Four Recent World Series Softens The Soul Of Boston Baseball Fans
Congratulations Red Sox fans.
You have won your fourth World Series in the last 15 years. It’s a tremendous achievement. This is after not having won one for 86 years.
But let’s face it. You were more fun when you were not winning titles.
You were hilarious. Side-splitting funny. Desperate to the point of being ridiculous.
And it was great.
You wrote “Reverse The Curse” on a freeway overpass. You went scuba diving into lakes to try and find Babe Ruth’s piano. You cursed John McNamara when the ball rolled through Bill Buckner’s legs. Actually, you cursed him before that play, but still, it added to your doomsday mentality of the club’s ability to get sooo close before blowing it.
But now, you’re complacent. You treat winning a World Series as if it’s an almost seasonal event like, well, a Patriots Super Bowl win.
No longer do the words “Bucky Dent” send angry chills up your spine. Thoughts of Johnny Pesky holding the ball too long don’t make you pound your head into your hands.
Back then, you were desperate. You were hanging on every pitch in the playoffs grinding your teeth into your fingernails.
I was with a number of Boston fans – and one diehard fan in particular who is a good friend – when the team finally broke “the curse” in 2004. I can’t explain the joy the fans felt, the relief, the pain of past failures gone like a big gust of wind clearing off a table.
“This is for my dad, who suffered through all those close, agonizing moments,” one fan said to me. This same sentiment was later repeated by several other people.
But now, it’s more of an “oh well, we one another one” attitude among the fans.
When the Chicago Cubs finally broke through and won a World Series, I told a Chicago friend of mine not to become complacent like Red Sox fans if they were to win another one. Which they have, thankfully, not done.
“Don’t worry, we won’t” he said.
Still, I wonder, seeing what has become of the Boston fans.
Leave a Reply