It's my birthday, and Jere covers the $12 to get me a bird's-eye view of my first game of the year. Our seats were under the "6", near the four who are already seated in this picture. (click for big, per usual)

When we arrived, Papi was chillin so I assumed it was Kev he was talking to. But it wasn't. I really don't know who it was.

As expected, our dearly departed Kevin Millar was the center of attention during batting practice. Here he turns to look as some fan yells something at him. He's pleasant and gracious about the attention. He still loves us, you know, and clearly enjoys being back at Fenway.

not pictured: I saw Larry Lucchino letting a little girl try on his WS ring but wasn't fast enough to catch it with my camera.

Kelli the ball-girl was hanging out for awhile during the O's batting practice. Sorry, guys, I'm sure most of you would have made more effort to get a better shot of her.

Given that those are soccer jerseys (very cool), we assume they are somehow related to the Oriole Markakis, who grew up a Red Sox fan.

Jere thought we should follow them to see where they were sitting. So I went along with it the first time they moved, but the second time I insisted we keep walking. I mean who cares where their seats are? Not that we meant any harm, but I'm sure it didn't escape their notice that we were tailing and talking about them. I think it would have been interesting to see who they were rooting for in the game, though, since apparently the family still roots for the Red Sox.

From our seats, we had a great view of um, the crazy bleacher-creatures. I love the pants on this Dunkin' Donuts dude.

As you may have already read about over at ARFIPT, some scruff in our section kept nodding off. Here he is taking a drag off his cigarette, which seemed to keep him awake for awhile.

Finally he had been passed out so long, people around him started to wonder if he was dead. Security came to find out. After being woken up, dude tried to stand up to leave (per instruction) and sunk right back down again. Here the Security guy is helping him up for the second time.

a few rows down on my right, a woman was gettin' down n' dirty with the shoulders of just about any man who would allow it in front of her.

a couple of those guys disappeared after awhile, possibly to find some standing room elsewhere?

back-rub girl returns from an unnecessary beer-run. not pictured: pulls down her tank top several times upon request to show her boobs before finally sitting down and letting those of us behind her watch the game again.

And yes, the game itself is what I was watching most of the time, although we were to far away to get any decent pics of it with my crappy camera. The early lead gave us a relaxed good-times vibe up in the outfield. Jere is always of the opinion that Wake should stay in, while I believe wind conditions sometimes prevent him from pitching effectively. In the first few inning, when Wakefield was making batters look foolish, the wind was blowing softly out, ideal conditions for the knuckleball. Later the wind changed directions and was blowing more fiercely, and seemed to affect Tim's control. It stayed that way, which eventually led to bringing in Tavarez (and that near-fracas.) The air got chilly with the wind once the sun went down, but most everyone stuck around... till we tacked another couple on in the eight, and it was clear we would see no Pappy in this one. Even Jere left the bleachers at this point, although I'm sure he stuck around to see the end somewhere else, where he could exit the park more quickly. Me, I was in no hurry, and slowly ambled my way down toward the T at Kenmore, just a few stops from dancing the night away.

Edit: Dan brings up a good point in my comment thread. I met some great people toward the end of the game who had been sitting behind me. Once Jere left me high and dry it sure was good to have other people to talk to. I didn't mention them because it seems that I failed to take a picture of them... and also I forgot their names, which is so typical of me!

Dan's brother had been visiting some friends over on the other side of the park in one of those glassed-in company boxes. It was some guy's bachelor party, and they made him wear a pink red sox jersey, pink boxers, and a purple Boston hat. From the bleachers I could see him, but only because he had been given a fuschia boa by a bride-to-be at her bachelorette earlier in the evening.

Dan, his brother & wife, and her sister seemed oddly familiar to me. I almost feel like I've met them at a game before. They seem like a really fun bunch, anyway, and I'm glad Dan made it over here to reb sox.

# posted by Rebecca @ 1:31 PM