Pats Jerseys to Sox Jerseys
For my husband's birthday, I got tickets to the Patriots-Chargers game at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro. It was my first regular season football game and it was incredible - tens of thousands of screaming fans eagerly waiting on every play. We stood the entire time, such was the excitement in the stands that no one could sit down. There was such a strong sense of camaraderie that we felt with each first down and touch down.
Since the Pats were ahead, we decided to leave a little early to beat game traffic. We had stood in traffic for one hour on Route 1 trying to find parking before the game, we didn't want to repeat it on the way out. Leaving half-way through the fourth quarter made a huge difference. Although dozens of people left when we did, Route 1 flowed normally and we returned home before midnight.
On the way home, my father called from Florida to a) ask how we had enjoyed the game and b) bring our attention to the fact that the Red Sox were trailing the Yankees 4-2 at Fenway Park. From an assured football victory, we turned anxiously to an unsure Sox loss. After we turned to AM radio to follow the game on our own, my father stayed on the phone to share our excitement. But oddly enough, there was a television delay, and every pitch reported on our radio came a few seconds before the actual pitch on television, resulting in an eery kind of hearing the future before seeing it happen.
We all waited breathlessly as David Ortiz came to the plate, potentially to save the Sox one more time. From pitch to pitch, we could hardly contain our excitement. When Ortiz hit a pop-up and the Yankees won, we were deflated. I bid good-night to my father and hung up. As we drove through a crowded Kenmore Square, I realized we had gone from Pats Jerseys to Sox Jerseys, and the people in the latter ones weren't smiling.
But this is what Boston sports is all about, I thought, moving from one game to another, each one just as important as the last.
And this is what technology is all about, I thought, using it to live a sports moment with one's father, no matter how far away or through what medium. We watched the game together, him in front of his television in Florida and me on I-93 North from Foxboro to Boston.
The social benefits of communications technology come will always come down to this.
Since the Pats were ahead, we decided to leave a little early to beat game traffic. We had stood in traffic for one hour on Route 1 trying to find parking before the game, we didn't want to repeat it on the way out. Leaving half-way through the fourth quarter made a huge difference. Although dozens of people left when we did, Route 1 flowed normally and we returned home before midnight.
On the way home, my father called from Florida to a) ask how we had enjoyed the game and b) bring our attention to the fact that the Red Sox were trailing the Yankees 4-2 at Fenway Park. From an assured football victory, we turned anxiously to an unsure Sox loss. After we turned to AM radio to follow the game on our own, my father stayed on the phone to share our excitement. But oddly enough, there was a television delay, and every pitch reported on our radio came a few seconds before the actual pitch on television, resulting in an eery kind of hearing the future before seeing it happen.
We all waited breathlessly as David Ortiz came to the plate, potentially to save the Sox one more time. From pitch to pitch, we could hardly contain our excitement. When Ortiz hit a pop-up and the Yankees won, we were deflated. I bid good-night to my father and hung up. As we drove through a crowded Kenmore Square, I realized we had gone from Pats Jerseys to Sox Jerseys, and the people in the latter ones weren't smiling.
But this is what Boston sports is all about, I thought, moving from one game to another, each one just as important as the last.
And this is what technology is all about, I thought, using it to live a sports moment with one's father, no matter how far away or through what medium. We watched the game together, him in front of his television in Florida and me on I-93 North from Foxboro to Boston.
The social benefits of communications technology come will always come down to this.
posted by Allison at 11:56 PM
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