May 05 2010
Red Sox in Toronto
North of the border, Down Blue Jay’s Way
Photo by Kate
Some people might think it’s crazy to travel to a foreign country to see your favorite team play a game. Judging by the number of Red Sox jerseys at the Rogers Centre last week in Toronto, I would say that is not the case for the members of Red Sox Nation. On Monday and Wednesday, I was treated to the sights and sounds of Red Sox fans drowning out the cheers of the home team fans. People were ordering “bee-ah” from the concessions stands and “wickeds” were flying through the air.
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Toronto is a great place to catch a Sox game, and there are plenty of nice options for getting there from Boston. I highly recommend Porter Airlines, which now flies daily from Boston to the T Dot, and lands in the amazingly convenient City Center airport, which is a stone’s throw from the Rogers Centre. Also consider flying into Buffalo for a cheap domestic fare, and renting a car to make the 2-hour drive to Toronto, which will lead you right through Niagara Falls and Ontario’s Wine Country.
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The Rogers Center (“SkyDome” to the locals), has its pluses and minuses as a venue. When the dome is closed, something just feels a bit off; the players look to be part of a poorly animated video game, running around with no shadows under their feet from the ubiquitous white tv light. And it seems like someone on the visiting team always takes some sort of embarrassing spill on the astro-turf. On the plus side, though, games at the Dome will never be rained out, and when the armadillo-like shell is open, the park is wonderfully shielded from the wind, and the CN tower looms above the park, dizzyingly awesome to behold from the first-base line.
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There are some fun cultural aspects to this lone MLB park north of the border; It’s nice to arrive early to hear the Canadian National Anthem, and see some of the players on the jumbotron singing along to the lines in French. Then there’s the great Canadian beers for sale, including Alexander Keith’s and Molson. Usually, you can find yourself some Kosher and veggie dogs somewhere in the park, catering to of all of Toronto’s multicultural fans. My favorite thing about games at the Rogers Centre, though, is that you can always count on the fans to start The Wave. Somehow, it seems like a truly Canadian cheer, one in which everyone works together to produce something larger than the sum of its parts.
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See: The CN Tower, next door to the Rogers Center; The Hockey Hall of Fame, a few city blocks east, which will likely have more Toronto fans inside it than the Blue Jays game you’re going to.
Say: “How ’bout them Jays, eh?”
Eat: Terroni, downtown location (or venture out to the location on Queen West if you’re looking for a hipper neighborhood)
Stay: For a non-stop baseball experience, The Renaissance Hotel is part of the Rogers Centre complex, and has rooms that overlook the ball park.
Kate lives and works in Chicago, IL. Her interests include fine arts, food and wine, and baseball.
Hey Kate—nice piece of writing.