Let’s get this out of the way. I’ll be the first to admit that I was not born and raised a Red Sox fan. Being from Chicago, I was raised a Cubs fan, which is pretty damn close to being part of Red Sox Nation, until you had to go and win the World Series. Now the Cubs are the most pitiful, yet most loved, team in baseball, like that sad three-legged dog that teeters down the street but is too sweet to put to sleep.

I adopted the Red Sox and Fenway as my ball club when I came to Boston. Both the Sox and Cubs are old, lovable teams with classic ballparks (and in some years, the stadiums are more of an attraction than the players) and stories of October heartbreak (see Bill Buckner and Steve Bartman).

That said, the buzz in Wrigleyville does not compare to the frenzy I witnessed around Kenmore Square yesterday morning as I walked to class. I live on Beacon Street near Kenmore and was woken by scalpers hawking box and bleacher seats at 6:00 a.m. The car horns began at 7 a.m. Cars full of red- and blue-clad passengers featured “Reverse the Curse” bumper stickers and had Red Sox flags hanging out their windows. Although my sleep was disrupted, I had energy — an energy I hadn’t felt since September.

I loved walking through Kenmore to class, getting handed Boston Globe and Boston Herald Red Sox posters and seeing the rowdy fans spilling out of restaurants and bars as they headed over the bridge to Fenway. As I prepared myself to endure my hour and a half of class – my own nine-inning challenge — these fans were preparing themselves for what may have been one of the most memorable days of their lives.

These are the days that grandparents tell their children about, recounting Big Papi’s home run late in the game or the jets that flew over the stadium. When the jets shook the city, I was sitting in class, jittering each time the message-carrying planes and helicopters buzzed over the College of Communication on their way to Fenway.

Walking back from class, I saw my favorite part of baseball season, the little children walking with their parents to the ballpark. Children on campus — the tell-tale sign that the Sox are back in town, because God knows children would not be roaming about the Charles River campus of their own free will.

Dads often walk with sons in matching jerseys, and moms and daughters wear matching pink Red Sox hats. This might be the first time that Junior has been to a baseball game, to the big city or on a big outing with Dad. Their innocent smiles are contagious and even though they take up the seats on the T after the game, it’s pretty damn cute to see a sleeping kid in a Sox jersey.

I know that in a couple of weeks I’ll be sick of the crowds, the massive number of cars, the packed Ts and restaurants. But there is something to be said for being able to turn the sound off on my TV on game days, open my window and hear the cheers of Fenway before seeing the homer on TV.

The energy was back this morning and is here to stay, at least until September (October would be great, guys). Having Big Papi, Manny and the crew back in town is pretty damn exciting for a Sox fan, a Cubs fan or anyone who loves baseball — even if you have a certain tendency to cheer for those in navy and white pinstripes.

Johanna Kassel, a sophomore in the College of Communication, is the campus news editor of The Daily Free Press. She can be reached at [email protected].