Boston's 11 Reunited

   This past weekend, 10 of my old high school buddies and I spent the weekend in Boston and went to a game at Fenway Park. We all had a great time, and thankfully, the city of Boston is still standing. No one was arrested or hospitalized, which in my mind, makes the whole venture an overwhelming success. It helped that the Red Sox won their game too.



Dustin Pedroia at bat

   We were part of the class of '92 (except for one of us). A couple of my friends I hadn't seen in over 20 years, and it was great to be able to catch up with all of them. It's funny how we all may look a bit older, but in many ways, we haven't really changed that much. So, being the numbers guy that I am, I felt compelled to compile some interesting staistics:

1. Marriage- 2 of us are not married. I am one of them. 1 divorced and re-married the same person.

2. Kids- Of the 11 of us, only one doesn't have kids. He also happened to be the valedictorian of our graduating class, so I guess that makes sense. One of us has five (yes that's the number 5) kids. The other 9 of us have a range of 1-3. The oldest of all our kids is 14, and the youngest is a couple of months. I wasn't able to compile enough information to make an accurate boy/girl ratio though.

3. Jobs- A perfect 100%. All of us are employed.

4. State of Residence- Florida (1), Virginia (1), Minnesota (1), Connecticut (1), New York (1), Massachusetts (6).

5. Smokers- 1 of us, and he's the one with 5 kids. Go figure.

6. Weight- I don't think any of us are at our ideal body weight, but I'd say 3 of us are hovering at or below the Mendoza Line.

7. Hair Loss- 5 of us could stand to join the Hair Club for Men. Thankfully, yours truly is not one of them (yet).

8. Beer Lovers- After Friday night, I think I can safely say that we are 100% in this category as well.

   The real highlight of the trip (other than running through the streets yelling "Free Tom Brady!"), was the Red Sox game. They won 6-3, but not before adding in some of that good old fashioned Red Sox drama they are so famous for. With a 6-3 lead in the 8th inning, Matt Barnes came in and walked the bases loaded with no outs. Enter Brad Ziegler. Ziegler not only got the Sox out of the jam, he struck out the side in 10 pitches, all of them went for strikes. The crowd went crazy, and the Red Sox picked up a very important win to go one game back of the division-leading Orioles.

   Aside from a couple of travel delays getting into Boston, the trip for me was an absolute blast. There are already mumblings of another get-together sometime next year, with a couple of possible additions to our already healthy sized entourage. The goal would be to make this an annual event, and given how easy it was to get everyone together for this one, I'm guessing it won't be another 24 years before we are together again. Until then...