Fighting My Way Into Fenway

Okay, so this is more of a sports topic rather than arts and entertainment, but I had to put it in here. Every year my parents, a friend of my choice, and I venture to Fenway to see a Red Sox Game. Usually we get tickets from a friend of my father's, but that has proven to be up in the air this year. In order to guarentee we have tickets and keep up with our yearly tradition, my father signed up to get tickets through the Red Sox Nation website. What he did not realize was the process of getting any Red Sox tickets.
After being denied early access, he was left to a pool of random ticket buyers. After signing in at exactly 12 noon today, he is sent to a "virtual waiting room" where ticket buyers are made to sit and watch their screen refresh every 15 seconds until they are brought to another page if chosen by random.
As my dad and I took turns sitting by his laptop with minimal hopes of every getting past this "Virtual Waiting Room" that greatly reminded me of the DMV wait line without the annoying people, "Sweet Caroline" by Neil Diamond came on IPOD as it played on shuffle. We had been sitting there for just about an hour, losing hope with each page refresh, and then the song rang through my IPOD speakers. Instantly my dad's face lit up because the song (besides being one of Neil Diamond's greatest hits) is the song of Red Sox Nation.
Now I have been watching baseball ever since I was a little girl, but as I got older "Sweet Caroline" seemed to get more and more popular with Red Sox fans and although I loved the song, could never figure out the significance behind it.
After some research I found out, it was the doing of Amy Tobey who directed the music during the games from 98-2004. It was first played spuratically between the 7th - 9th innings, but then became tradition to play at every home game during the 8th inning. Fans were encouraged by it, expected it and could recite every word soon after. It even made its way into the 2005 film with Jimmy Fallon and Drew Barrymore Fever Pitch.
So as the Diamond lyrics say: "Where it began
I can't begin to knowin'
But then I know it's growin' strong"
The tradition is def. growing strong amongst Red Sox Fans--young and old alike, as for family tradition, looks like we'll have to pray my dad's friend comes thru with tickets. As I was writing this my dad called from work and said his company blocked the website on their computers, so he wasted his lunch hour at home on his laptop because now he can't try to get tickets at work.

If you want more information on "Sweet Caroline" and the Red Sox, here's where I found it: http://www.bostonspastime.com/sweetcaroline.html