They came from Ontario (other people, not L & I!).
And they drove up from Virginia and North Carolina.
JoSapalooza 1, held on Tuesday, July 28, was a resounding success. Yes, Jonathan Papelbon blew a three-run save in the ninth and the Red Sox lost in 11 innings to the A's, but I was far more worried about a rainout than a possible loss. (Laura posted a short recap of our trip.)
We met at Lir for dinner beforehand. Laura and I had wanted to have some type of gift/souvenir of the evening. After nixing t-shirts as (unfortunately) too pricey, we hit on the idea of a program. I designed it with everyone's name and avatar on the back and a scorecard inside. I also brought 10 pencils, though I think only Amy and Ish's dad kept score.
Inside the program was a crossword puzzle that westcoastsox created.
(You can download the puzzle here.)Several attendees took pictures. Here are a few:
LJCohen - JoeGrav - Amy (who came with husband Harveyand daughter Maddy) - vrictare - L-girl - Emma
JoeGrav (with his "lucky" Schilling shirt that had, unbeknownst to him,run out of luck that morning) - Lynn & John (Tim's aunt/uncle)
Amy - L-girl (with gift envelopes and scandalously empty glass of Guinness!)
Dennis Eckersley hugs Jim Rice
Rice ceremony
#14 is unveiled. Johnny Pesky is sitting behind the red banner.
L-girl - redsock - Emma - Nick
Karen (who came with husband Karl) - vrictare -LJCohen - SoSock (who came with friend Chris)
Ish - Randy (Ish's dad)
Jere (who stopped by in the late innings) - L-girl - redsock
Jason Bay
Infielders Meeting (FY-Yook-Green-Dr. D)I also arranged a scoreboard greeting:
(Photos: Thanks to LJCohen (3, 4, 6, 7, 12-14), Amy (8, 9), Nick (10, 11), SoSHer Rice4HoF (15); I took 1, 2, 5.)
JoS2? There are two possibilities. (1) A game in Toronto, with everyone staying over and possibly watching (via BuffyVision) a second game at our house. (2) L and I will be in California for a wedding in September 2010, though it's unlikely that the Red Sox will be playing west coast games that month.
Yay!
ReplyDeleteMan, wish I could've been there. Hopefully next time, and hopefully next time the Sox will actually win too.
ReplyDeleteThis was even more fun than the photos can reveal---despite the Red Sox losing the game. I still smile thinking about how great it was to meet so many in our community.
ReplyDeleteJOS2 in Toronto sounds intriguing. I have never been to Toronto. The big issue for us is timing since we work weekdays, unlike our JOS hosts. But let's start talking and see if there is interest and possible dates!
How did Benjamin not get into any of the photos??
ReplyDeleteA definite editing credit for the crossword should go to redsock!
ReplyDeleteCalifornia would be great for me, of course. My wife has a sudden interest in going to Luminato, the Toronto arts festival. I guess it will be in June next year as it was this year.
ReplyDeleteAny comments from Toronto residents on that festival would be most welcome.
Planning a weekday event will definitely be the tough part - seeing how many people will be able to come to that. We take a weekend off for our annual wmtc party, but we probably won't take one off for JoS1, too.
ReplyDeleteI don't think we can bounce around any dates until the schedule is out, tho!
* * * *
Zen, I always hear good things about Luminato but have no personal experience - not living in Toronto proper, and being very busy with baseball and activism while it's running. And, I freely admit, being well sated on arts festivals from living in NYC for so long, probably destined to never attend another in my life.
If you do go, I hope you can time it with the Sox being in town! And we'll hope to get together, in any case.
Oh, yeah, the baseball schedule! I forgot we had to look at that first!! I guess I was figuring the Sox would come to Toronto whenever we told them we would be there.
ReplyDeleteAWESOME!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Laura. I hope so, too.
ReplyDeleteHow did Benjamin not get into any of the photos??
ReplyDeleteI accepted Allan's gracious offer not to post any. :)
Wow, it's so nice to see the real people behind the avatars.
ReplyDeleteNo sarcasm. I love you guys (includes the womenfolk).
ReplyDeleteCalifornia! California! Although if you do Toronto I can hang with my Canadian cousins.
ReplyDeleteWow. That's class, hopefully I'll be able to make the next one!
ReplyDeleteCool! You'll never guess where I am commenting from. So I'll tell you, LOL. I'm at an internet cafe in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. :) Rooting for my sox even from halfway around the world. Sorry--no threading for me until we get back home in September, so keep the faith! Go Sox!
ReplyDeleteVery cool, LJ! I think that may be the most distant location from which a comment has been posted---at least that I am aware of---that is, assuming Israel is closer in miles from here than where you are.
ReplyDelete(As I think about it, I am not sure where "here" would be as a measuring point. Toronto, because that is where A&L live? Boston, because this is a Red Sox blog? Or no place, because cyberspace is not any real location?)
Recent visitors:
ReplyDelete283 United States
32 Canada
15 Unknown -
7 Germany
7 Hong Kong
6 Japan
5 Taiwan
5 Korea, Republic Of
4 Spain
4 Singapore
4 United Kingdom
4 Sweden
3 Turkey
2 India
2 Guam
2 Italy
1 Kyrgyzstan
1 Thailand
1 Chile
1 Australia
1 Philippines
1 Switzerland
***
Some of the 1s or 2s might not be actually readers, since their time at the blog is clocked at 0 sec. (Actually, Kyrgyzstan says "0 sec".)
However, the 4 Singapore visits are from the same IP:
1 hour 44 mins 31 secs
Wow, that is amazing! I was obviously limiting my observation to commenters whose location was known to me, not all readers of the blog). That is one impressive list. Korea? Singapore? I guess we can't tell whether those are travelers like LJ who actually live closer to Fenway or residents of those places. Nevertheless....quite amazing.
ReplyDelete