BOSTON — The crack of the bat, the roar of the crowd, the love it/hate it chorus of "Sweet Caroline": the experience of a Sox home game is as much aural as visual. And some of us will always now associate the Dropkick Murphys with an Irish-dancing, World Series–winning closing pitcher. We go behind the Green Monster to meet the people who make the musical magic happen: DJ TJ Connelly and organist Josh Kantor.

BOSTON — Today is Kid Nation Day at Fenway, a day where the little Red Sox fans get to hang out at the park and meet the players. Back in 1999, the cast of the WGBH kids program ZOOM got the chance of a lifetime — to perform the national anthem at Fenway. We were curious: where are they now?
 
 

The stands were filled with parents and pint-sized Red Sox fans eating Cracker Jacks and wearing baseball caps they’d eventually grow into. The field was filled with baseball greats like Pedro, Nomar and Wally the Green Monster, signing autographs and taking photos. The WGBH Archives has video footage from that day, shot by ZOOM producer Jim Johnston on his home video camera. Alisa, David, Jared, Lynese, Pablo and Zoe are wearing oversized matching jackets with the word ZOOM embroidered on them — and they're barely able to contain their excitement.

Looking back, "it was pretty surreal," Pablo Velez said. "The fact that I was singing the national anthem at Fenway Park was like a dream come true … I’m a huge baseball fan, and I’d never been to Fenway Park, and I got to do it with a group of friends."
 
So his very first experience at Fenway Park was in the field. "Yeah," Velez said, laughing. "That’s a pretty good way to go, first time around."
 
Sadly, not all the memories of this ZOOM family are that bright. In 2006, ZOOM cast member Jared Nathan was killed in a car accident. Nathan loved the Red Sox and Fenway Park so much that a friend bought a commemorative brick at the ballpark in his name.
 
Zoe Costello said she wasn't that nervous. "It's kind of hard to believe as I say that because I don’t have a singing voice for sure, but it was just too awesome to be nervous, if that makes any sense," she said. "I just remember sort of being in awe and standing there and looking at how green it was and how colorful it was, and there was such a warm reception of us being there."
 
To this day, it's one of her most magical experiences, she said. "I was just thinking at the time, like this is one of the coolest things that I’ve ever done. And it still is. I mean, I was 10 at the time and now I’m 25. And it still is."
 
Velez had similar emotions. "Never in my life had I experienced anything like that," he said. "To be at Fenway Park, singing the national anthem, and then to sign autographs, take pictures — it was just so crazy, so unbelievable. But it was a blast … I’ll never forget that moment."
 
p.s. Where are they? Velez is now working in film production in Los Angeles and Costello is an actress living in New York.

Carl Beane with WGBH News reporter Ibby Caputo, showing off his World Series rings during an interview in 2010.

In a 2011 conversation with Emily Rooney, Beane said he began covering the Red Sox as a sports reporter in 1977 and got the unexpected opportunity to call Fenway games after a one-time audition during spring training.

"I'm sitting in the booth about a half an hour before the game, down in Florida, the place is full and I'm thinking to myself, 'What have I just talked myself into?', because my PA experience is zero," Beane said.

"It's kind of spooky talking to you," Rooney said during their interview. "That voice is just so familiar, and here you are talking like a regular person. We don't think of you as a regular person. You are that voice from the booth, like the voice of God."

LONG LIVE FENWAY PARK

Dick Flavin

For a hundred years she's stood here,
Heard cheering, seen our tears.
Through all the good times and the bad
Fenway perseveres.

She's baseball's great crown jewel,
A treasure — this is why.
Look out there on her field, you'll see
The ghosts of games gone by.

There's Babe Ruth standing on the mound,
Ted Williams at the plate.
And someone's great grandfather
Just came in through the gate.

That's Yaz patrolling in left field,
In center, Freddie Lynn;
Cronin's playing shortstop
But Pesky's coming in.

Luis Tiant whirls and spins
And then he lets it go.
There's another leaping catch
By Dom DiMaggio.

Jim Rice lines one off the wall,
Malzone comes in to score.
Pedroia makes a diving stop,
Or is that Bobby Doerr?

Fisk hits one deep into the night.
Will it be foul or fair?
It caroms off the foul pole
And the cheers still fill the air.

Dewey Evans' rifle arm
Just cut a runner down.
There's Tony C, still young and strong,
The toast of his hometown.

Roberts steals another base
Pinch running for Millar.
There's Radatz, Lonborg, Jimmie Foxx,
And Pedro and Nomar.

Look closely. You can see them all.
They come here everyday.
Fenway was and is their home.
It's where her ghosts still play.

And in the dugout by first base,
There sits the current squad.
Someday they will take their place
With all the Fenway gods.

That's why this place is magic,
Why she's made such a mark.
She's one hundred and still going strong.
And long live Fenway Park!

 
BOSTON — This week, Christians observe Easter, Jews Passover and 80-plus percent of Massachusetts voters of all creeds celebrate Opening Day.
 
One year ago, all the on-lookers forecast a banner (or … pennant) year for the Sox. Before the first game, the Boston Herald declared them the "Best Team Ever!"
 
That was then. After the team's historic September collapse, followed by unsavory revelations about beer and fried chicken in the clubhouse and the departure of both general manager Theo Epstein and manager Terry Francona — predictions for this season are dire. (Except that hope springs eternal.)
 
Scott Lauber, Red Sox beat writer for the Boston Herald, said the pendulum of public opinion might have swung too far. "The core of the team is the same so probably expectations ought to be a little bit higher than they are," he said. Names on the starting roster Thursday include offensive stalwarts Ellsbury, Pedroia, Ortiz and Youk. Their bats were part of a 2011 lineup scored more runs than any other team, Lauber pointed out.
 
"Really the big new name" is manager Bobby Valentine, Lauber said. "He's very outspoken, he's got an opinion on just about everything and he's not afraid to share it. Which is great for us in the media … but it can provide some problems in the clubhouse."
 
He added that even Valentine's enemies consider him a very astute strategist with an unparalleled knowledge of the game.
 
Can they beat the Yanks? Maybe. "The Red Sox have got issues with their pitching in particular," Lauber said cautiously. "They can certainly hit with the Yankees."
 
In the end, despite a ninth-inning rally, the Sox fell to the Tigers 3-2. But it's just the first of the 162 games that will be played over the course of a long season.

 
BOSTON — The 2012 Red Sox season officially got under way Monday as pitchers and catchers completed their first workout at the team's new spring training facility in Fort Myers, Florida. Sox president/CEO Larry Lucchino talked to WGBH News about the team's prospects, players and new management.

Larry Lucchino

One player noticeably absent from camp is longtime team captain Jason Varitek. Varitek's last two seasons were cut short by injuries: He played in just 39 games in 2010 and 68 last year. The soon-to-be 40-year-old free agent has been offered a minor league contract and a chance to make this year's team. However, sources close to the catcher say he's leaning toward retirement instead.
 
Red Sox president and CEO Larry Lucchino said that either way, he sees Varitek in the Red Sox' future.
 
"He's been a tremendous leader on this team, a guy who bleeds Red Sox red," he said. "His loyalty to the organization is second to none and whatever he does, we're going to try to keep him a part of the Red Sox organization going forward."

While some have lowered their expectations for the home team in the wake of the turbulent off-season, Lucchino is not one of them, saying today that his expectations for this year's club couldn't be higher.  
 
"Last year we were everybody's heavy favorite but this year we are a bit of an underdog and I think our players have something to prove. I think our whole organization has something to prove," he said. While some would be cowed, Lucchino was quite the opposite: "I anticipate this season more than any I can remember."
 
The Red Sox open the regular season in Detroit on Thursday, Apr. 5, in an afternoon game against the Tigers.  

Hear further thoughts from Lucchino on "The Emily Rooney Show."

BOSTON — With the question of whether the Patriots make the Super Bowl resting on the result of this weekend’s high-stakes match-up against the Baltimore Ravens, the local sports news is pretty much all football, all the time. But baseball fans know that it's just a month until pitchers and catchers report to spring training — and veteran Red Sox infielder Kevin Youkilis is thinking ahead.
 
True, he acknowledges, "It was definitely a shock with a lot of the things that transpired in September, all different kinds of things that were happening," Youkilis said on Jan. 19.
 
He could be referring to a number of “things."
 
Could it be that the team, considered in the early summer to be the best in the majors, failed to win even one-third of its games in September?
 
Or the revelations that players were drinking beer and eating fried chicken in the dugout during games?
 
No: “Youk” said that for him, the most upsetting “thing” was the end of manager Terry “Tito” Francona.

(Keith Allison/Flickr)

"Tito’s the only manager I’d ever played for in the major league, so I don’t know any new manager or how to handle it," he said.
 
Still, Youkilis said he’s optimistic about his new boss, Bobby Valentine.
 
"Managers just want you to play the game the right way," he said. "You all have your different personalities on your team and not everyone’s going to be best friends with everyone, but you have to respect each other and play the game right — and I think that’s the biggest thing going in. As long as you play hard and with control, I think it’s going to be great with myself and with Bobby."
 
Despite this player's rosy outlook, and despite the many weeks to go before Opening Day, some observers have already counted the Sox right out.
 
That didn't bother Youk at all.
 
"People are still saying we’re not good enough. And we kind of like that. We kind of like that ability to say — You know what? We’ll prove you wrong. We’re going to win."
 
In the meantime… go Pats.

Hear more from Youk, including his thoughts on his charity Youk's Kids, on "The Emily Rooney Show."

BOSTON — It seems like the accusations of sexual abuse in the sports arena just keep coming.

When Charles Crawford was 16 years old, he landed a dream job: batboy for the Boston Red Sox. It was the early 1990s, so that meant the Dorchester native got to rub elbows with hometown greats like Roger Clemens and Mo Vaughn.
 
But before long, that dream job became the worst experience of his life.
 
Crawford described the first encounter on “Greater Boston” on Dec. 14. “I asked him for a ball in the clubhouse. He led me to the equipment room where only he has the key. We went into the equipment room and that’s where he assaulted me.”
 
The dream job turns into a nightmare

Crawford is claiming that former Red Sox club manager Donald Fitzpatrick performed oral sex on him twice during his summer tenure at Fenway. In the first encounter, Crawford said Fitzpatrick locked him in an equipment room and assaulted him while Red Sox players mulled around outside. He was, Crawford said, too embarrassed to stop it.
 
“I really didn’t know what to say, to be honest,” he said. “When I came out it was like everything happened so quick, the players were still in the area. But I just kind of pushed it down and kept going, you know, loving my job.”
 
The second experience came right before a West Coast trip the team was taking. He came in early to help pack the bats and uniforms. Later that night, Crawford said, Fitzpatrick molested him in a clubhouse bathroom.

Former attendants seek their due
 
Now 36, Crawford and another, unnamed accuser are suing the Red Sox for $5 million each. They are the ninth and 10th former clubhouse attendants to step forward in a Red Sox sexual abuse scandal that spans decades. All of the accusers have been African-American.
 
In a now infamous moment during a televised Red Sox game against Anaheim, a former clubhouse attendant held up a sign that read, “Donald Fitzpatrick sexually assaulted me.” The Red Sox paid that accuser $100,000 and Fitzpatrick took an extended leave of absence from the team. He never came back.
 
In 2003, the Sox settled a $3.15 million lawsuit with seven Florida men who claimed Fitzpatrick sexually molested them as boys in the 1970s.
 
In 2002, Fitzpatrick pled guilty to four counts of attempted sexual battery and was ordered to pay $10,000 in restitution to each victim. Fitzpatrick died in 2005 at age 76. At the time, he was serving a 10-year suspended sentence and 15 years’ probation.
 
Management did nothing, lawyer says

Crawford’s lawyer is Mitchell Garabedian, an attorney best known for reaching a $95 million settlement with the Boston Archdiocese over the Catholic Church sexual abuse scandal. He said it was well known within Red Sox management that Fitzpatrick was a serial pedophile, but they did nothing about it.
 
“I’ve got him tracked from about 1967 to 1991 sexually abusing children — that I know of,” said Garabedian. “In 1971, a batboy told the Red Sox management, or equipment manager ‘I was sexually molested by Donald Fitzpatrick’ and within three days they fired the batboy and did nothing to Donald Fitzpatrick.”
 
When John Henry bought the team in 2002, management was replaced. The new management acknowledged Fitzpatrick was a pedophile and made sure the victims were paid out.
 
In the two decades since his clubhouse horror, Crawford's life has spiraled downward. He dropped out of college, spent six months in jail on a drug offense and has had five children with five different women.
 
He said it was Sen. Scott Brown’s admission of abuse earlier this year that inspired him to come forward.
 
“I held it for 16 years. I told my mom when I was 32 years old,” he said.

No legal responsibility, but possibly a moral one
 
But as far as his lawsuit goes, it might be too late. The statute of limitations has run out.
 
“A victim has three years to sue from when they realize that the conduct, the sexual abuse, caused them problems in life,” said Garabedian. “So we acknowledge that the statute of limitations has gone in these cases.”
 
But that doesn’t mean they’re giving up. Crawford and Garabedian are scheduled to meet with Red Sox attorneys during the week of Dec. 19 to discuss the cases.
 
“We’re going to see what they want to do with this matter. They have a moral responsibility here,” said Garabedian.
 
In the meantime, Crawford is making the media rounds. He said talking about his experiences has been cathartic, after keeping such a dark secret for so long.
 
“People need to know — they think about Fenway, they think about great games. But I have a whole different picture of Fenway and people just need to know what was happening there,” he said.

BOSTON — Former New York Mets manager Bobby Valentine has been named the new manager of the Boston Red Sox, taking over from Terry Francona — and Red Sox Nation now has to get to know a leader very different from what they’ve been used to.
 
No one can predict how the team will perform under new management, but baseball insiders agree on one fact: Mr. Personality has come to town.
 
David Lennon covered Valentine as the New York Mets beat writer for Newsday.

Valentine, Lennon told WGBH News’ Jordan Weinstein, is “entertaining. There’s never a dull moment with him in the manager’s office…. That said, as any strong personality does, he can cause friction in some areas.”

“He talks a lot,” sports analyst Bob Lobel said on “The Emily Rooney Show” on Dec. 1. “He can’t edit himself. He doesn’t stop.”
 
That’s unlike the quiet and reserved Francona.
 
“It’s not unusual, certainly, for teams to choose a different manager, a different type of personality manager to follow another,” Lennon said.
 
“He’s the first star manager the team has ever hired,” Lobel said. “He’s a brilliant baseball guy but as a human being he’s going to take some time to get to know.”
 
What about his skills in the clubhouse?
 
Lennon praised them, saying that Valentine’s managerial ability was so strong that he got the Mets to the World Series in 2000 even though the team was relatively weak.
 
Valentine has never won a division — the Mets got to that Series as a wild card. But Lennon said that didn’t matter.
 
“If there’s one reason to knock Bobby Valentine… having not won a division title I think is probably not the spot to go after,” Lennon said. “He’s managed teams that have won 90-plus games.” Anyway, Valentine’s Mets were up against the then-dynastic Atlanta Braves.
 
When it comes to the head-to-head battle for the 2012 AL East, “I certainly think he can match wits and match tactics with any other manager in that division,” Lennon said.
 
And maybe it doesn’t really even matter. “I think picking a manager is way overrated,” Lobel said. “They got him. That’s fine. Now it’s time to move on.”
 
Lobel added, “It’s going to be fun.”

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BOSTON — Players eating fried chicken and drinking beer in the clubhouse during games.

"He won't let that happen. There's no way he's going to let that happen," said Tommy Lasorda of Bobby Valentine, the new Red Sox manager.

Boston announced Valentine as its new hire Wednesday, and he will be introduced at a Fenway Park news conference on Thursday evening.

Sports analyst Bob Lobel talks about the development Thursday at noon on WGBH's "Emily Rooney Show."

The 61-year-old replaces Terry Francona, who left after eight years in which he guided the Red Sox to two World Series titles but also the biggest September collapse in baseball history. The first job for the former Mets and Rangers manager: reversing a culture in which players ate takeout fried chicken and drank beer in the clubhouse during games instead of sitting on the bench with their teammates.
 
Francona rarely said anything negative about his players in public. When Valentine was in New York, he did not hesitate to criticize his players and bickered with them, his boss and the media.
 
"There's times — in all phases of life — when you've got to kick them in the (rear) when they need it, and there's times when you need to hug them if they need it,” Lasorda said Wednesday in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. He was Valentine's manager in the minor leagues and a mentor who encouraged him to try for the Red Sox job."You give loyalty, you'll get it back.”

At a news conference the day he formally interviewed for the job, Valentine said he learned a lot about discipline while managing in Japan.

"Discipline is not 30 whacks with a whip these days," he said. "I think everyone likes discipline. I think everyone likes structure."

Francona left before he could be fired, saying the clubhouse needed a different voice. And, boy, is Valentine ever different.
 
A restaurateur who claims to have invented the wrap sandwich; the manager of the NL pennant-winning New York Mets and Japanese champion Chiba Lotte Marines; the director of health and public safety in Stamford, Conn.; a successful TV analyst.

He might even be most famous for returning to the dugout wearing a fake mustache and sunglasses after being ejected from a game in 1999; Major League Baseball fined him $5,000 and suspended him for three games.

Valentine's personality certainly is large. And his resume is long. But it has one major gap: He's never won a World Series.

Select tickets for 2012 will go on sale next week.
 
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.

BOSTON (AP) — A person familiar with the decision says the Boston Red Sox have picked Bobby Valentine to be their next manager and are working to complete a contract. 

Several media outlets in Boston reported late Nov. 29 that Valentine would be the team's new manager. The Red Sox declined comment, and as of Wednesday morning, no announcement had been made.

But the word was out around baseball. As Hall of Famer Tommy Lasorda, who managed Valentine in the minors, told the AP: "He's got it. I just spoke to him a little while ago."

Valentine was in Japan this week, where he managed from 2004–09. He previously managed the New York Mets and Texas Rangers. He had been working as a baseball analyst for ESPN.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.

NEW YORK (AP) — A person familiar with the negotiations tells The Associated Press that the Philadelphia Phillies and closer Jonathan Papelbon have agreed to a $50 million, four-year contract.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity Friday because the deal had not yet been announced.

Papelbon, who turns 30 on Nov. 23, had 219 saves over seven seasons with the Boston Red Sox, including 31 this year, when he made $12 million.

Ryan Madson's agent and Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. were close to a $44 million, four-year deal on Monday, but Amaro told Madson agent Scott Boras the following day that team president Dave Montgomery wouldn't approve the deal.

The agreement was first reported by CSNPhilly.com.
 
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.

BOSTON — Does grammar tell the tale of former Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein’s self-interest?
 
Analyzing Epstein’s farewell letter to the fans that ran as a Boston Globe op-ed on October 25, media critic Dan Kennedy counted 66 uses of the words “I,” “me” and “my” — to only six uses of the word “team.”
 
(The figure rises to 25 when you add “our,” “ourselves,” “us” and “we.”)
 
Longtime sportscaster and regular WGBH commentator Bob Lobel thought it was a dead giveaway that Epstein’s departure was motivated by ego.
 
“That is not okay,” he said in an October 25 conversation with Jared Bowen, guest host of "The Emily Rooney Show." Lobel edits his own opinion columns if he feels he’s overused the first-person singular. The fact that Epstein didn’t edit all that “I” business out — “That’s a red flag,” Lobel said.

Then again, the sportscaster has never been a big Theo fan. Lobel believed Epstein's special treatment from Red Sox Nation was circumstantial. 

“Here’s a local kid, Brookline, great family background. You take that away, he’s just another guy. And if he’s just another guy he did not do a good job here and in no way should he be given credit for the two World Series,” Lobel said.
 
The first line of the op-ed is “I grew up in Brookline. . . .” 

But Lobel wished Epstein well in his new job — and was interested to see how he would fare: “Now he’s out in Chicago and this will be the real test. The one good thing he’s got working for him, he’s got a new owner that’s got almost as much money as his old owner.“
 
According to espn.com, the Red Sox team salary total was the third highest in Major League Baseball in 2011 at $160 million. The Cubs came in sixth of 30 teams at $126 million.

Meanwhile, new Sox executive vice president and general manager Ben Cherington said in an interview with radio station WEEI that his top priority is finding a manager to replace Terry Francona, who left two days after the Red Sox completed a September collapse that left them out of the playoffs.

He said he planned to start interviewing "serious candidates" as soon as possible, adding, "We’re close to an initial list of candidates and we’ll probably try to start setting up interviews very soon."

Cherington downplayed reports that some pitchers were drinking in the clubhouse during games. "I don’t believe that anybody should be judged by one moment, one action, one incident of behavior, especially when that behavior was perhaps drinking a beer," he said.

It's truly is a golden era for Boston sports fans. Despite the lack of a championship in 2010, all four major sports teams are competing at the highest of levels. Here are a few of the most memorable sports moments of the year, both here in Boston and beyond.

Steve Safran, editor of Lost Remote

Red Sox Recovery: After a season full of injuries and exposed weaknesses, the Sox brass have made great pick-ups; Carl Crawford, Adrian Gonzalez, Bobby Jenks, Dan Wheeler among them, For the first time in memory, they've outfoxed the Yanks.
 

Patriots Coach Bill Belichik: He let whiny Randy Moss leave and actually made the team better by changing its game. It's the equivalent of the Sox dumping Nomar in 2004. Randy wore out his welcome in Minneapolis in two games, and (as of this writing) still hasn't won a game with the Titans.

Boston Sports Fans Win: We've seen the start of espn.com/boston, the rise of 98.5 The Sport Hub radio, and the overhaul of WEEI.com into a sports reporting force all its own.

The Winter Classic: The Bruins hosted hockey at Fenway at the beginning of the year, and the game against the Flyers was great.

That Unbelievable Wimbeldon Match: At the 2010 Wimbleton Championships, John Isner beat the French qualifier Nicolas Mahut in the longest match in tennis history. The final final tiebreaker, 70-68, happened after 11 hours over the course of three days.

Shaq Comes To Boston: He instantly becomes fixture in the city by being so accessible.

The Stolen No Hitter: Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga had a perfect game stolen from him on what should have been the final out, due to a bad call by umpire Jim Joyce. Galarraga took it in stride, and Joyce admitted he blew the call.

The Fighter: WCVB's Bob Halloran wrote the book upon which the movie The Fighter is based, giving boxer Micky Ward (and Boston) major national attention.

The Vancouver Olympics: Remember them? With the torch lighting fiasco? Name one winner apart from Lindsay Vonn... I dare you.

"The Decision": LeBron James's announcement show on ESPN that showed bad taste on just so many levels.

Brett Favre: Favre's time with the Minnesota Vikings is just sad. It's like seeing Babe Ruth in his Boston Braves uniform. Oh, and the sexting. The Minneapolis Dome Collapse is a perfect metaphor for Favre.

Bob Lobel, The Emily Rooney Show's Monday Morning Quaterback contributor

Tiger Woods: The one and only national story. After his transgressions, he goes winless in 2010

Lebron James and "The Decision" on ESPN

Michael Vick returns to chants of MVP. This is the dilemma of the year. Forgive? Or not forgive.

George Steinbrenner dies. Yankees front office loses some direction including a clunky contract negotiation with face of the franchise Derek Jeter.

Pats Trade Randy Moss and re-tool offense. Oh by the way they get a 3rd round pick when they gave up a 4th rounder to get him.

Bruins Lose Game 7 at home after leading 3 games to none and leading 3 to nothing in that 7th game.

Celtics Lose Game 7 of the NBA Finals to the Lakers after leading in the 4th quarter.

Red Sox Spend Millions despite buying premier league soccer team in Liverpool.