Ducks and balls

WATERTOWN/BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS

Could I be the good luck charm? My ego would like to think so. Two of the three times I've been in Boston, their baseball team the Red Sox has made it to the World Series (i.e., the set of games that determines the year's champion). The Red Sox in the Series is a Big Deal here, becuase for much of the team's existence when it got to the playoff stage it dropped dead nearly at the finish line, coming home with nothing save painful memories of a collapsed season. This changed, seemingly forever, in 2004 when they beat my favorite team, the New York Yankees, in a playoff series they had no right to win (hey, I'm biased) and advanced to victory in the Series.

The city is Red Sox-mad now. The team is a constant and enduring topic of conversation, and everything will come to a head tonight - the Series starts this evening, and the first two games are at the Sox's home of Fenway Park.

Fenway's a great stadium; unlike most other professional sports facilities in this country it's actually in the heart of its city. It's a grand old box of a structure with a famously towering wall in left field (appropriately named The Green Monster) and a lot of Ye Olde Baseball atmosphere. I saw it yesterday because I took the Duck Tour.

The what?

A "Duck" is the nickname for a DUKW, an innovative land/sea assault truck used extensively in World War II to land troops on beaches unreachable by conventional landing craft. Several of these sturdy vehicles made it through the horrors of war into easy semi-retirement as tourist buses in Boston. The idea behind utilizing these crafts for tourists - besides the certain cost advantages - is that the tour route can incorporate water. So the Ducks drive around the areas of interest in the city, then dip into the Charles River for a while, then finish their route on dry land and road.

Boston's a windy place and rain was threatening yesterday, so the Coast Guard slammed a big no down on the aquatic parts of the Duck Tours. Which didn't really matter; even without the water, the Ducks paddle along for a good two hours past all the famous Boston sites. Prudential Center, Beacon Hill, the Common, the State House (whose front gate only opens when the governor leaves office, when troops are decomissioned, or when the President visits), Fenway, etc. etc. etc. Of particular interest to history geeks like me were the many Revolutionary War Paul-Revere-Rode-Here places. Paul Revere did, in fact, take his famous ride down the main street in Charlestown (across the river from Boston proper), although your history books lie - he actually warned that "the REGULARS were coming", i.e. the Army. As everyone in town considered themselves British at the time, the famous words "the British are coming" wouldn't have meant anything.

Today is gray and the clouds look pregnant; the important thing this means for Boston on this special day is, uh-oh, the Game might be rained out. And the city really, really wants their Red Sox.

During the Duck tour yesterday, as we cruised through the alleys surrounding Fenway, we saw a line of tents occupied by hopeful fans aiming to get some of the tickets the team holds for release just before game time. My favorite was the guy with a sign behind his tent reading "no photographs please - my boss thinks I'm sick".

For his sake alone, I hope the weather dries up for the game.