Green Monster

I had standing room tickets on the Green Monster for last nights Sox game agains the Indians with Melissa Brassil and her dad. It was totally awesome. The view was great and not at all scary (unlike the Fleet Center, which I find horrifying). The game was a good one and the Sox won 5-2. Some highlights:

• The return of Trot Nixon. He got a warm welcome from the Fenway Faithful and rightfully so. There was also a ceremony acknowledging his and his wife's contributions to the Jimmy Fund and his wife, Kathryn, threw out the second first pitch (the first being thrown by a WWII veteran in honor of the holiday). He got a standing ovation during his first at bat and he tipped his pine tar-covered hat. I miss him.
• Youkilis' inside-the-park home run. Seeing that in person was so cool. Even cooler than the time I saw Lou Pinella get ejected. Slightly less cool than the time I saw D.Lowe get the win against the Yankees. I think. I don't know. An inside-the-park home run is really damn cool.
• Jonathan Papelbon's trek to the mound. The place went crazy. I didn't realize he'd gotten to be such a big deal. I live in a bubble, apparently, because seriously the roar of the crowd was deafening and I've never seen so many camera flashes. Melissa and I speculated that the reason he didn't pitch so well against the first two batters was because he was blinded.
• The soundtrack to the dispute between the managers and the umps in the ninth inning. From where we were, we couldn't even tell what the dispute was about, but when Terry Francona was up there arguing, they played "We Just Disagree" by Dave Mason. When Eric Wedge stormed back to the dugout, they played "I Fought the Law." It was amusing.