful memory) Must be gone :(
ReplyDeletewent to the Jamie Kennedy Wine Bar after the *joke* game on Saturday and tasted REAL wine, and man! Screw that Ontario shit, this stuff was amazing.
ReplyDeleteWe love that place! And now you know why I was unimpressed with Ontario wines. :)
Several wines we tried on our last Niagara Region wine tour were really good. But only when compared to their sucky Ontario neighbours.
oh and it looks like non-Canadians will be able to view it online after it airs.
ReplyDeleteThanks, patriots...that's fascinating. How do things like that disappear? I wonder if its a demographic change, because prices are so much higher. Most of the "OoooOOP"-ers were kids, of course, and in those days, kids could get into the seats that are now Boxes as half-price grandstand on day games. So many traditions at baseball parks last for eons, until something major changes...some fans still yell "O!" during the National Anthem in Camden Yards, because the late Wild Bill Hagy started the tradition back in Memorial stadium. That's dying out too, though, amusingly (at least to me) some O's fans carried out the tradition at the grand opening of the new National stadium last week.
ReplyDeleteSo no more "OoooOOP!"
Well, I always thought it was stupid anyway....
Hey I'm a huuuge Red Sox fan yet I live out of town. I heard from a couple guys from Boston who I talked to that there is a pub/bar right by Fenway where you can give the owners/manager 75 bucks per ticket and get a ticket to any game. For the life of me I can't remember the name of the place though. Does anyone know what I might be referring to?
ReplyDeleteThat's dying out too, though, amusingly (at least to me) some O's fans carried out the tradition at the grand opening of the new National stadium last week.
ReplyDeleteHey, that's cool. I love those kinds of traditions, especially the ones that are fan-generated. I always like the "O" thing, didn't know it was dying off.
A commenter here loves to hate the Yankee Stadium crowd that does "roll call" from the RF bleachers, but that's an example of the kind of thing we should like. Non-commercial, strictly from the fans, not imposed by the PA announcer.