This story reads like it was edited by a BoSox fan!
BOSTON (AP) — It was held at the home of Red Sox Nation, but the thousands gathered in the seats were there to swear allegiance to an even larger and more powerful nation.
The Oath of Citizenship was taken at Fenway Park by 3,082 immigrants Wednesday as they became the country’s newest Americans.
It was the first ever naturalization ceremony at the home of the Green Monster and the World Champion Boston Red Sox, who were in Florida to play the Tampa Bay Rays.
Flanked by the Red Sox’s two recent World Championship trophies, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino welcomed the immigrants to their new country. “You all came here because you wanted hope and promises for a better future,” he told the crowd.
Hmm, or did a BoSox fan edit it?
How do you like this piece?
Massachusetts Army National Guard Spc. Udo Gonzalez, originally from the Dominican Republic, said he had hoped to become an American citizen before he was deployed to Iraq.
“I wanted that flag on the casket,” said Gonzalez, a 33-year-old father of five who got back in April.
By the way, I went to the House that Ruth Built one last time. Yankees won 5 – 1, with homers from A-Rod and Damon. They were playing the Whitesox and I got to see Ken Griffey jr play for the first time.
Well, that piece would be the version that ran on the Massachusetts AP wire. However for a national story I like the one I linked to better. 😉
What did you think of Fenway? I am not one of those nostalgic people who thinks it is a great ballpark. Yes it has its history and its charms, but is it a good, *functional* place to watch a ballgame? Maybe if you’re paying for the real expensive tickets, but for seats priced in the $40 range or so Yankee Stadium — the current Yankee Stadium they’re tearing down — is so much better. You can still get a good view in the upper deck of Yankee Stadium, unlike Fenway which has no decks. And because the stadium is so small, every game is a sellout and scalping tickets is prohibitively expensive. It was going to be like $200 each for tickets to the Red Sox/White Sox game on Labor Day. And that is for bleacher seats!
I had great seats and the view was perfect. It seemed like there weren’t too many bad seats, but I don’t know what they cost. True I wouldn’t want to spend $40 to sit out in the outfield and I guess that is probably what they go for. At yank stadium this year the outfield bleachers are still close to $15.
Next year, yankees raise their prices, so it will be an entirely different situation. But there will still be cheap seats at Yank stadium far away from the action. But great seats will be as much as $2,500 per game. Crazy, huh?