Hoorah for Silly Boston Holidays

Bay Staters (and Mainers and Cheese Staters) celebrate Patriot's Day, which is April 17 this year. This day commemorates the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the first battles of the American Revolution. Although this holiday signifies the beginning of this nation, might there be a reason why only three states celebrate this holiday? I don't think anyone honestly cares about these battles. It's just another day for the locals to get drunk and show their irrational sports pride. The Boston Marathon is traditionally on Patriot's Day, as is an afternoon Red Sox game at Fenway. (My last blog was about the stupid baseball team. By even writing about them, I've lowered myself to the level of the fans. To redeem myself, I will not even call the team by its name.)

Nonetheless, Lawrence and I get the day off, so we're not really complaining. I just see it as one more day we get to screw the local economy over by still getting paid and being economically unproductive. In the grand scheme of things, our lack of productivity probably has no real effect on Boston at all. Still, I somehow feel as if I've scored one against Boston. Slowly but surely I'm going to beat this city, one strike at a time. :)

Note: I suppose it just keeps me sane to know I have no true loyalty to the city and thus can "strike" against it and remain a true New Yorker at heart. I am certainly having delusions of grandeur thinking I can somehow beat the city. I don't even know what I'd be beating it at. :)

A Directionless Rant on Stupid Boston

Some time this week, the Red Sox had their season home opener. About half the office left at midday to watch the game at a sports bar, and this was seen as perfectly acceptable! Last week was the team's season opener, and all life in Boston, with the exception of the universities which have normal, non-native people, was put on hold to watch every pitch thrown and ball hit. The people in this town are completely irrational. They eat, sleep, and dream Red Sox, and frankly I'm sick of it. It's the only thing people consistently talk about in the office. No seems to care that Iran has strengthened its nuclear capabilities, that everyday our nation loses more soldiers in an endless Iraqi war, or that unemployment is at 50% for African-American males. No, all anyone cares about is that some Red Sox pitcher whose name I don't even remember got traded. (My forgetting of the pitcher's name, by the way, is utter sacrilege here.)

With spring in Boston comes baseball season. Just when the weather's getting warmer and the city finally has something going for it, the Red Sox fans rear their ugly heads. And the season has just started! Let's hope the team doesn't make the playoffs. Not only will I stop hearing about the team as much, but the fans will be miserable. :) (Notice how I said I won't be hearing "as much" once the season is over. In the middle of January, more of the nightly news was still dedicated to the Red Sox than any other story, sports or otherwise, during the entire broadcast. It's just sick.) I don't generally take pleasure in others' pain- just Red Sox fans'. Still, just when baseball ends, football begins. I guess it just goes to show that there isn't really any pleasant time in Boston where the natives aren't acting unbelievably irrational. It's either warm with the Red Sox, cool with the Patriots, or just damn cold with chairs and other trash saving street parking spots.