My View of the 25-Run 4-Hour Marathon


Image courtesy of LJ’s Twitpic

There’s nothing quite like a slugfest, but sometimes it’s the game within the game which really takes on a life of its own.

I won’t comment too much about what happened on the field because most of you saw it unravel on television. If you thought it seemed like forever to watch from home, then you should have been there at the Rogers Centre.

I’m all for an exciting back and forth game, but that game made me feel like I aged ten years. I wish I had a stopwatch because at one point, it seemed like Josh Beckett was taking 15 seconds to come set between each pitch. 


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Aside from what happened on the field, what I do want to touch on, is my experience at the ballpark.

To begin, I sat down in my seat only to find I was surrounded by Red Sox fans. I mean I was literally surrounded … they were to the left, the right, behind and in front of me. I was convinced there were more Red Sox fans than Blue Jays Fans in my section.

Immediately I noticed the Jays fans were outnumbered, but the hometown crowd was much much louder than the visitors. Kudos to the hecklers sitting in section 114; I tip my cap to you. Not only were you consistent with your heckles, but you made it interactive and fun for everyone.

Since the dome was so quiet, I’m sure you probably heard them loud and clear on the radio or television broadcast. Some of my personal favourites were:

  • “Nice turtleneck, Beckett!”
  • “March 15th was a horrible day!” (alluding to Youkilis’ birthday)
  • “Scutaro, did they give you a booster seat for the dugout?”
  • “It’s 9:30!”(You probably heard about that on Jays Talk)

Even more impressive was that there was a female heckler, the first I’ve ever encountered. She was the loudest of them all, and proceeded to lay into Josh Beckett and Kevin Youkilis all game long.

Another funny thing was back to back instances where a man sitting about 15 rows up in section 113A failed to catch a foul ball because he was too busy enjoying his nachos. To add insult to injury, of all sports paraphernalia to wear to the Rogers Centre, he was sporting a Phoenix Suns jersey. After being ridiculed for missing two foul balls, he proceeded to stand for the final three innings of the game, probably in fear that he’d miss another chance to snag a ball.

Another interesting fan I noticed in the section next to us was a gentlemen who took it upon himself to wear a paper bag over his head which said “Go Leafs Go”. It must be bad when Leafs fans can’t even go to another sporting event without concealing their identity.

All in all, it was a great game. It would have been a hell of a lot better if the Jays had won, but unfortunately that’s the way they go sometimes. I’m inclined to say that last night’s 13-12 loss was actually more fun to watch and be at than the Home Opener.

There may have been only 13,000 fans there last night, however most of them were there to take in a great ballgame and not to merely join in the drunken fraternizing.


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Ian Hunter

Ian has been writing about the Toronto Blue Jays since 2007. He enjoyed the tail-end of the Roy Halladay era and vividly remembers the Alex Rodriguez "mine" incident. He'll also retell the story of Game 5 of the 2015 ALDS to his kids for the next 20 years.

5 thoughts on “My View of the 25-Run 4-Hour Marathon

  • April 27, 2010 at 6:12 pm
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    Awesome writeup, Ian. Glad to know Torontonians, even our fantastic females, our heckling the hell out of the Red Sox.

  • April 27, 2010 at 6:22 pm
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    Not a lot of Red Sox fans in the 500s where I was. The heckler behind us was screaming his head off the entire 4 hours of the game, mostly "Hey, (insert Sox player name here)! You suck! Go do some roids with Papi!"

    I can't believe no one has hit on calling Kevin Youkilis "Kevin Puke-ilis" yet. We should start that.

    Fun game but exhausting!

  • April 27, 2010 at 6:34 pm
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    Great post. Thanks for taking us through the experience. Watching on tv wasn't as interesting as what you described. Awesome that Toronto fans are becoming some of the loudest in the league, regardless of the temporary smaller numbers.

  • April 27, 2010 at 7:26 pm
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    I've been to every Jays home opener since 1993…that is until last year when my wife and I had a son.

    I'd really like to get to a game soon, the idea that the players can really hear heckling as clear as day has me salivating.

  • April 27, 2010 at 8:00 pm
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    eyebleaf, oh … they gave it to the Red Sox. At one point, the girl was even heckling Red Sox first base coach Ron Johnson, and the guy was heckling first base ump Fieldin Culbreth (yes, the guy's name is Fieldin).

    Anon, that reminds me … did you hear Andrew do the roll call at the beginning of the game where he said hello to almost every player on the Blue Jays roster? "HI AARON HILL! HI JEREMY ACCARDO! HI ADAM LIND! HI VERNON WELLS! HI LYLE OVERBAY!"

    Mattt, if you listened closely I'm sure you could probably pick up the hecklers in our section. They were so loud and the stadium was so empty that it carried across the dome.

    Peter D, if you're looking to get your heckle on, I highly suggest going to one of the night games during the week. The players will hear you loud and clear and you can verbally accost them to your heart's content!

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