Sunday, December 12, 2010

YS Fallout

Went to Fenway today. Sadly, no more Yard Sale. They screwed us on that one. I can't be the only one was was confused about this. It really stinks that some 15-year old doofus who off-handedly decided to receive Twitter updates from the Red Sox saw the message yesterday that the Yard Sale was going on, went there, and bought stuff. While a real fan like me looks right at the same message, but figures it has to be a mistake, since the team had previously stated that the Yard Sale was for Xmas @ Fenway winners only, and doesn't even go--although if I lived closer I could have stopped by just in case. In fact, I might have just gone anyway, but I'd just done the same drive late the night before--AND I knew I'd have to do it again the next day had they really meant that the Yard Sale for non-winners was Sunday (like in previous years). People who don't pay attention were rewarded. People who do overthought it and lost out. All the other stuff aside, if their stupid Tweets had just specified that the sale was open to the general public, I'd still be pissed at them for using that as the only method of notification, but at least I would have gone, and the cottony feel of a game-used Dwayne Hosey/Wayne Housie jersey in my hands right now would have long since washed away the previous pain.

But like I said, I ended up at Fenway today anyway. Kim was selling soaps in Boston (which is why I drove up Friday night, to help her load in), so I went up there, sat parked on a rainy Yawkey Way from about 1 to 2 just in case, and then went and helped Kim and loaded her out. As I left Fenway, all sad with the rain hiding my tears, I stopped at a soda machine and pressed the button clearly marked "Coke" for a $2 pick-me-up. And what came out, but a diet Coke. I stood there in the wind and cold drizzle, staring at this beverage whose taste sickens me. Instead of taking my anger out on the machine like a normal person, I took that diet fuckin' Coke out, threw it up in the air as high as I could, and walked to my car as it fell to earth behind me, its fizzy contents spewing forth and doing the no-pants dance with the raindrops. Or at least I assume they did, for I did not look back. In retrospect, giving the drink to a homeless person might have been more productive. But that diet Coke needed to die. Hopefully somebody picked up what was left of the corpse later and got some refreshment out of it.

I did go in to the Yawkey Way Store, and there were two racks of Crawford 13 shirts--one was completely empty. So they're sellin' a lot of those. AdrGonza should pick a number, eh?

Two paragraphs ago, I spoke a little bit about diet Coke. Let's revisit that topic. It really does taste disgusting. The only time I ever drank it was back in the late 80s. Our neighbors owned the bowling alley and always had a stockpile of candy bars and soda at their house. That soda, unfortunately, was usually diet Coke. It was free. So I held by nose and drank it. The Nerds and candy bars would help to wash away the thin, nasal, your-soda-is-like-bad-medicine-y taste. You see, there's the difference: Give me a free diet Coke in an era before I could drive and get my own alternative, and, fine, I'll take a few sips between bike rides. But charge me $2 for something I do want, and then secretly give me diet Coke instead? Fuck you.

Comments:
I do remember now that one time that second day of the Yard Sale was on a weekday. Checked my archives, and it was on a Monday in '08. But I looked in there today and it looked like all the stuff was gone. I guess they just moved "day 2" to day 1 this year. And didn't make it at all clear.
 
Next year I'm just going to go anyway. Seems so haphazard that they wouldn't just say "anyone can come" - and they wouldn't answer my damn tweet on Saturday.
 
In '08 the Yard Sale was Sunday with 2nd chance on Monday. I remember that clearly, and probably always will, because I missed out on it - the one day of the year I didn't check my email before bed - and it bugged me for the whole next year. My father was in the hospital in Maine, and I was at home Saturday trying to get the Opening Day pack. Terrible luck in the VWR, and I couldn't get any windows to pop. I saw that the OD pack was sold out completely by 3 pm, or at least that's what the message said. But I stayed right there, determined not to give up until I got through and saw it myself. Finally got through at 6:30, 8.5 hours in, and somehow got the OD pack. (My guess was that they held some back for the people who were there and person, and put the leftovers up when that ended at 5.) Anyway, I was happy I got the tickets so I took a shower, jumped in the car, and drove to the hospital in Maine. Logged on from the room there on Sunday to get my September tickets. Drove back late Sunday, exhausted, and went to bed w/o checking email, which I never do. It wasn't till I got home from work Monday night at 6, that I saw I could have gone in to Fenway by 5. Then I came here and read about how cool it was, and spent the next year pissed off about it.
 
In '09 I was so determined to go that I took the Monday off from work just in case, and had plans Sunday to go to my friend's house for my godson's birthday party. Just before I was ready to leave, I got the 2nd chance email, sent my regrets to my friend and her son, and finally got to go.

It makes sense they'd do the 2nd chance on the same day because they don't want to have to drag everyone back in there for another day. And I guess I can see why they'd want to do it all on the Saturday for the same reason, although I don't like combining it with the regular thing and I don't like it potentially being too early for me to leave the house if I don't have my tickets yet.

The point though is that they need to make it clear ahead of time, through actual whole sentences, not a handful of characters, using as many means as possible what the deal is. I don't do Twitter, but if they told me ahead of time that that was the only way to get info, I'd sign up.

For next year, I'm going to assume that the 2nd chance is the afternoon of the same day again, and just go in. In '09, they asked to see my 2nd chance email; this year they just said Hi and waved toward the boxes of stuff.
 
The extra crappy art was how there wasn't even a "you lost" e-mail. I felt completely ignored...
 
I have a friend who is actually addicted to Diet Coke. He drinks at least two liters of the stuff every day. I try not to think about it, because my opinion of the stuff is the same as yours.
 

Post a Comment

If you're "anonymous," please leave a name, even if it's a fake one, for differentiation purposes.

If you're having trouble commenting, try signing in to whatever account you're using first, then come back here once you're signed in.



<< Home

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?

My Photo
Name:
Location: Rhode Island, United States