The best of Boston; An Insider's Guide to Beantown

Boston Sports

No guide to Boston would be complete without covering its eclectic sports heritage. Baseball, football, basketball and hockey are all held with religious reverence in Massachusetts and a number of major league teams have their roots buried deep in the Hub.

Fenway Park is a must-visit for baseball fans, especially since it's the oldest MLB stadium still active (as well as having the distinction of being the oldest sporting venue used by a professional team in the US). The atmosphere at Fenway Park during a ball game is world-famous, but here's some curiosities you may not know:

• The green color of the gigantic, 37ft high wall to the left of the homeplate, affectionately dubbed 'The Green Monster', is the tallest wall in the MLB.
• The moniker also comes from its paint colour, 'Fenway Green'. The shade is actually patented by the Red Sox team and they have exclusive ordering rights to it (according to the tour guides, at least).
• Another colour stands out at the park - the infamous Red Seat. This is the location where Ted Williams' awesome home run landed back in 1946. At 502ft from the home plate, it stands as the longest home run ever hit at the park (and hit the unlucky spectator in Section 42, Row 37, Seat 21 right in the head).

Given the scale of Boston's sporting prowess, it's no surprise that there are a massive amount of hardcore fans writing about the Red Sox et al on a daily basis. As they cover the bases in way more depth than we could hope to cover here, we present our favorite Boston Sports bloggers for your perusal:

Hockey

• Basegirl - http://basegirl.wordpress.com/ - The blog of Kristen Merrill, a writer and hockey nut living in Cambridge.
• Greatest Hockey Legends - http://bruinslegends.blogspot.com/ – Joe Pelletier's wistful look back at hockey history, featuring the Boston Bruins and others.
• The Hub of Hockey - http://thehubofhockey.net/ – A passionate Bruins blog written by expert writer Mark Marino.
• Bruins Rumors & News - http://bruinsrumors.wordpress.com/ – Regularly updated with juicy gossip and the latest happenings
• Hub Hockey - http://ccrawford11.typepad.com/hubhockey/ – No-nonsense news and headlines on Boston-based hockey.

Baseball

• Boston Irish - http://irishbaseballseason.blogspot.com/ – Pitcher Cormac Eklof's passionate baseball blog which covers baseball on both sides of the pond.
• Soxy Lady - http://soxylady.blogspot.com/ – Personal Red Sox blog with some great content and free stuff to be had.
• Sox & Dawgs - http://soxanddawgs.com/ – News and analysis updated at an incredible frequency.
• Red Sox Locker - http://www.redsoxlocker.com/ – A long-running Sox news site.
• Peter's Red Sox Forever - http://peteronall.blogspot.com/ – A fantastic personal site written with a lot of soul.

Football

• Boston College Fansite - http://www.bostoncollegefansite.com/ – An aggregate news site with a focus on Boston football.

Basketball

• Boston Sports Fan Blog - http://boston-sportsfans.com/ – Predominantly baseball, but covers most Boston sports news too.
• Celtics Locker - http://www.celticslocker.com/ – Just about everything you could hope for from a quality Celtics site.
• Celtics Blog - http://www.celticsblog.com/ – A wealth of news, opinion and analysis.
• Celtics Green - http://celticsgreen.blogspot.com/ – A top blog with an active forum which has been around for over a decade.

General

• 4SportBoston - http://www.4sportboston.com/ - A news and opinion site with a lot of punch. Covers Bruins, Patriots, Sox and Celtics news.
• Sports Fan 4 - http://www.sportsfan4.com/ – A well-presented site covering the main four sports in the city.
• Bruins Net Mix - http://bruinsnetmix.com/ – Packed with content on all the major leagues and teams.
• Boston Bike Polo - http://bostonbikepolo.wordpress.com/ - You've not lived until you've tried bike polo at least once!
• Read the BostonSmarts' Best Places to Visit While in Boston