Traveler of the Week

THE RED SOX FAN IN THE WHITE SWEATSHIRT

I'm not a baseball fan, but a visiting friend was keen to see the Yankees/Red Sox game on last night. I obliged. Four hours in, it was tied in the 11th inning. I was talking about the aggressivity of Kevin Youkilis' goatee -- that thing just blares 'THIS IS MY FACE, THIS IS MY GOATEE, LOOK AT IT NOW, DAMMIT' -- when he smacked a ball out of the park, ending the game with a 5-4 Boston win.

On the replay I noticed something wonderful. Just priceless. A gray-haired fan -- sitting in the front row, directly behind the catcher -- waved his arms in a 'touchdown' gesture as he rushed toward the aisle and out of the park. Immediately. Didn't bother watching the ball sail past the Yankee infield. Didn't bother saying 'so long' to his buddy in the next seat. He was quicker out of the gate than Youkilis.

Please watch, and re-watch, this priceless moment as sports and travel merge:



I'm guessing that, when traveling, Mr White Sweatshirt is a tick-the-box traveler. He spends as long gazing at the Grand Canyon as the Griswalds in Vacation. A 10-day trip to Europe would probably claim Big Ben, the Eiffel Tower, Amsterdam canals, the Berlin Wall, Venice gondoliers and the Rome Coliseum. That's just how the guy works.

Still speed sells -- as the Oakland Raiders surprise pick of Darrius Heyward-Bey as the number seven overall pick in the NFL draft moments ago -- and I tribute this swift exiter as TRAVELER OF THE WEEK.