kenjisan

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Thanks to Jess for forwarding this in an e-mail. Supposedly, "It’s a real sign from Route 1 in Houlton, Maine." Real or not, it's hilarious.

Somebody, pinch me...

It still hasn't sunk in. It still hasn't registered. Sitting in a bar full of fans chanting, "Let's go Red Sox," in the top of the 8th, I couldn't help but shake my head. Even with a 3-0 lead in both the game and the series. Even with the defeated Cardinals batters holding their hats, unable to get a ball out of the infield. How can these people hope? Haven't they learned?

I suppose old habits die hard.

I told Pat after he called me that it feels like New Year's Eve. The ball has dropped and there is universal jubilation across the land. People are calling one another, people are cheering. You walk down streets filled with people singing. Okay, so it's not quite like that, but you get the idea. I want to hug the guy next to me. I want to high five the waitress. I want to call everyone I know and scream "WE WON!" as loud as I can.

World Series Champions. Strange. I think I'll go to bed. Or wake up? Maybe tomorrow I'll find a million dollar bill on the sidewalk. Tonight has proven that anything is possible.

"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.

Stumbling to success

Eight errors and two wins later, we go to Busch Stadium to challenge St. Louis's post-season undefeated record. Now this is the Red Sox that I've been watching all year long!

Borrowed Time

Last sports entry for at least the next few days, I promise.

After Saturday's loss, I had all but given up hope. No, that's not quite true; I had given up hope. I watched Game 4 just because it was on and was pleasantly surprised (shocked, even) when they tied it up in the 9th. Everyone knows the rest of the story. Maybe Ken really was on to something—the only hope is in no hope—as pessimistic as that is.

In any case, because I had all but written the season off as yet another agonizing failure, I've viewed each inning since that miraculous Game 4 come-from-behind victory as borrowed time. By all accounts, they should have lost. So now, heading into the World Series—a Series they shouldn't even be in—they have nothing to lose.

Right?

Game 7?!?

I know, right? I can't believe it either!

(And as for putting this picture in context... dude, nice try, but how can you argue that call?)

Hope check...

Keep hope alive. Dare to believe. Have faith. Cliche. Cliche. Cliche.

We're going to going to game six. You couldn't write better drama than this.

Do I still believe?

I believe. Then I can't believe. Then I can believe. Then I can't. This is the problem with being a Red Sox fan. This is the reason I have these chronic stomach issues right around the post-season. After the first three games against the Yankees, I had truly given up hope. I even knew that Boston would win at least one more, just to give the doubters a little hope. Just to make defeat hurt that much more.

Ken summed it up nicely in his latest entry "On being part of the Red Sox nation".

But you know what? I've been fooled. I've been sucked in. I practically went to bed last night with my rally cap perched on my head. Can they really do what no other team in the history of baseball has done, return from 0-3? Probably not. Am I going to hold my breath? Absolutely.

I'll be there at Mackey's today, 5 o'clock. All are welcome, either to cheer for the Sox, or cheer for an end to these posts.

Red Sox lose, 1-3

On paper, this should have been no contest. Leiber vs. Pedro? Who the heck is Leiber??? Apparently, someone that can shut down the highest scoring team in the AL. In innings 1-6 of both of these games, the Red Sox have a combined total of 1 hit and 1 walk, no runs. Incredible. Wait to go, guys.

Where's my baseball hat. It's rally time.

On being a Sox fan

Even fast-forwarding through the tough parts, last night's 7-10 loss was grueling to watch. Last night, Pat jokingly said that if the Red Sox make it to the World Series, I might have a heart attack, I might be dead before Game 7 rolls around. While there may be an inkling of truth to the statement, I say that if I'm going have that heart attack—or develop that ulcer—it's going to start here, in the ALCS.

Some sports reporter (from the Globe, no less) wrote a fairly poignant article that basically said, "Be careful what you wish for..." Many of us in Red Sox Nation have been wishing for exactly this: a rematch of last year's heartbreak, a chance for revenge for decades of second-places. Last night taught me that this revenge may not be so easy, and certainly isn't assured.

Still, would I want it any other way? I don't think so. I could probably go without all the drama, all the come-from-behind near misses, all the Game Six-must-wins and the Game Seven extra-innings. I wouldn't have been upset with a clean sweep, two in the Bronx, two in Fenway. But I don't think a World Series Championship would feel as satisfying had the most hated foes not been vanquished along the way. I guess I view this like I view the rest of my life: it's not really about the end results, the goals, the ultimate destinations... it's about the things that happen along the way, the heartbreaks, the heroism, the stories that are formed.

For that, then, I welcome all of this drama, even if I sometimes have to cover up my eyes, plug up my ears, and go to my happy place. I wouldn't want it any other way.

Boston v. New York

Nothing rivals this bitter feud (Boston.com)

Yes, I asked for it and here it is. I found myself in the strange position this weekend of both hating on the Yankees and secretly hoping they'd pull it through. I wanted satisfaction. I wanted vengeance. With the reality of a Yanks-Sox series, the post-season nerves can finally set in.

Red Sox win, 8-3

Second helping (Boston.com)

The score makes it seem like this game was a blowout. It was anything but with these two teams fighting neck-and-neck until Boston's 4-run 9th, sealing Anaheim's fate.

I stand by my predictions. I also wish that game didn't go until 2 in the morning, or that I could have gone to bed knowing that I'd wake up to a Boston win. It's not hard to remember that nothing is certain in Red Sox nation.

Play-offs, Day 1

Red Sox WIN! 9-3! So basing playoff predictions after one day of playoffs is akin to making them after two weeks of regular season play. Anything can happen, these are the playoffs, right? And if I had been on the money at the beginning of the season, we'd see a whole different set of teams now that we're in October (Cubs, Phillies, where are you guys?).

Of course, I'm going to make those predictions anyway. Here goes:
Boston over Anaheim
New York over Minnesotta (five games)
St. Louis over LA (sweep)
Houston over Atlanta

After that, Boston over New York (and a really upset stomach for me)
Houston over St. Louis (in the biggest upset of the playoffs, sorry Glynn!)

A wild card World Series! As for the outcome... well, I wouldn't want to jinx anything...