People often ask me ‘What are TarSox?’. It’s pretty simple on the surface, TarSox are people who find themselves in an odd place, we are North Carolina Tar Heel fans and also Boston Red Sox fans. Most people have a pretty good story to tell about how they ended up fans of these two teams and mine is no different. I grew up in New Bern NC and was born and bred a Tar Heel. My father took me to Kenan Stadium at age 5 in the back of a wood panel station wagon, you know the one with the rear facing seats. After parking in Chapel Hill we walked for what seemed like forever, rolling hills lots of good ole NC red clay and pine trees. Finally, we came out of the trees, walked through the gates, out of the concourse, into the stands and then it happened…I laid my eyes on that field and all at Carolina Blue from the field to the sky. I was absolutely in LOVE!
The Red Sox side of this is where my story gets interesting. I grew up a HUGE Atlanta Braves fan back in the 80s when they were absolutely terrible, being a Braves fan back then was basically like that game of ‘why are you hitting yourself’ as your older cousin uses your own hand to smack you around. They were awful, but I loved them and then in 1992 the moment I’ll never forget, 16 years old in my dad’s living room while everyone else was sleeping and Sid Bream lumbering around the bases and sliding into home! It was the highest I’ve ever jumped in my life! And man was it an awesome run after that for a few years until…the strike.
I’m not sure exactly why but I was so turned off by millionaires arguing over money I didn’t watch baseball for quite a while and am still a very lukewarm fan, 162 games of anything is tough but I’m still drawn to the game. Primarily I’m drawn because it was my father’s love, he loved the Boston Red Sox and anything to do with them as well as the game of baseball in general. So when in 2008 when he was diagnosed with terminal cancer he immediately began building a bucket list and of course several items had to do with the Red Sox. Let me tell you this for a fact, that is one AMAZING organization. Love ‘em, hate ‘em whatever but the memories we have because of their generosity are priceless. What topped it all off were special friendships that were born that weekend with a very special friend Sean Bunn. He met us at Uno’s right behind Fenway and had put together one unbelievable experience, they rolled out the red carpet. On the field for batting practice, lunch with the players, tours of the stadium, bringing down the World Series rings for us to wear. We also were able to take in a few games at Fenway and that was it I was officially a Boston Red Sox fan for life and by birth a Tar Heel…
So there you have it…TarSox. I’m looking forward to sharing my stories.
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