For seven straight days, Mandino and 119 other men were in the Florida sunshine, playing Baseball and comparing muscle strains at the Boston Red Sox training camp.

The international lament over the economy, he said, ``was a world away.''

It was the 25th annual Boston Red Sox fantasy camp. And even at $4,395 per person, it was a sold-out experience.

``I needed a bit of cheering up,'' said Tim Elkins, an Englishman who works in information technology just outside of London.

``You never know what will happen next week, so I thought, `Why not?' ''

Like other Major League Baseball teams, the Red Sox caters its late-winter camp to the most passionate, die-hard Red Sox fans. With official team uniforms, engraved Baseball bats and summertime reunion game at Fenway Park, the camp gives lifelong fans the opportunity to realize childhood dreams.

But since the typical camper is between 40 and 50 years old, the campers trend toward high injury rates.

``I consider myself to be in pretty good shape,'' said Chad Dwyer, 30, from Bourne. ``But we are playing 60 innings in a four-day span, so everybody is feeling it.''

Fellow camper Elkins is a relative newcomer to Red Sox Nation. He caught the bug in 2001, when he spent a summer working in Boston and following former pitcher Pexdro Martinez' career.

So at Fantasy Camp last week, he wore the number 45 on the back of his jersey.

Mandino, on the other hand, opted for Ted Williams' number nine.

``I've been a long-suffering Red Sox fan, since 1946,'' he said.

In the evenings, at happy hours and meals, the campers would chat with marquee players Carl Yastrzemski, Luis Tiant, Jim Rice and Dwight Evans.

Several campers got the trip as a gift. Mandino's was a 70th birthday present from his family.

``I never would have spent that much money on myself,'' he said, ``but I am very grateful to have done this.''

Chad Dwyer and his father Bill received the trip as a gift, too.

``My wife worked on it for a few years,'' said Bill Dwyer, 55, a Wakefield resident who works for the city of Cambridge.

A few years ago, after Dwyer's first time to Red Sox fantasy camp, Dwyer told his wife how much their son would enjoy it.

``Baseball is the glue that keeps us together,'' the elder Dwyer said.

So his wife started saving and on Super Bowl Sunday the father and son left for Fort Myers.

On Friday, the elder Dwyer was nursing a sore muscle and plotting a visit to the Red Sox's official trainer.

Still, in the scheme of everything else, he said, it was well worth it.

``The biggest problem you have down here is hitting the ball,'' he said. ``How bad can that be?''