Between games of a doubleheader, nice time to do some writing. (A twi-freakin'-night doubleheader! When was the last time that happened?)

While flipping channels, I saw a scene from a movie which took place at Fenway Park. The film turned out to be "Blown Away". So there was actual game footage from that spot everyone loves to film from, at the top of the grandstand between home and first. The movie was from '94, I should rent it and pause that part to see who some of the players were. I wonder if there's a list somewhere of all the movies Fenway has appeared in. Anyway, when they cut to the close up shot of Lloyd Bridges talking to a vendor (an actor with a Harry M. Stevens hat; that was the vending company before Aramark, I think), I could immediately tell that they were NOT in Fenway Park, despite all the extras wearing Red Sox T-shirts.

This reminded me of how ever since I was little, I could see a picture of a baseball player, like on a baseball card or sticker, and figure out what park the picture was taken in. Obviously, you can just look for a home uniform, but I'm talkin' about a visiting player, with no players on the other team in the picture. It always seemed like most pictures for cards were taken in yankee Stadium. I swear, for the '81 Topps Sticker Album, they must've just gone to The Bronx on a day the Mariners were in town, and took a shot of every dude on the Seattle team.

yankee Stadium was easy to tell, with the silver bars separating the boxes, the blue seats, and the wall outlets in the dugouts. Old Comiskey had the green seats with yellow railings. Every park had a telltale sign that gave it away.

Today, it's almost as easy, although I haven't gotten to know all the new parks yet. Only today, I'll have a better chance of figuring out the stadium than the player's name. Baseball cards were a great way to learn the players by their faces. That and the fact that players actually stayed with one team for more than a year at a time meant that by age 7, I knew every player on every major league team by their face, whereas now I pretty much just know the Red Sox and yankees.

Moving on, Lys and I went up to Northampton, Mass this weekend for a concert. We stayed over Friday night, and today, Saturday, we headed downtown, and to our surprise, the Gay Pride parade was just about to start. This was the second time we'd attended this annual event, and both times we had no idea it was going to happen. We always seem to walk right into huge events by accident when we travel.

It was great to be among people who share our views on equality and tolerance, as well as lots of Sox fans. It was practically a yankee fan-free day up there. (I know it's Massachusetts, but it's 1 1/2 hours from Boston, and 2 1/2 from NYC, so you never know.)

While up there, I bought a book by the makers of Found magazine. It's basically a book full of notes and pictures and whatever else that people have found on the ground around the country and world. Some of these things are hilarious. Check it out if you want.