In the Boston Herald, Steve Buckely proposes that the Red Sox cancel all of their Opening Day ceremonies scheduled before Friday's home opener against the Yankees: "No patriotic flyover, no festive bunting, no oversized American flag covering the Green Monster." Pretty sure he's not kidding either.
No first pitch. No kidding.
Fortunately, Buckley's not making any Opening Day decisions for the Red Sox, because that'd be kind of ridiculous. As such, the team is proceeding with their festivities as planned. There will indeed be a flyover (roughly 30 minutes before the start of the game), and Red Sox fan Jim Calhoun, head coach of the Connecticut Huskies men's basketball team, the 2011 national champions, may be bumped from Saturday to throw out the ceremonial first pitch on Friday. Unless it's Carl Yastrzemski, who WBZ-TV's Steve Burton is reporting will throw the first pitch for the home opener.
Terry Francona is looking forward to it, despite the 0-6 start.
"Home openers, for anybody who likes baseball, it's so cool," Francona said. "I'd be lying a little bit if I said, ‘We're not too happy where we're at.' So that takes some of fun out of the pageantry. I think sometimes we have to remind ourselves that it is a long year, and it's our responsibility to make [home opener] good and not hang our heads, pout and feel bad for ourselves."
Additionally, Mayor Thomas M. Menino has declared Friday Lou Gorman Day. Gorman, the former Red Sox manager from 1984-1993, died earlier this month at the age of 82.