In the shadow of the Green Monster on the corner of Lansdowne Street and Brookline Avenue, the bar’s proposed roof deck would allow 440 fans to hear the game and possibly catch a home run ball.
“With all the improvements to the neighborhood, we took it to the next level,” Cask co-owner Dana Van Fleet said Friday.
The head of the Boston Licensing Board, which plans to review the proposal at a hearing later this month, said the ambitious roof deck plans could invite heightened scrutiny.

Through all the improvements, the Cask ‘n Flagon, opened in 1969 as Oliver’s, has remained a wood-paneled, Guinness-and-hamburger joint, where the smell of previous days’ partying sometimes wafts through the entrance and where some dozen security staff members have been on hand to keep rowdies in check on game days. The bar serves lunch and dinner seven days a week.
In the plans submitted to the city last week, the Cask ‘n Flagon would get a whole new look, with expanded dining and function rooms, a larger outdoor patio that would seat more than 100, and a roof deck that would run the length of the building.
The peeling barn-red paint on the exterior would be replaced with a deep green, matching the Green Monster across the street, and the patio would be dotted with colorful umbrellas, according to an artist’s rendering commissioned by the Cask ‘n Flagon’s owners. An eye-catching marquee with a bright-yellow sign, reminiscent of the Hard Rock Cafe, would top it all off.

Well, I mind it because this is just another concession (no pun intended) to the corporate crowd. It's not like I'm going to be able to drive up from Connecticut and stroll up there with my family. The theory, I don't mind.
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Well, I mind it because this is just another concession (no pun intended) to the corporate crowd. It's not like I'm going to be able to drive up from Connecticut and stroll up there with my family. The theory, I don't mind.
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I watched this happen to the Bulls and its fans when I lived in Chicago from 1985 - 1992. As the Bulls got better, the fans at games became whiter, better dressed, and, to this jaundiced eye, less attentive and knowledgable.

Fortunately, I moved from Chicago (back to Boston) before the move to the United Center, but even at the Chicago Stadium (think Boston Garden, but older and even more of a pee smell), it was a parade of $200 sweaters (remember, this was the days of The Cosby Show) and $600 cowboy boots direct from Oakbrook.

Gag me then and gag me now.
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Speaking of Kevin Costner......
I recently watched Field of Dreams for the umpteenth time.  There is a shot at the end of the game at Fenway and Costner's character drives down Lansdowne Street.  It was nice to see the plain, non-commercialized street.  A few fans, some locals just milling around the place.  I guess I 'forgot' what it was like back then.  Fenway has definitely lost that lovin' feelin' 

EDIT:  I kind of liked it without the Monster Seats, so call just call me 'old school' then. 
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That, sadly,is the cost of progress.  If the Sox could build a shiny new park, the result would be the same.  Such is the state of professional sprts circa 2005.
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I also watched the movie recently too, and that scene on Lansdowne Street brought another question to my mind.

Have you ever seen that street THAT quiet, with so few people on it, while a Red Sox game was going on? (Remember, they left Fenway while the game was going on.)
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