Fenway faithful expected to rise early for Sox opener

March 24, 2008 11:53 AM Email| Comments (0)| Text size – +

By Globe Staff

Talk about your diehard fans. Some Red Sox supporters, hoping for yet another championship season, will be getting up before sunrise tomorrow to trek to Fenway-area bars to watch the Sox open their season more than a dozen time zones away in Japan.

"I think we'll be pretty full, to be honest with you," said Lindsay Curtis, a spokeswoman for the Game On! bar.

Curtis said the bar, which has a capacity of 500 people, has been getting numerous calls and e-mails from fans hoping it will be open.

The bar normally opens at 7 a.m. Tomorrow it will open at 5:30 a.m., so people can settle in for the game, which starts at 6:05 a.m.

At the Cask ‘n’ Flagon, assistant general manager Ron Abbott said he's expecting 150 to 200 people when the bar opens at 5:30 a.m., several hours earlier than usual.

"I think we should actually have a pretty decent crowd," he said.

Mayor's spokeswoman Dot Joyce said the bars, which had received special permission to open early, were not allowed to sell alcohol until the game is over.

Abbott said he didn't know how many people would be tempted to imbibe, rather than stick with their pre-work mugs of coffee.

But he said, "I definitely don't see it being a productive workday in the city of Boston tomorrow."