My Fifth Anniversary

Not blogging…heck in July I’ll have seven years of blogging under my belt. But today is a baseball-related anniversary just the same: Today will be the fifth time I actually make it into Fenway for Truck Day!  I thought my fifth anniversary would be a good day to share some photos I’ve taken from my four previous Truck Days!

The first year I went the equipment truck was sitting on Yawkey Way. There were genuinely more reporters than fans (if I write that there were fifty fans I’m probably exaggerating) and I got myself on a couple of Saturday night newscasts because the reporters had such a small pool of fans to interview. It was the Truck Day after the Red Sox won the World Series – again – and we were really excited for the season to begin.

Van Ness Street this year.  It was cold but sunny and the sidewalks we were standing on were covered with snow.  Highlight of this particular Truck Day was Johnny Pesky. The team dragged the poor guy out to wave at us all, sit behind the steering wheel of the truck for a photo op and then, thankfully, let him leave (we were worried they were going to make him go on the flatbed with the Fenway Ambassadors and Wally).  Still not a ton of people but more than the previous year, including a guy and his dog.

Up is down. Jet Blue is the new sponsor of Truck Day. (This is the year many went off their rockers complaining that now Truck Day was sponsored when, in fact, CVS had been sponsoring it for years without much fanfare.)  Jet Blue wasn’t the only company not wanting to miss a marketing opportunity. While we stood out in the cold, Narragansett Beer entertained us with a can of beer and an oyster:

Many more fans than I expected showed up last year. As witnessed in the photo above, they were really getting into it. Families were there, couples were there and Heidi Watney was there covering it for NESN. It was a little chilly but we had our high hopes to keep us warm (along with thoughts of Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez!).

Here’s the thing…and I know I mention this every year…I really like Truck Day and the people who choose to insult those of us who enjoy Truck Day annoy the ever-living hell out of me.  In the four times I’ve attended, not once have I met someone who took Truck Day as anything more than a fun reminder that Spring Training is coming and baseball season is very close behind it.

For those of us fortunate enough to be close enough to Fenway that getting there for Truck Day isn’t a problem, it’s entertainment.  We stand around for a little while talking about the upcoming season, taking in being AT Fenway Park in February and just having a good time.  The Red Sox don’t try to sell you anything (if anything, they just give little things away) and the people who are there GET that it’s a little silly but why the heck can’t we be a little silly some time?

The 2011 season ended terribly and the off-season was even worse.  Today is the day the slate gets wiped clean and I for one will be standing on Van Ness Street watching that truck roll away with great hope and expectations for the 2012 season.