Playing Nicely With Others

I’m sure I’ve said it before. I love the way all the Boston area sports teams seem to get along with each other. I think the cross promotion is great. It makes it a lot more fun for fans that are, naturally, fans of most of the local teams.

I think it’s great when the Red Sox home opener features players from other sports throwing out the first pitch. Was there a better scene than the World Champion NE Patriots suddenly appearing from under a giant flag? Or, the collection of former champions from the three other teams?

I liked it when the Red Sox wore green jerseys to honor Red Auerbach. I love the good luck messages to the Bruins and the Celtics that appeared on the wall behind home plate. It’s great that they show the Bruins scores on the scoreboard during games. It is really neat that the ownership groups at least appear to be one big happy family.

And, the players get into the act as well. Groups of Red Sox players have been known to show up at Celtics games. Other sports stars will find their way into seats at Fenway. I’m ever sure if those players are there as actual fans, or if they’re team appearances. But, in either case, it’s fun to see them all having fun with each other.

But, I still think it’s weird to change a game time. So fans can watch a game of another sport. On television.

I can understand if the other game was in Boston as well. It makes sense to tweak start times a bit. It will help with traffic. Maybe allow a fan to attend both games. I could see shifting a start time an hour or so just to make things a little easier. Maybe start the game at six instead of seven. That would allow fans to catch the last half of the Bruins game. I bet the local bars would love it. How many fans would flood out of Fenway directly into a bar to try and catch the end of the hockey game? (Ok, I guess those bars don’t have a problem filling the place without the Bruins.) But shifting a game six hours? That not only really changes someone’s plans for their Saturday. It’s really too much time. A 1:10 start time should be over by 5:00. That’s three hours before the Bruins game starts. It seems like a drastic change for a television show.

Thankfully, I didn’t have any plans affected by the shift. I wasn’t planning on going to the game. Having the game on at 1:30 didn’t affect my day any more than having it on at 7:00. But, I bet it really messed with some people’s weekend.

Anyone have plans ruined by the time shift?