A Red Sox Hat on Vacation in Florida

A bright red B says it all on a well worn hat. Who would have realized the popularity and simple joy it can bring?

The B stands for the Boston Red Sox, now considered America's team, the same team that was once considered sure to fold by seasons end. To me this team goes past the statistics that report increased attendance in whatever ball park they visit. The Red Sox team draws in those with a love of the game; they play and win with passion, and experience heartbreak with each loss. Yes their home Fenway Park is small, but it is the heart of the fan base that endears us to this team at this venue.

Now a month ago, I had occasion to travel with my wife on a business trip to Fort Lauderdale FL. This was new for me as in the past, I was the one attending meetings and occasionally she would come along. It was my turn, and frankly I was just fine with a one day sabbatical by the pool as she sat in a conference room. I settled in on a lounge chair with a new book in hand, The God Factor, by Cathleen Falsani a very good book at that. By eleven AM the first threat appeared, a Yankee fan, and then another, then I realized there were more than a dozen of them. Fans of the evil empire, they have been called.

My Boston hat was alone in this mix of vacationers with fun and sun and time on there hands? But this one group of NY hats and shirts were most apparent, Empire State men and woman alike, letting the world know that the Yankees won twenty or thirty something World Series in the last X number of years. T shirts emblazoned with pictures of rings, for the Yanks and so few rings for the Sox.

Who cares? What have you done lately?
This is baseball people, not a corporation where each member must pass the muster of an individual specialist, with or without true grit. It's a game, a team sport, not an angry sport like so many others. Yes there is money to be made by owning a given franchise, but paying dollars for dominance is not always going to work. And that is why the Red Sox beat the Yankees a few years ago, some team has to. It is also why the Yankees have not been so great since. NY will always be the biggest, but not always be the best.

In any event back to the pool. I was there all day, and so were they. They never spoke to me, cool and polite, I can respect that, after all I was wearing a hat with a big red B on it.

But as the day unfolded I came to experience some very pleasing notoriety. People would come up to me and say "I like that team". The girl who brought me lunch, wanted to know if I have ever been to Fenway Park. The old man who passed me by gave me a thumb up sign. And so it went all day, and in the hotel lobby and elevator too. One other thing I noticed was no one gave any kind of shout out to the Yankee fans, no one. What pleasing status as a cheerleader and fan I delighted in that day.

I went to college in Boston a wonderful privilege indeed, a time for getting one's head filled with knowledge and wisdom. It is also a time to abandon old ways and learn about the world. While doing so, some time at Fenway Park is almost a required experience.
It's a time to get acquainted with the meaning of spirit, heart, tenacity, and fun. While struggling with grades, one can relate to the team struggling with the game of the day.

It was great to be one of those students from all over the States, learning from and enjoying a team that just might win the big one some day. I am surprised that it took so long for the entire country to get it, after all students' graduate move on and take with them a passion for a great home team where ever you happen to live. That passion has planted many seeds.

There is no need for a T shirt to brag about the Red Sox dominance, many simply say, now I can die in peace, they won a World Series! A great day at the ball park rooting for the under dog, just might provide you with the spirit of the American way. A way that has proven time and again you just have to believe.