Happy Patriots Day a day late!

Happy Patriots Day everybody! Ok, I know Patriots Day was yesterday, but I hope you enjoyed it, especially if you were one of those people lucky enough to get the day off. I was not one of those lucky people but my day at The Software Factory was not too bad. We are in the middle of ripping apart our lab to make way for some new equipment and that made the day go by quick.

In between cleaning up and untangling a spaghetti-like mass of ethernet wires and moving machines in and out of racks, I kept my eye on the Sox game using MLB.com Gameday.

It's funny to 'watch' a game on one of these internet game update web sites. People crowd around a computer and stare intensely at the screen, waiting for the web page to update and show you what's happing in the game.

When the Sox are on defense, people watch the pitch count and the strike zone and wait on pins and needles for the web page to update. Those who are actually doing work listen and wait for an update...

There is always one guy watching the computer screen giving the rest of us both the play by play and color analysis... "Ok. 3-2 count. Come on... Come on... You can do it... Strike this guy out... Heres the pitch... FUCK!"

The people who are working drop everything and come rushing over to the computer asking, "What happened??"

"Another foul!" the play by play / color guy will say.

"Dammit!!! Lets strike this fucker out," the people who are working will say as they go back to being productive.

Inevitably there will be something displayed on the web page like, "Hit! Ball in Play..." and everybody will get all excited and crowd close to the screen to see the result of the play.

This is the point where the web page's automatic update becomes excruciatingly slow and the wait becomes extremely agonizing. For some people, it's too much to take and they can't wait any longer.

They'll yell, "OK! Ball in play. So what happened, is it an out or is it a hit?? Did anybody score? WHAT'S GOING ON?!!" and they start hitting the web browser refresh button over and over again like crazy, as if doing that is going to make it show you what happened any faster.

"DUDE, what the FUCK! Give it second to update will ya?! You're gonna crash the stupid thing!!"

When the page finally updates and you find out what happened, everybody will yell or sigh or groan depending on the outcome of the play. It's almost as if we are really watching or listening to the game. People get into it.

Yes, insanity continues to run rampant in Red Sox Nation...

"Why can't we just have today off like those bastards in Boston so we can watch the game at a bar or something?"

My thoughts exactly...

Which reminds me, the first Red Sox game I ever attended was on Patriots Day. I was playing rugby back then and the whole rugby club got tickets to the Sox game. Other than sitting in the bleachers and having great fun watching the Sox win, I don't remember much else about the game because I was completely smashed out of my gourd. All I know is that I had a lot of fun.

We had a good time after the game too. The marathon was still going on and we stood around and watched the runners as they went by. One of the guys got a little over-enthusiastic and jumped in and started running along with the other marathon people. We never saw him again the rest of the day. I think he wound up running all the way to the end of the marathon...

The main thing remember about my first Red Sox game and Patriots Day was that it was a just great, fun day, although after the Sox game we did get get thrown out of one bar when somebody on the rugby team got into a bit of a scuffle... It did not turn into a full-on fight or anything, just some good clean friendly drunken pushing and shoving. No big deal.

Ahhh, youth...