a700hitter

Basically, everyone has agreed that they love Fenway. Saying that it is not a great venue to watch a game should not be taken so personally by people. Really for a person who has never been to Fenway to tell fans that go to the games to stay home is preposterous. We all love Fenway, but we can objectively compare it to other venues without being accused of blasphemy. No shitstorm by SCM or me. We love the team and Fenway and we go to the games every year. Edit: If Fenway objectively was a great venue for fans to watch a game, I don't think the current owners would have spent countless millions updating the place for the last 7 or 8 years. Also, someone told me that when they replaced seats at Fenway that the manufacturer had to retool at the factory because the seats at Fenway are smaller than the standard seats.

All of New England fell in love with the Impossible Dream team of 1967 even though they fell short of a championship. Those Red Sox fans didn't feel like their team was a loser. The franchise was reborn and they had a new hero and new Super Star who was beloved across New England. Yet the press trashed him and the Sox every chance they got, and it had nothing to do with losing to the Cards. It was almost always exclusively petty ******** bullying by the print media. Real tabloid crap. The Red Sox have always been the focus of attention of the Boston Sports fans. The Patriots, with all due respect to their great teams, are Johnny Come Lately's. In the 1970's the town was a wild baseball town. The rivalry between the Sox and the Yanks was at a fever pitch. Not only did the fans of the teams hate each others teams, but the players genuinely hated each other. You are losing the forest for the trees here. I am not arguing which Sox era teams were better. The point we were arguing is why the press is kinder and gentler today. It has nothing to do with championships or good teams. You kids think everything that came before you sucked. That's just not true. The Sox were tremendously popular and competitive long before this ownership. Yes, they were even a wealthy and premier baseball franchise, although not as high in the rankings as today, but still a premier franchise. The reason why they are kinder and gentler today is the fierce competition for big $ that permeates the sport. The print press used to have a monopoly over the sports coverage. They no longer have that. The older guys here know what I am talking about. Finally, I would never tell you that I am smarter than you are. I am just telling you about the times I have lived through. Living through some things gives one a better understanding than reading about it in the paper. You are in your 20's and have never been to Boston. Experience is valuable. It doesn't equate to higher intelligence, and I never made any claim of being smarter than you.

There was no resemblance of the 1976 team to the original stadium. It was on the same piece of real estate, but it was completely different including the field dimensions. The new stadium 2009 version is much more nostalgic of the original stadium. I am a nostalgia fan an a collector of memorabilia. There was nothing nostalgic about the 1976 stadium. Without knowing the exact coordinates of the 1976 and 2009 stadiums, I would have no idea which sits on the original parcel. All I can tell you is that the present stadium has a much greater resemblance to the original than did the 1976 version, so for me it is more nostalgic.

The new Yankee Stadium is across the street from where the old stadium was located. No one knows the difference. The neighborhood is a dump. There is a prison down the block. If a bomb went off in that neighborhood and they had to completely rebuild the surrounding area, it would be an improvement. No one would miss a single thing about that neighborhood. In 30-40 years when the Yankees build another new stadium, maybe they will build the new one on the original site again. What difference that would make is beyond my understanding. The same goes for the area around Fenway. It's basically a dump, although it is not a dangerous slum like the area around Yankee stadium. Other than Cask n Flagon, nothing in the entire neighborhood needs to be preserved. There is no special historical feel to the neighborhood. There is no big deal about building a sports franchise a new facility when the old one has outlasted its utility. It's only a big deal if the franchise leaves town for the new facility like happened with the Dodgers and Giants.

Today's press corps in Boston are practically cheerleaders compared to the way they used to be.

If ownership thought they could get a new stadium built, it would have been done already. They realized from the beginning that they couldn't navigate the corruption and incompetence of the City government as well as all the special interests. They decided to improve Fenway as much as possible and play up the history as a strength. They have done a great job, but it is still not a good venue to watch baseball.

The White House was substantially rebuilt during Truman's term, because the place was falling apart. It has undergone many changes throughout the years.

So, he has been throwing on the side?

Has Andrew Bailey pitched in a game yet? I though the lat strain was very, very minor?

We love Fenway for the memories it hold, but it is not a good place to watch a game. The new stadiums are not cookie cutter like the one's built in the 1970's . Each of them have their distinct features. If the city of Boston wasn't a corrupt political sewer, they could build the new Fenway in Boston.

Good point. I am not a local, but I have been to probably a couple of hundred games throughout the decades. In the beginning, I loved the place and thought it was a great landmark. Over the last couple of decades, the awe has worn off, and the reality has set it that it is an old relic that is not a good place to watch a game. I love Fenway, but when non-Sox fans from other cities with new ballparks see Fenway, they see it with non-biased eyes, and they usually think it is a dump.

Unfortunately, only the seats almost directly behind a post are designated as "obstructed view". There are thousands of seat that have views that are obstructed in one way or another. It's easy to say that I should just buy seats that are not obstructed. Easier said than done. The best seats with no obstructions are largely season tickets. Those that are not are $95 plus seats. Fenway has a lot of great memories for me, but it is not a good place to watch a ballgame compared to all the great new ballparks that have been built in the last 15 or so years. Shrines are fine, but they are not a great place to watch ballgames.

I've been going to Fenway for decades, and despite all the improvements made by the current ownership, it is a dump. They have managed to turn it into a shrine, but it really does suck when you spend $55/ticket and you cant see the pitchers mound or home plate because of a pole. But for the fact that the city is tremendously corrupt, making it logistically impossible to get a new place built, Fenway would already have been reduced to a memorial plaque.

I'd rather be the Wilt Chamberlain of TalkSox.

I didn't blame him for not coming back in 2010. He owed us nothing. He got trashed and abused whenever he came back to Boston. I disagree with you. The Yankees made a take it or leave it offer. The Sox made a lowball offer and then screened their calls and refused to communicate with him. We disagree.