2012 schedule nugget...(hint, JCA will be happy...)

[MarquisDeSade]

Just wear Nats gear.

Hey, I'm wearing my red Nats hat today.   

[Coladar]

I guess worse case scenario, if it's cheap enough, I'll just fly up. But likewise, I think it would be a great way of doing a meetup by going up together via the chartered bus, depending on cost versus flying. Driving... That's a long two way drive over two days time. I'd really like to keep working on this if enough are interested, so if you'd be interested in taking a charter depending on cost, please say so and I will look into it if there are enough yes.

As far as seats go, that's more up in the air. Considering the time involved to get there, I won't settle for less than behind Nats dugout first ten-twenty rows depending on cost. We can just buy groups or four or more seats in the same section and handle it that way.

But I am dead serious about this and won't be backing out or changing my mind. I've always wanted to go Fenway, who knows how much longer it'll be here. It possible, although unlikely, the Nats mau not play a regular season game here again. If they can do away with Yankee Stadium, no place is safe. Bottom line, I will be going to this series, and I think it'd be great to get as many Nats fans to go up there with us to "take over" (hah, right) but put on the biggest show of support possible, and at the same time have a forum meetup by chartering a bus and hopefully if I can pay the fees in addition to the tickets to charter our own bus, have it be an easy, care free, and cheap way of getting to Fenway for the game. So again, if you'd be willing to go via cheap bus fare, post here and then I will look into it.

[MarquisDeSade]

As far as seats go, that's more up in the air. Considering the time involved to get there, I won't settle for less than behind Nats dugout first ten-twenty rows depending on cost.

Probably be around $3-500/seat according to a scalper friend of mine. 

[Minty Fresh]

their public transit is called the T, and it's a mixture of trolley and subways, rats and hobo piss. It's not pretty nice. The worst thing about Boston is that the hotels are outrageously expensive. It's a pleasure otherwise, beautiful town, lots to do and great food the people totally fit the sterotype, part and parcel, therefore it's difficult to find any good conversation unless you're on one of the campuses of the many fine universities they have there.

Fixed.

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

ha ha, and let's not even get started about the Charles River spring whitefish run...

Fixed.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

F.U. Cat on the whitefish.  Hasn't been that way for years.  Big clean up efforts on the Charles. Yes, it has combined sewers, but the overflows are only in very big storms (I forget the design storm now). But for the natural turbidity, the Charles River Basin would be swimmable most of the summer.There was talk about putting up filter curtains in the water around Magazine Beach to restore swimming, but I think it was a budget casualty during Romney time.

I think demand for tickets has gone down over the peak, at least according to several articles the past few years (2009 playoffs and since).  The scalpers do not sell below cost to avoid undercutting the market but you can get very close to cost sometimes from Ace Ticket.  The Red Sox still have their sellout streak going since 2003. 

The problem with 6/8-10 is that is right around college graduation season, so hotels might even be more booked than usual.

I can do the drive taking off from DC around 6 AM on a Friday and get in at 3:30, with my multiple pit stops and my traditional lunch / ice cream / tea in New Haven. If you had a better bladder, ate fast food, and avoided the detour, you could probably do the trip in <9 hours.

Flying is very reasonable.  Southwest flies direct to Logan now out of Marshall (if you make me call National Reagan, then I'm making you call BWI Marshall), along with AirTrani. you also have JetBlue out of Dulles.  The NorthEast Regional by Amrak is not much cheaper.  The last train back from Boston on Saturday night I think takes off around 10 AM from south station and 3 miutes later from a station closer to the ball park (Back Bay/Copley).  That's too early for a night game.   

The T serves Fenway and Kenmore Stations, and there bus serves Kenmore.  All within a couple of blocks of Fenway.

[Coladar]

So what, the goal is we just drove up there? Bus is totally our of the debate now? Not a big deal as long as it's only 8.5ish, but you lose the communist binding and crap. And I don't have to worry about my car getting stolen/lost. But we will see. I just know I am excited and want to get the foundations laid for this puppy early as far as travel.

[CALSGR8]

I'M up for a bus ride.  Its just ticket and hotel availability that is my concern.   I know the Acela goes to Boston as well but do not know cost.

Some tour companies will make an individual tour for a specific group.  I went to COOPERSTOWN with Sports Travel and tours to see Cal get inducted.   Did a pretty once job although we stayed in Albany.  I can enquire.

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

All of the major urban rivers on the Atlantic seaboard are a hell of a lot cleaner than they used to be.  The Potomac and Hudson rivers used to make the Charles look like a glass of Evian, and neither is all that bad these days.  The Anacostia (which obviously feeds into the Potomac) still turns into an open sewer after a rainstorm, but the total flow is small and the impact is pretty local. 

I'm up in Boston/Cambridge every so often for work, and I can't believe how much cleaner the place is than when I went to school there.  The Necco factory still made candy then, and there were frigging rivers of yellowjacket-covered sugar syrup running down the gutters.  Now it is full of granite & stainless lofts.
The trains used to dump their tanks right after the Mass Ave railroad crossing, which wasn't too bad in the winter since you'd end up with a Greenland-size mass of rock-hard frozen crap and toilet paper strewn along the railroad ties, but which in the spring would turn into a septic bog that ran all the way across Cambridge.  Now there are outdoor cafes built into the warehouses that used to run along the tracks, so evidently hepatitis is no longer a going concern.       

 
 

 

F.U. Cat on the whitefish.  Hasn't been that way for years.  Big clean up efforts on the Charles. Yes, it has combined sewers, but the overflows are only in very big storms (I forget the design storm now). But for the natural turbidity, the Charles River Basin would be swimmable most of the summer.There was talk about putting up filter curtains in the water around Magazine Beach to restore swimming, but I think it was a budget casualty during Romney time.

I think demand for tickets has gone down over the peak, at least according to several articles the past few years (2009 playoffs and since).  The scalpers do not sell below cost to avoid undercutting the market but you can get very close to cost sometimes from Ace Ticket.  The Red Sox still have their sellout streak going since 2003. 

The problem with 6/8-10 is that is right around college graduation season, so hotels might even be more booked than usual.

I can do the drive taking off from DC around 6 AM on a Friday and get in at 3:30, with my multiple pit stops and my traditional lunch / ice cream / tea in New Haven. If you had a better bladder, ate fast food, and avoided the detour, you could probably do the trip in <9 hours.

Flying is very reasonable.  Southwest flies direct to Logan now out of Marshall (if you make me call National Reagan, then I'm making you call BWI Marshall), along with AirTrani. you also have JetBlue out of Dulles.  The NorthEast Regional by Amrak is not much cheaper.  The last train back from Boston on Saturday night I think takes off around 10 AM from south station and 3 miutes later from a station closer to the ball park (Back Bay/Copley).  That's too early for a night game.   

The T serves Fenway and Kenmore Stations, and there bus serves Kenmore.  All within a couple of blocks of Fenway.

[Minty Fresh]

I'M up for a bus ride.  Its just ticket and hotel availability that is my concern.   I know the Acela goes to Boston as well but do not know cost.

Some tour companies will make an individual tour for a specific group.  I went to COOPERSTOWN with Sports Travel and tours to see Cal get inducted.   Did a pretty once job although we stayed in Albany.  I can enquire.

I was at Cal's as well.  Though I don't need a hotel for Cooperstown, that's only a buck-fifteen from my house!  Next time you're up lemme know!

I'll be going to Biggio's once he gets in.

[Minty Fresh]

All of the major urban rivers on the Atlantic seaboard are a hell of a lot cleaner than they used to be.  The Potomac and Hudson rivers used to make the Charles look like a glass of Evian, and neither is all that bad these days.  The Anacostia (which obviously feeds into the Potomac) still turns into an open sewer after a rainstorm, but the total flow is small and the impact is pretty local. 

I'm up in Boston/Cambridge every so often for work, and I can't believe how much cleaner the place is than when I went to school there.  The Necco factory still made candy then, and there were frigging rivers of yellowjacket-covered sugar syrup running down the gutters.  Now it is full of granite & stainless lofts.
The trains used to dump their tanks right after the Mass Ave railroad crossing, which wasn't too bad in the winter since you'd end up with a Greenland-size mass of rock-hard frozen crap and toilet paper strewn along the railroad ties, but which in the spring would turn into a septic bog that ran all the way across Cambridge.  Now there are outdoor cafes built into the warehouses that used to run along the tracks, so evidently hepatitis is no longer a going concern.       

I'm witcha on all that, but Fenway's still a dump.

[CALSGR8]

I was at Cal's as well.  Though I don't need a hotel for Cooperstown, that's only a buck-fifteen from my house!  Next time you're up lemme know!

I'll be going to Biggio's once he gets in.

Funny I didn't see you among the other 79k that were there!  LOL!  Thanks! I may take you up on that sometime!

Actually would a trip thru Cooperstown on the way be possible?    Hmmmm.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

http://www.epa.gov/region1/charles/index.html

The Charles River, which flows 80 miles through Massachusetts, from Hopkinton to Boston Harbor, is one of New England's crown jewels. One of the busiest recreational rivers in the world, the lower Charles is lined with boat houses, jogging paths, sports fields and performance facilities that are used by hundreds of thousands of city dwellers each year.

The Charles River has exhibited ecological problems stemming from human-induced pollution, and EPA has responded with a long-term effort to improve water quality and overall ecological health for the river. This effort began in 1995 and has continued to this day, bringing together the concentrated and coordinated effort of EPA, the State of Massachusetts, local officials and citizens, and concerned volunteer and citizen organizations.

Much progress has been made to reduce bacterial contamination in the Charles; however, the river continues to suffer from excessive levels of nutrients, most notably phosphorus in storm water run off.

Nice explanation and links to the Charles River Initiative, the CSO efforts, and the report card on the river's health.  

Oh, love that dirty water!

[Count Walewski]

I went to school in Boston, it would be nice to go up there, see the Nats play, and maybe re-connect with friends who still live there.

On the other hand, I would have to interact with Red Sox and Patriots fans.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

On the other hand, I would have to interact with Red Sox and Patriots fans.

Well, we infest many parts of the country, so don't think you are immune, even on a Nats board.  Like bedbugs.

[MarquisDeSade]

So what, the goal is we just drove up there?

We could rent a mini-bus or charter one, depending on costs. 

Well, we infest many parts of the country, so don't think you are immune, even on a Nats board.

Even in LA I ran into insufferable Baaaaaaaastan fans.  If not for the hot chicks, party favours and weather they might have brought down my buzz.

[Terpfan76]

We could rent a mini-bus or charter one, depending on costs.  

Even in LA I ran into insufferable Baaaaaaaastan fans.  If not for the hot chicks, party favours and weather they might have brought down my buzz.

VW Microbus? ROAD TRIP!! I could always see if we could use a D.O.C. van...

[CALSGR8]

Checking with Sports Tours.  They said the final schedule really doesn't come out until September.  Even then, sometimes things change over the winter, so they don't like to plan THIS far in advance.  Who knows they may even have a tour that's already going that weekend and won't have to make one up for us.  I know they once had a trip to Fenway and back from Baltimore once.  Forget how much it cost though!

[PatsNats28]

I'm definitely going to one of those games.

[Busta Mimes]

so does anyone know the Nats home/road IL games for '12?  I looked and could not find.

[MarquisDeSade]

I don't know but your username is pretty badass.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

I think we get the AL East.  Boston on the road, NYY here.  It's roughly a 6 yer cycle, so we are due to get the NYY here.

[Busta Mimes]

I don't know but your username is pretty badass.

TYVM

[Busta Mimes]

Tropicana Field here I come!  Not!

[DPMOmaha]

Tropicana Field here I come!  Not!

Still waiting for that appearance in Kaufmann Stadium...