Two World Series berths in four years–seriously? With at least one victory?
As my dad told me last night, my generation has no idea what it was like for those eighty-six long years. Never mind the Patriots. It’s already a clich?, but what a time to be a New England sports fan.
As Ed wrote in an understandably dispirited post back in the cold, bitter days before the Second Comeback (i.e., four days ago), the Red Sox seem to be the new Yankees for a lot of baseball fans. I don’t know how much of that is genuinely directed toward the Sox and how much is projected dislike of the big bad Patriots, but even on the Internet boards I frequent–which aren’t sports boards–there are people rooting for the Rockies not because they’re Rockies fans, but because they want the Sox to lose. Ouch. This just three years after the Sox won their first World Series in eighty-six years. I mean, the Yankees have won twenty-five more than that in the same period. I can’t help but feel there’s a slight difference there.
But honestly, I don’t really care. I was born and raised in New England, so I get to be a Red Sox fan and a Patriots fan during these wonderful years. (For the record, I don’t begrudge native New Yorkers their Yankees fandom. That’s their birthright. It’s the fans from other states, particularly those that have their own teams, that I don’t get–I’m looking at you, LeBron.)
Decades from now I’ll be telling my kids all about this, when the Patriots of the early 2000s have become the Dolphins of the early seventies.
Before I sign off, I just wanted to to mention the October 18 column by by Boston Globe writer and Red Sox antagonist Dan Shaughnessy (I’m not going to link to it because I don’t want to drive up the hits to the article–that will just encourage him). He wrote:
There’s just so much working against your team. It’s hard to be positive. And even though the Sox aren’t done yet, some of us are already at work carving up the blame pie (speaking of pies, a Cleveland sportscaster did his postgame TV show wearing a cream pie on his head late Tuesday).
At least he predicted his own crow consumption at the beginning of the column. Hey Dan, I can’t wait for the next column, in a day or two, in which you explain why the Sox are going to lose the World Series, and whose fault it will be.
Has anyone else noticed that our closing pitcher is certifiable? I think its great, but, I have to explain him to friends who arent Red Sox fans…
Well, the photo Jason is running here certainly is disturbing! Not as disturbing as his Riverdancing, but…
Yeah, you’re right, certifiable.
Anytime you refer to yourself as “Cinco Ocho” and blame “Cinco Ocho” for almost getting thrown out of a game for arguing with an umpire, you might want to consider getting your screws checked. Some of them are loose.
I think hard-core closers HAVE to be more than a little off, and bless him for it! As a baseball fan that has followed many teams over the years ( most notably the Oakland A’s during the Charlie O years, but never ever NEVER the Yankees,except when I was really little and we would choose up sides and I would always get to be Roger Maris), the sight of the pitcher and catcher leaping together is the ultimate sign that victory has been won. Papelbon’s “bring-it-to-me,baby” gesture was so HIM that it was simply fun to watch. If you go to boston.com, they have a whole sequence of pictures that are all just fun to look at. The people openly rooting for the Rockies ( and are not the 30,000 or so living in CO who go to the park) are Yankees fans, because that is all the power that these sad little fanatics have left. As my email signature line says, quoting The Boss,
…meet me in the land of hope and dreams…
Red Sox 2007
We’re almost there!!
Oh, I completely agree with you. Papelboner is one of the reasons that this year has been so fun to watch. He may be nuts, but just imagine what is going through a hitter’s mind as he steps up to the plate. Do I really want to dig in against Captain Bud Light? I mean, this guy was wearing a beer box on his head while running around in spandex the other night! Speaking of which, I think I just found my Halloween costume…
Yes – I am reposting a Comment I placed on my own site. Hey – this is all part of my appeasement tour for getting momentarily blinded by rage. ED SMASH LUGOOOOOOOO…errr, where was I?
Anyway, here goes.
Now that my head has cleared (your beloved home team winning the ALCS will do that for you) I have come here to repent. No, I will not apologize for Tessie. The Dropkicks still owe us for that one – although ‘Shipping Up to Boston’ may be thanks enough (no matter how many times I hear that song, I never fail to get pumped and jacked).
My post last week was written in desperation. While I know I had nothing to do with the outcome, it is nice to see Francona come around and embrace conventional wisdom by his insertion of Jacoby Ellsbury in the starting line-ups for Gme 6 and 7. Of course, Coco’s absolute failure to execute the most routine of plays (bunting the runners along) in 3 tries may have had something to do with that.
And there’s happy endings all around. Ellsbury contributed – as the 36,000+ fans who stood and cheered his every appearance could attest to – and Coco got to make a spectacular final catch through his ‘balls to the wall’ dash to rob Cleveland of any potential hint of a rally and send the Red Sox on to the World Series for the first time in three years. (It would be nice if they would win one for my two-year old daughter Aria who has waited a lifetime to see this moment.)
Game 1 is tomorrow night. I will be saying pennance over the next 24 hours or so and promise not to follow those lemmings to the Tobin again. That thing’s cracked ya’ know.
Giving as how I spent the better half of last Friday night warbling alongside my soon to be married bud, Mookie, to a little Kareoke rendition of Bonnie Tyler’s ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’ followed up by my own solo shot at ‘Just a Gigolo’ and I had merely two beers down my gullet by that point, I have to take Pap’s cause under my wing. He’s not crazy. It’s the rest of you that are.
I am a happily married man and father of two children so I feel completely secure in my own sexuality when I say, I love me some Papelbon.
He’s my Man Crush.
Excellent choice, Ed, he has a nice ass.
Sigh…Mention of “Papelboner” and my mother talking about the nice ass of a guy younger than me.
Welcome to Biggerboat, folks.
I may be your mother, but I ain’t DEAD yet!
And take it as a sign that I just might be if I no longer admire ( from WAAAAAY afar) all of the attibutes of a professional athlete. I am not the one who put him in those pants…or Brady in his either, come to think of it.
I’m just glad everyone has moved beyond my shocking confessions. I don’t need that haunting me.
Ed, ask my dad sometime if you can listen to the “Thank God I’m a Country Boy” tape.
At one point Sunday night, I turned to DG and said I had a man-crush on Ellsbury. So you’re not alone, Ed.
Oooh, I almost forgot about Ellsbury. In fact, how could I forget about Ellsbury? His exclusion from the line-up was the reason for my post in the first place.
You are absolutely correct. He’s dreamy!!!
You guys are scaring me now….
I guess the ladies love Ellsbury. I was at game one of the ALDS and when he came in in the ninth and they annouced his name, all I heard was shreks of joy. I told my brother to settle down and relax, hes just one player. He stopped shreking, but he giggled like he was five when Jacoby made, what is now, a patented sliding catch to rob a base hit.