October 26, 2004
"The Curse"
I've been thinking about this ever since that amazing run the Sox had in mid-August, where they nearly took the AL East lead after being 10 and a half back. I'm not making any predictions here. I'm merely speculating, okay? Let's set jinxes and superstitions aside and ponder one thing: what if the Red Sox win the World Series?
In 1980, the Philidelphia Phillies won the World Series for the first time in their 97 year history. Before they won, not only were they the oldest franchise in baseball, but they were the team that hadn't won a championship. Talk about being cursed. After 1980, as some sports writer recently wrote, they became "just another baseball team." Is this the fate of the beloved Boston Red Sox?
Don't get me wrong. I want them to win. I want them to win so badly that I don't even want to think about the possibility. Rob Coddry puts it aptly when he says, "I'm a Sox fan. Failure is all I know." (video via kwc.org) I'm just wondering what the future may hold once I start rooting for a team that can win!
Then I remember that a championship is just a championship, a trophy awarded at the end of the year. The profound truth that we in Red Sox Nation have learned to love still rings true: there's always next year. The most storied rivalry in baseball (arguably) still remains, and the Red Sox and Yankees will continue to butt heads until Steinbrenner decides to go ahead and buy the Beantown team. There will still be that monumental struggle for the pennant and, I suppose, the championship. Boston will still be as rich in history as it ever was.
But with a win under their belt?
Ah, to dream. They still have five more games to screw it up.
novak at October 26, 2004 04:44 PM
I say this in all seriousness .... Red Sox fans remind me of my brother. My brother, you see, is always the victim. Its someone else's fault he wrecked the car! (the bartender for serving him too many, the other driver for breaking at a yellow light, society's fault for making the drinking lifestyle seem appealing ... not only anyone, but EVERYONE except his own fault).
If they win the world series, Sox fans are now going to look at all the records and start coming up with new tragic events for themselves to root for. "You know, its been 37 years since the fifth right-handed batter against a left-handed pitcher from North Carolina has hit a homerun against the Yankees!! We are always on the sad end of things!!!! Victims!!!!"
and thats not necessarily bad. But the Sox are burning their Fanbase Candle at both ends right now. I dont expect a lot of Sox support in the future if they win this thing. Really, the best case scenario for the Sox is to lose the world series and maintain everyone else's pity.
Read this in the humorful yet somehow insightful way it is meant to be read.
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glynn at October 26, 2004 05:07 PM
When the Red Sox finally win the world series, they will just be another team with a hugely inflated payroll. Stripped of the burden of history and the condition of underdog it perpetually grants Boston, the only appeal the team will hold is as the arch-rival of the Yankees. I won't particularly want to hear anymore about them outside of Boston-NY games.
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kenji at October 27, 2004 09:05 AM
That's too bad, Mr. Glynn, because as long as you know me, you're going to hear at least *something* about that team.
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cyndi at October 27, 2004 01:31 PM
Anyone know the origin of "Beantown"? I always think that sound so silly and kinda gross.
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