Yet another Red Sox Thread. . .

I know it's one more, but hey, we've waited a long time for this, so we're just enjoying the moment. . . O.K.

Anyway, I thought I'd post an e-mail I sent out to a long time member of the Nation.


I wanted to get this e-mail out and give you my thoughts on not only the Red Sox, but the transcendence of sports into every day life and it's effects on us all. During the last two weeks, I have run through every possible emotion imaginable. From utter despair, to unmatched glee, to the surreal view of reality. Right now, it seems like I live in a world where down is up, where night becomes day and where the Sox have finally beat the dreaded evil empire known as the Yankees. They not only beat them, but they did so in such a dramatic fashion, under such outlandish odds, they not only vaulted themselves to the pantheon of sports lore, but also erased the baggage 86 years of loosing could burden a society and a fandom with. Think of the little kid sticking up to the bully, think of the little train that could, think of every single point in your life when the cards seem stacked against you, then think of the 2004 Red Sox and understand that the improbable is possible.

I am sitting in my house alone tonight because I want to truly enjoy the moment for myself. Maybe it's selfish on my part or maybe I'm just embarrassed to babble incoherently and cry in front of others, but I want to truly enjoy the moment for everything it is worth because I KNOW what this means not only to myself, but to the whole fandom known as Red Sox Nation. There are so many stories and memories which bring families and friends together surrounding the Sox. Just as you can remember what you were doing during each and every Sox collapse, you can also look back on the times and know you were with friends and people who you love and care for. I can remember my first Red Sox game in 76, I was 5 years old sitting in right field with my father and watching Dewey up close. I remember watching Jim Rice in 78' and witnessing a home run over the flagpole in center field with my Uncle Pat, I can remember sitting with my Uncle Angelo watching game 6 in 86' (I was also living in Maryland at the time and my parents let me skip a week of school to visit Boston during the series), I can remember watching game 7 last year with my fiancé and having her ask me "Is this what being a Sox fan is all about?". I also remember the friendships and love I have for the people I have shared these moments with and how the game itself and the Sox have brought us closer.

I also remember watching the playoff game in 78' hoping for the victory. When Yaz popped out to Nettles, I went over to my friends house balling my eyes out. I knocked on the door hoping to see my friend Joe and instead his mother answered the door. She grabbed me and said "They won!!!, They won!!!". Still being young and naive, I thought for a split second maybe Yaz was only the second out. . . that was until I realized she was talking about the Yankees, not the Sox. It was my first experience at true disappointment, the first feeling I had of the "stomach punch", yet it would not be my last. It only drew me closer to the team, it made me root for them even more. Yes, I am still friends with him and I told his mother many, many, times that she would have to pay the price for that scarring on my childhood.

Well, I had to call her after game 7, I just HAD to tell her how bad the Yankees choked, how A-Rod was exposed for a cheating fraud (I used the A-Fraud nickname) and how every time a team in the playoffs is up 3-0, she'll be reminded of the monumental choke her team accomplished. I then mumbled something like revenge is a dish best served cold, laughed and hung up the phone. It was almost a baptism of sorts for me, as it was for other members of Red Sox Nation. It was 86 years of mental frustration being lifted off our backs. It was as spiritual an event for me as I have ever experienced. I'm not religious, but I can truly understand what Curt Shilling meant when he said he could feel God on the mound during game 6 in Yankee Stadium. The second time I can truly say life felt surreal, almost as if it was a dream (the first being when the Pats beat St. Louis in 01'.)

Anyone can root for a winner, but only a true fan can root for a perennial looser, wear their heart on their sleeve and be proud about it. This in essence is what being a Sox fan is all about. This is something I alluded to which Yankee fans will NEVER have, this is something I am truly proud of, rooting for the Sox through thick and thin. Picking myself up off the ground time and time again to root another day. Now, I can truly say this day has come, this day is what I waited for my whole life, tonight is the sole reason why I am a sports fan any why I root so passionately for my teams. The Pats taught me how to believe, now the Sox have taught me how to never give up. Truly remarkable lessons in life can be derived from athletic competition, and I can say I am a better because of it.

No longer will I keep up my boycott of NY City (I've never visited there, even though I've been to just about every other city on the East Coast), no longer will I refuse to buy a pinstripe suit because it reminds me of the Yanks and no longer will I fail to recognize Jeter as a great baseball player. I can now look at the Yankees objectively, without all the hate, disdain and true loathing I've been looking at them with for the past 29 years. I know how they are feeling right now, I know they are not watching the world series and I know their pompous taunts will never ever bother me again, for every time they try to taunt me, I only have to bring my hands to my throat in a choking manner and they will know what I am talking about.

For the young players on the Sox, players like Bronson Arroyo and Kevin Youklis, I don't think they understand what they have accomplished. The older players, especially the ones that have been with the Sox for a few years, know what this means to the fandom, the city and to the game of baseball.

As for Curt Shilling, he will forever be known in Boston sports lore as the one who broke the curse (not that we believe in it, but the media will grab anything for a story). He will be remembered in the stories of fathers to sons when they're talking about the great times of old. His bleeding sock will be the symbol for anyone who is stacked up against the odds. The symbolism did not go unnoticed, the red sock for the ultimate Red Sox player. I have watched and followed the Sox for almost thirty years, and never before have I seen a player more suited to wear a Red Sox uniform. I often think if we had not traded Shilling and Brady Anderson for Mike Boddicker if things would have been different. Well I hope not, for every suffering moment I have had as a Sox fan, this makes up for it. For every night where I cried myself to sleep watching yet another Sox heart breaking loss and saying "wait til' next year", this makes up for it. I think Shilling understands what this means for all of Red Sox Nation and he truly gets "it".

Only time will tell what this truly means for a society and a fandom, but life altering isn't that far off from what I feel. It is truly one of the happiest times on my life, and I owe a sport for it. This is why you are a fan, it's for moments like this.

Go SOX!!! You did it!!!! YOU %*@$ING DID IT!!!!!