Guardian: Murray: The DJ and the Blue Jays

Alternative Ulster, indeed.

Baseball fans could not be any more different from football supporters. Here, everyone drinks alcohol and mingles freely in the stadium, seldom reacting to a rival fan in the very next seat as they goad a nearby outfielder. When the game is over, they trundle home safely. The police presence is almost nonexistent and the only trouble I witness is two slightly drunken fans being ejected from the ground for informing Red Sox legend Manny Ramirez, in a deafening rasp, that he ‘####### sucked’, which, to be fair, he did. (He has since been traded to the LA Dodgers.)

Tonight, the Jays defeat the Sox, as home pitcher AJ Burnett strikes out a line of household names. Walking back towards my hotel, I join in with the 20,000-strong mindless chants of ‘Boston sucks! Boston sucks!’ I am happy for many reasons but, above all, because I’ve witnessed a home run, and from the moment I saw my first - hit by Joe Carter, another man honoured in the Level of Excellence, nearly 15 years ago - the feeling of wide-eyed wonder has never changed.