Virulent, Like a Virus.

If you went across the street from the house I grew up in and then hiked about a quarter of a mile into the woods, you came across a pretty big lake. From the 1930s-60s, a boys camp operated on the lake for inner-city under-privileged youth-types from NYC.

When the place was closed in the late-sixties, nobody bothered to clean it up and so in the '80s the place had a wonderfully creepy, mysterious atmosphere. Just to be clear, my mother had prohibited my sister and I from going there but we were neither particularly obedient nor good children and so we spent many hours climbing over crumbling foundations, scrambling over rusty wire fences to get to the weedy tennis courts, exploring the dining hall and offices (the most complete building, although it was missing a roof) or trying to jump over the remains of the bathroom (The building had rotted into nothing but in it's wake had left a pit a few feet deep and maybe five feet wide that was filled with crushed porcelain and plumbing pipes that hovered above the pit by two feet. The challenge was to get a running leap, jump over the pipes, and try to clear the pit completely-if you didn't, you had better land on your feet because porcelain is going to cut up your knees if you fall forward.)

The point? The idea of getting NYC kids out of the city for the summer by sending them to the country still exists. The Fresh Air Fund is responsible for a lot of the placements nowadays and recently dropped some kids off in Westport. One of the children was Ibrahim Ib-Hamida who was questioned about his baseball affiliation upon arrival: "Red Sox," Ibrahim replied without hesitation.

And so the infiltration begins.

Breaking News!

The returns from the battleground state of Connecticut are in and in a stunning turn of events, Red Sox fans outnumber Yankee fans in the state for the first time in, probably, forever.

The poll (conducted by Quinnipiac University in Hamden, CT) found that fifty-eight percent of the people in the state claimed to be baseball fans and of those fans forty-one percent claimed the Red Sox as their team while only forty percent went for the Yankees (the rest were mainly Mets fans.)

So, are these new fans due to the afterglow of a World Series championship? I don't think so. My guess is that the increase in fans is directly due to the tireless campaigning and the spreading of the good word by our fearless leader, Jerry Remy. Congratulations President Remy on a job well done!



That said: I'm off to Block Island for the weekend. No tv. No internet. If I survive, I'll be back late Sunday night.

Summer Reading List: Addendum.

I don't often read physical newspapers anymore, but one of my favorite parts of the Sunday paper was always the book reviews. Back in April, I started a list of books that had something to do with the Red Sox and seemed interesting enough. Today, I have two books to add to the list, courtesy of the Fredricksburg Free-Lance Star.

The first is: Interviews from Red Sox Nation by David Laurila. It's a re-release (the book was originally published in 2006.) The book is a collection of interviews with players, former players, coaches, people associated with the Red Sox, and some prospects. The book contains interviews with Phil Plantiers, Tim Naehrings, and Bill Lee.

The second isn't so much about the Sox themselves as it is about a boy growing up a fan of the Red Sox. It's called: The Crowd Sounds Happy by Nicholas Dawidoff. It's a memoir of a kid who didn't have the easiest life but connected with the Red Sox on a level that took him away from all of that. It sounds like it might not be the easiest read but is probably fascinating.

Just How Big is Red Sox Nation? Ask the Hedgehogs.

A tiny country nestled between Belgium, Germany and France, it's slightly smaller than the state of Rhode Island, but Luxembourg is home to at least two of its' own baseball teams.

Their website is in French so I can't tell you too much about the Hedgehogs but apparently they have their own little dynasty going on-they've won the Luxembourg Championship five times in a row. They've got themselves a properly kitted-out field; hot dogs and beer at home games.

The outspoken member of their team is a Dennis Noonan from Boston (and as the article points out: of course, a Red Sox fan) had this to say:

“I love playing baseball again! Since the team has a mix of different
nationalities and a sportsmanship philosophy of playing well and showing respect for each other, and opposing teams....And I thought my baseball days were over when I moved to Luxembourg 8 years ago!”

Also, I'm totally not making fun of them. If I was transferred to the Paris office for work I would be torn. Paris is, well, awesome but to be reduced to watching baseball on the computer? I get squirrelly enough in the off-season, I can't imagine going for any real length of time without it. Plus, I would have to learn French. I wonder if there are any Parisian baseball teams looking for a DH (I can't throw and I can't really catch but I used to be able to hit pretty well.) I do think they should change their mascot to Sonic, they're missing a real opportunity there, but otherwise: Rock on.