The Pawtucket Red Sox, ever in favor of love, will celebrate the engagement of Alex Rodriguez and Jennifer Lopez with a Red Sox-themed party Friday, April 12 at McCoy Stadium, to inaugurate the club’s Legendary Fridays series this year.

For those who recall the events of Saturday afternoon, July 24, 2004, which may have been the most important and most pivotal regular season game in the long and storied history of the Boston Red Sox

The PawSox just changed the game with this promo! As much as I used to hate A-Rod with the passion of a thousand suns, I kinda like him now. I think it’s a direct correlation to when Yankees fans turned on him at the end. He became a flawed human who just wanted to be liked that I think we can all relate to. It just didn’t feel right hating a guy that Yankees fans hated. Plus he is a true A+ talent in the broadcast booth and he charmed my socks off when he appeared at the HubSpot convention last year.

With that being said, times were different in 2004. The Red Sox were still the most popular team in town despite the Pats having won 2 of the past 3 Super Bowls. They were still the team everyone lived and died by whether it was April or October. So everything was magnified by 1,000%.

The Sox had just lost an absolute heartbreaker of an ALCS Game 7 that I will take to my grave. And to top it all off the Yankees had gotten even better. A-Rod was the new despised enemy after a failed arranged marriage was nixed by the MLBPA the winter before. So naturally the Yanks swooped in like the snakes they are and worked out a trade for the slugger. (If you’ve never watched the 30 for 30 short on what if the A-Rod Red Sox trade had gone through that is appointment viewing) A-Rod was a perennial MVP candidate, but he was also a loudmouth, whiny pretty boy who’d never won a damn thing. So when he started talking shit to 135 lbs Bronson Arroyo after getting beaned I think we had all had enough. I still vividly remember standing in my parents living room and shouting FIGHT once Varitek got in A-Rod’s face and served him a piece of catcher’s mitt pie.

And this wasn’t just some heat of the moment thing. There was genuine animosity between the two sides…or at least from Varitek. Seriously Varitek still hates the fucking guy and made A-Rod legitimately uncomfortable on the World Series broadcast last season.

Jason Varitek… the reason I have liked the Red Sox for years. But this clip is amazing, “Hey Jason, don’t punch me.” – ARod. pic.twitter.com/ubj0au6lhI

— N Lauby (@NRLauby) October 29, 2018

Best part of the whole thing was, later it came out what Varitek had said to A-Rod: “We don’t throw at .260 hitters.” #RedSox #Yankees

— The 300s (@The300sBoston) July 24, 2017

So for the PawSox to honor this legendary moment in Red Sox history is an incredible promotion. Just look at some of what they have going on!

• Fans wearing Bronson Arroyo or Jason Varitek jerseys will be admitted free to Pawtucket’s April 12th game against the New York Mets’ Syracuse affiliate.
• Fans by the name of Jennifer will also be admitted for free (Yes… All “Jenny’s from the block” showing valid RI identification will be granted free admission at the PawSox ticket office).
• Former Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow, who is expected to be playing with the Syracuse Mets, will walk up to Mariah Carey’s greatest hits for the duration of his series at McCoy Stadium as a salute to one of J.Lo’s greatest rivals.
• Long-time Red Sox fan and Cambridge, MA native Ben Affleck has been cordially invited to throw out the game’s Ceremonial First Pitch-for obvious reasons.

I will have my Bronson Arroyo t-shirt jersey ready. to. go. for this game. T-shirt jerseys count, right?