What a week for Kid Dynamite in Beantown. First, on Tuesday, I smoked a cigar with Dirty Dave before seeing The Boss rock the TD Banknorth Garden, catching the incredible "I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide" performance. Then, the following night, I returned to the Garden with my mom and my two oldest friends: Brian, who was finally attending his first Springsteen show, and Nick, who was the one who introduced me to The Boss back in 5th grade.
Nick wielded his 1985 Born In the USA Springsteen outfit - complete with cutoff jean vest, red bandanna, and baseball hat in his pocket. Surprisingly, this outfit attracted the attention of some younger lady fans who sidled up to Nick. Brian, on the other hand, was busy fighting off a "battlecat." He explained to me that a battlecat was like a cougar, only 10 years older. Meanwhile, my mom continued to sneak closer to the stage (we had general admission floor seats) while I almost gave myself a heart attack as I bounced in the glare of a spotlight, going bezerk when Bruce played a cover of the Ramones' "I Wanna Be Sedated."
Like the improvised "I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide," from the night before, this song request came from a fan sign - this one was written on a standard 8 1/2 x 11 piece of paper. Bruce took it and gave it to Kevin, the stage tech, presumably to load the lyrics into the teleprompter. After ripping through "Raise Your Hand," Springsteen conferred with his two guitarists, Nils Lofgren, and Ramones fan/Sopranos star, Little Stevie Van Zandt. You can see them figuring out the chords in the video, before hammering out a raucous version of the song. I was so pumped up that I was using all 9 inches of my vertical leap to sky above the mass of humanity on the floor, and somehow ended up with a spotlight shining on me - although I have yet to find pics or vid of it.
We all thoroughly enjoyed the show, and what's not to like? Floor seats for The Boss with good friends?
But the week wasn't over. Each year my wife's family and my family join forces for a canoe relay race on the Charles River, the Run of the Charles. Saturday we had a pre-race BBQ, and Sunday we did the race in 85 degree sun. Although we couldn't repeat our 2008 Mixed Division Championship performance, the day was a perfect prelude to the evening activity, which was the finale of the Sox-Yanks weekend series at Fenway!
I had to spend the game mediating between the friendly taunting of the hammered Sox fan to my right, and the growing irritation of my brother in law who is a Yankee fan, who was taking the brunt of the abuse. My bro-in-law had been pounding beers with me, and was ready to snap this drunk local. I warned the guy, with a smile, "You better not test him - he'll make you tap out!" and the guy understood, "I'm pre-tapping right now."
Drunk Bostonians always provide entertaining theatrics, and this guy was no exception. I got a kick out of it every time he screamed "Strike this pussy OUTTTTTTT," when there was only 1 strike on the batter. He also had a quality third person self reference, when he said, of himself, "Hey, my daughter's daddy likes to get fucked up." The other highlight came when some doucheballs repeatedly butchered the easiest chant in sports: "Yankees SUCK!"
Now, there are two chants at Fenway: 1) "Lets go Red Sox" (clap clap, clap clap clap), and 2) "Yankees SUCK! Yankees SUCK!"
Somehow, these idiots combined the two, into a sing-songy cadence of "YanKEES Su-UUUCK, YanKEES, Su-UUUUCK," but without the clap clap clap-clap-clap.
The guy behind me had me laughing out loud as he wondered in awe, "How do you fuck up the Yankees Suck chant? It has to be the easiest chant in sports."
When Jacoby Ellsbury stole home with the bases loaded, it was one of the most amazing sports moments I've ever seen live. You can even hear the excitement in the announcers voice on the video:
The amazing thing is that Ellsbury actually stumbled right before the plate - he later said it was because he saw JD Drew flinch, and was worried that Drew might swing, so he abandoned his plan to slide feet first and dove head first instead.
Fenway (and of course, Kid Dynamite) went absolutely BALLISTIC - with a frenzied ovation, eliciting a curtain call from Ellsbury, and the Sox never looked back on their way to a 4-1 win and a sweep of the Yanks.
So, in one week I got to see three multi-sigma events live:
Springsteen's "I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide"
Springsteen's "I Wanna Be Sedated" and
Jacoby Ellsbury stealing home.
Can't complain about that...
-KD
Nick wielded his 1985 Born In the USA Springsteen outfit - complete with cutoff jean vest, red bandanna, and baseball hat in his pocket. Surprisingly, this outfit attracted the attention of some younger lady fans who sidled up to Nick. Brian, on the other hand, was busy fighting off a "battlecat." He explained to me that a battlecat was like a cougar, only 10 years older. Meanwhile, my mom continued to sneak closer to the stage (we had general admission floor seats) while I almost gave myself a heart attack as I bounced in the glare of a spotlight, going bezerk when Bruce played a cover of the Ramones' "I Wanna Be Sedated."
Like the improvised "I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide," from the night before, this song request came from a fan sign - this one was written on a standard 8 1/2 x 11 piece of paper. Bruce took it and gave it to Kevin, the stage tech, presumably to load the lyrics into the teleprompter. After ripping through "Raise Your Hand," Springsteen conferred with his two guitarists, Nils Lofgren, and Ramones fan/Sopranos star, Little Stevie Van Zandt. You can see them figuring out the chords in the video, before hammering out a raucous version of the song. I was so pumped up that I was using all 9 inches of my vertical leap to sky above the mass of humanity on the floor, and somehow ended up with a spotlight shining on me - although I have yet to find pics or vid of it.
We all thoroughly enjoyed the show, and what's not to like? Floor seats for The Boss with good friends?
But the week wasn't over. Each year my wife's family and my family join forces for a canoe relay race on the Charles River, the Run of the Charles. Saturday we had a pre-race BBQ, and Sunday we did the race in 85 degree sun. Although we couldn't repeat our 2008 Mixed Division Championship performance, the day was a perfect prelude to the evening activity, which was the finale of the Sox-Yanks weekend series at Fenway!
I had to spend the game mediating between the friendly taunting of the hammered Sox fan to my right, and the growing irritation of my brother in law who is a Yankee fan, who was taking the brunt of the abuse. My bro-in-law had been pounding beers with me, and was ready to snap this drunk local. I warned the guy, with a smile, "You better not test him - he'll make you tap out!" and the guy understood, "I'm pre-tapping right now."
Drunk Bostonians always provide entertaining theatrics, and this guy was no exception. I got a kick out of it every time he screamed "Strike this pussy OUTTTTTTT," when there was only 1 strike on the batter. He also had a quality third person self reference, when he said, of himself, "Hey, my daughter's daddy likes to get fucked up." The other highlight came when some doucheballs repeatedly butchered the easiest chant in sports: "Yankees SUCK!"
Now, there are two chants at Fenway: 1) "Lets go Red Sox" (clap clap, clap clap clap), and 2) "Yankees SUCK! Yankees SUCK!"
Somehow, these idiots combined the two, into a sing-songy cadence of "YanKEES Su-UUUCK, YanKEES, Su-UUUUCK," but without the clap clap clap-clap-clap.
The guy behind me had me laughing out loud as he wondered in awe, "How do you fuck up the Yankees Suck chant? It has to be the easiest chant in sports."
When Jacoby Ellsbury stole home with the bases loaded, it was one of the most amazing sports moments I've ever seen live. You can even hear the excitement in the announcers voice on the video:
The amazing thing is that Ellsbury actually stumbled right before the plate - he later said it was because he saw JD Drew flinch, and was worried that Drew might swing, so he abandoned his plan to slide feet first and dove head first instead.
Fenway (and of course, Kid Dynamite) went absolutely BALLISTIC - with a frenzied ovation, eliciting a curtain call from Ellsbury, and the Sox never looked back on their way to a 4-1 win and a sweep of the Yanks.
So, in one week I got to see three multi-sigma events live:
Springsteen's "I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide"
Springsteen's "I Wanna Be Sedated" and
Jacoby Ellsbury stealing home.
Can't complain about that...
-KD
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