I've been a mediocre Red Sox fan for a while, sort of marginally following the success of the team and every once in a while getting excited or upset about it. But I've never gone to a Sox game; I only ever experience it on television or the Internet or in the newspaper. Which insulates me from other, darker aspects of the game that don't make it to those media.

I bike to work every day through Kenmore Square, which takes me right past Fenway Park. On my way home it's not uncommon for me to weave my way through the heavy pre-game crowds choking the surrounding streets. So I've had ample opportunity to observe the following statistical truth:

Everyone who attends Sox games is white.

I don't mean the majority - I mean on a given day, I can pass through a crowd numbering two thousand people or more and not see a single non-white face. In a city that is reputedly fifty percent black, this is simply incredible.

Barry Bonds made a big stink earlier this year when he said he would never play for Boston because it was too racist here. I've never had that idea - after all, Pedro Martinez is nearly universally adored; similarly with David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez. But those crowds paint a pretty startling picture. Something definitely ain't right.