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The Reverse of the Curse
Good Karma and Changes in Attitudes Win World Series
Sox fans celebrate
the improbable – a World Series Championship.
• The
Curses – Red Sox and Cubs
• Fenway
Park "Ballparks and Beer"
Karma.
Plan and simple, it was karma. That and a T-shirt.
The Boston Red Sox – jinxed, baffled, cursed, whatever you want
to call it for 86 years – finally won another World Series. The
date was Oct. 27, 2004, and it will be forever remembered as the greatest
day in team history.
There was no shortstop holding onto the ball too long, no home run
by a light-hitting infielder, no legendary ground ball sneaking through
the infield. Heck, the manager even made a late-inning defensive replacement
at first base.
So what happened?
Karma. For the first time in 86 years, the planets were lined
up just right for the Red Sox. One of Babe Ruth's ex-wife's houses was
knocked down for reconstruction, laid-back Jimmy
Buffett played in Fenway Park and fans were so stunned by
the miracle comeback against the hated Yankees just to get to the World
Series they didn't have the chance to practice their notorious pessimism.
Heck, there was even a solar eclipse at the exact moment pitcher Keith
Foulke flipped the final out to first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz.
Attitude. The single biggest difference for the Red Sox was
Curt Schilling. Not his gutty pitching performances on a bum ankle,
mind you, but his mindset. After the Sox fell behind three games to
none to the Yankees in the American Leauge Championship, they were constantly
told no team had ever recovered from such a deficit to win a title.
Delirious and dazed after the game, the fans then turned silent.
So Schilling showed up to a press conference wearing a t-shirt that
stated, "Why Not Us?" The players started to believe, the
long-suffering fans – who had tried everything from rubbing a foul
pole in Fenway Park for good luck to scuba diving in a pond to try and
locate a piano once belonging to Babe Ruth – figured "yeah,
why NOT us."
Suddenly, David Ortiz smacked two game-winning hits, umpires twice
collaborated to overturn potential game-deciding calls (crediting the
team with a home run and ruling that Alex Rodriguez intentionally swiped
the ball out of a pitcher's hand in a key Game 7 callthat had all the
makings of the typical dagger to the heart) and suddenly the Sox were
in the Series.
 To
cap it off, the Karma Gods bestowed upon them probably the worst team
ever to appear in the Fall Classic. The Cardinals won a baseball-best
105 games in 2004, but how? Their pitching was terrible, the baserunning
brought to mind the '62 Mets and on the rare instances their hitters
managed to get the ball out of the infield, they displayed only warning-track
power. The St. Louis Rams would have put up more of a fight.
Then there's this little nugget: The Red Sox would not have even made
the playoffs in baseball's old pre-wild card system. They would have
finished behind the Yankees for the American League East title and their
fans would be settled down for another long, cold winter.
And how did the fans react to this greatest of all triumphs? Some went
running naked through the streets. Others streamed out screaming on
Yawkey Way and Landsdowne Street, framed by Fenway. But after an initial
burst of excitement, a sense of disbelief settled in and, frankly, they
weren't quite sure what to do next. After all, they've not had any practice
at this kind of thing.
The moment of victory:
Fans celebrate in a bar.
Stunned and almost silent, this was about all they could say when asked
what winning the World Series meant to them:
"Holy crap. Can you believe it!? I'm in disbelief!"
"I was 9 years old in '86 and I remember every play. I can still
see it all in my mind. This win means so much, I just don't know what
to say."
"I called my parents and they were jumping up and down on the
bed. My parents!"
"I feel like I want to throw up. But that's a good thing."
So instead of the usual post-season chant of "Wait until next
year," Red Sox nation may have to adopt another slogan: "So
now what!?"
The Bartender can be reached at bartender@pubclub.com
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