Julianna Mariani ‘24
Chief of Fenway Park

If you’ve ever been to an MLB game, you know “The Wave” is a thing. But it’s not just any-thing, it’s the greatest-thing. Personally, I’m mesmerized every single time I experience one. This Saturday was different though. Different because I made it happen. Now, it’s no secret that Boston has the best fan base. Bruins, Celtics, Pats and Sox; we’re the coolest, drippiest, swaggiest people. I’m not going to lie to you all and say that I actually know anything about sports, but I will ALWAYS hype up my teams. Considering my affinity for sports is a smidge fake, I rarely volunteer to watch games, but you can’t pass up an opportunity to go to one when it’s offered. That’s why, when my friends suggested we go into Boston this past Saturday to see the Sox play, I couldn’t say no. Who would?

Taking the train from Worcester to Fenway is shockingly easy, so much so that I don’t think we have any choice but to do this every weekend from now until baseball ends. Kidding! … Kind of. But for real, I actually have a reason to go now. I have to see how many rounds we can get “The Wave” to last. You might be saying, “Um… Julianna? Don’t you mean your reason to go should be to watch your beloved Sox play?” And to that I would respond with… no. Baseball is fun for the first inning and a half, but there are NINE of them. NINE! For what purpose? If you’re losing at the end of the third, I really think we can just call it a day. God knows baseball season is long enough that there’ll be plenty of opportunities for redemption. In total, I think I watched seven plays throughout the entirety of the three hour game. That’s the equivalent of about 15 minutes. I know, I know, I’m pathetic. But I just can’t get into it. 

Anyway, due to the sheer boredom that I endure during a decent amount of ‘watching’ baseball, I have to find other ways to entertain myself. I went through almost every distraction possible: get chicken tenders, take seven bathroom breaks, buy merch, take pictures, people watch, try to win the dance-off, etc., etc. Eventually, I ran out of things to occupy myself with and tried to pay attention to the men standing around on an obscenely big field. Fascinating, I know. It certainly didn’t help that it was 400 degrees outside and we were deep into the nosebleeds. I swear I melted. The good thing about being in the nosebleeds though, is that everyone’s down to be entertained. So when starting “The Wave” was suggested, we had to do it. Somehow, our entire section of Fenway Park came together and started the most iconic wave I have ever seen. 

At the top of the seventh, the peak of the day, with the Sox winning, we bleacher people started a revolution. We screamed, we chanted, we brought that ballpark alive! The wave went on for almost fifteen rounds around the stadium. I was in AWE. My friends told me I looked like a kid in a candy shop, mesmerized by what was in front of me. It was incredible. I highly, highly recommend going to a baseball game (any will do) just to start a wave. I left that stadium feeling on top of the world, not because the Sox won (which they did, yay sports!) but because I had just experienced the GWOAT (Greatest Wave Of All Time).