A recent column by
The Boston Globe's
Dugan Arnett raises the question of whether Fenway's 8th-inning staple—the "gang"-signing of
Neil Diamond's
"Sweet Caroline"—
should be mothballed. The "anthem" has now been sung before the bottom of the eighth for
sixteen years—over 1,200 regular-season renditions. It was sporadically used as far back as the 1990s. A few years back, it was still enthusiastically belted out by the vast majority of fans. Today, not so much. In fact, many old-line (pre-2004) fans hate it—although they recognize that many "one-timers" to the 106-year-old ball-yard
expect to hear it when they make their pilgrimage. Still, it's becoming grating to many an ear—and kind of a 'wussy' fight song anyway. Far better would be the rousing (and also
very popular)
'Shipping Up To Boston' by
The Dropkick Murphys. Whenever it is played as a rally-starter in the bottom of the ninth, it truly gets the old yard going. The song has it's own catchy refrain:
"I'm shipping up to Boston, whoa-oh-oh....", not to mention the slightly gory,
"Climbing up the top sails, I've lost my leg!".
Wicked better!
