Park Your Chair in Harvard Square

With its elegant selection of wines that don’t come in a box, cheeses you can’t pronounce without a French citation, and imported candies that put your $0.99 bag of CVS candy corn to shame, Cardullo’s Gourmet Shoppe doesn’t seem like a traditional hangout for home-grown Red Sox fans. For savvy local Sox fans, however, that’s exactly what it is.

Twenty-odd square patrons huddled around the 42-inch flat screen in Cardullo’s front window last Tuesday for the first game of the postseason.

The crowd included several “regulars”—two Cambridge policemen, an MIT English professor, the Au Bon Pain chess champ, and a smattering of residents and visitors enjoying Boston’s 4-0 win over the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Ben Affleck, David Leary, and Car Talk’s Click and Clack have also joined this convivial crowd in previous seasons.

Although Cardullo’s has been broadcasting Sox games for eight years, it was only five years ago that this storefront gimmick turned into a tradition. Dennis Coveney plopped a folding chair onto the cobblestones, and soon other members of Red Sox Nation followed suit.

Since then, several “regulars” have earned one of Coveney’s highly coveted chairs. “They have to earn their seats here,” said Coveney, who never misses a game. “They have to hang tough—rain, sleet, snow.” And you thought comping Women in Business required dedication.

Cardullo’s proprietor Frances Cardullo plans to add a display of Red Sox memorabilia and upgrade the current television to an LCD flat panel in time for the playoffs. “I don’t do it for profit,” says Cardullo. “I do it as a community thing.”

The Cardullo’s crowd is convinced the Sox are going to take the series, but if the Curse of the Bambino returns, at least their misery will have company.