fenwayville

   If it seems like baseball season arrives a little earlier in  New England than it does in most places…guilty as charged.

   Only Red Sox fans circle the day on their calendars when the big trucks head south with the team’s equipment for spring training. Only the Boston media document the occasion so exhaustively - every newspaper and TV station that follows the Sox all season runs a photo of the stock scene (you don’t see the New York media doing this - they have real scandals to chase, such as L’affaire A-Rod and the damsel claiming Roberto Alomar gave her HIV, AIDS, whatever).

   All right, everybody’s in camp - no Manny Ramirez drama, and Jason Varitek is safely signed for the season - whether he’ll ever hit again, we’ll worry about it when the time comes. Come March, we’ll just hold our breaths throughout the World Baseball Championship in hopes no one blows an ACL or a rotator cuff representing their native countries before they get into game shape.

   By the way, call me Dave. I’m a newcomer to today.com, but I’ve been blogging sports since 2003, back before airing one’s views, grievances, etc. on the Web became really trendy. I’ve also been a newspaper copy editor and reporter for a long time before that, and have worked in both news and sports. I’ve been a Red Sox my whole life (it happens naturally, growing up in Rhode Island), and I can say honestly they’ve always been there for me.

   I can boast of actually having attended Game 6 of the ‘75 Series (back before tickets sailed out of the financial reach of the solidly middle-class types like my father, who managed to get these through the friend of a friend). Let’s just say it was an event worth waiting three days of rain for. While attending Boston University, September Friday night games with the Yankees and April weekday games (in the days when barely 8,000 people were rattling about on Wednesday afternoons) were ritual with me. There were the requisite disappointments (as the season goes along, I may attempt to tell my own stories of the ‘78 playoff, Game 6 of the ‘86 Series, Game 7 of the ‘03 ALCS, to name the notables), but in 2004, the long years of faith and hope were finally rewarded (and Dad was able to enjoy it in good health - I think often of people who lived longer than he did who never got to see that world championship flag raised). Three years later, we got another one.

   We’ll have ourselves a blast this year, whether the Sox go all the way again or come up agonizingly short (as happened in ‘08). I’ll be here all season to bring you some news, commentary, analysis, and some laughs. There are plenty of Red Sox blogs out there, some terrific and others a waste of bandwith, but visit Fenwayville regularly - you’ll find something unique, something enjoyable, something that will encapsulate your Red Sox experience in a distinctive way.

   You’re welcome too, Yankee and Ray fans, and the rest of y’all.

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