Fr my birthday, my sons and their significant others gave me a ticket to the first playoff game of this post-season – a gem of a game pitched by Josh Beckett. My middle son went with me. Being a die hard Red Sox fan, he was as excited as I was.

We had great seats (even if they were in the bleachers): center field, row sixteen, a straight shot to the pitcher’s mound. The people around us were great and really knew their baseball. But now comes the part that kind of ticks me off.

Four empty seats in front of us! Four empty seats! For playoff baseball! That’s criminal!

Then, finally, in the fourth inning, the four people show up. Two men and two woman. One of the women promptly slouches down and tries to fall asleep. During playoff baseball? The other woman checks out her nails, whines that she is hungry, and is just a pain in the butt. During playoff baseball? The two guys seem to be into the game but when they get up (waking sleeping beauty) and all four make their way to the stairs after watching TWO innings — of playoff baseball!! — well, I was ready to kill.

My tickets were a gift so I don’t know the specifics, but playoff tickets cost a lot of money. What ticked me off so much is that the tickets were in the hands of people who didn’t give a damn! Fair weather fans! We, who watch every game, live and die through the good and the bad, and stress with the changes in lineups, etc.- we should be able to get playoff tickets, not someone who watches two innings — two innings! — of playoff baseball.

My husband thinks watching baseball is like watching paint dry. But does he turn down a ticket to the GE box when offered? No sir. Having his own private waiter, sitting inside if the elements warrant it, having his beers brought to his seat - that’s why he goes to a game. Never mind that our house’s real Red Sox fan is watching the game in the den. Again, tickets in the hands of a fair weather fan, and it really ticks me off!

Well now it’s the World Series, and because it’s the “in” thing to do, all the “celebrities” will be there. But I hope only a true Red Sox fan sits in “my” bleacher seat and that the people up in the GE box know they are truly blessed to be there. Because this real Red Sox fan will be watching the Series in her den.