Boston Red Sox: Our Father, Who Art in Fenway

Well, after losing game three 19-8 and being on the verge of being swept and embarrassed, I tuned into Game 4 expecting absolutely nothing.   Sure enough, through 8 innings of ball, the Sox were down, and once again, they had ruined my summer (and beginning of fall).  But then, Dave Roberts stole a base after Kevin Millar walked.  However, this was not an ordinary stolen base.

In many Red Sox fan’s minds, it started the greatest comeback of all time. 

The millions of Americans watching and the 38 thousand in Fenway KNEW he was going, it was just a matter of when, and if he’d get there.   He did.  Third baseman, Bill Mueller singled, and two innings later David Ortiz extended the series with a walk-off homer. 

The difference now, was that they had just gotten to Mariano Rivera, who in most people’s eyes will go down as the greatest closer in the history of baseball.  I still wasn’t convinced, though.  Even the most die-hard fans refused to get their hopes up this time. 

Another extra inning game in game 5, and an A-Rod glove slap later during game 6, (which by the way, was simply a case of A-Rod running to first, knowing he hadn’t come through in the clutch yet again, about to be tagged out, and slapping the ball out of pitcher Bronson Arroyo’s glove.  He would eventually be called out for the weak attempt), and another game 7 was on tap. 

I couldn’t possibly handle this again, could I?  No other team in the history of professional sports had ever come back from a 3-0 deficit to win the series.  The Red Sox were now just 9 innings away, and once again, they had me sucked in. Little did I know that it was finally okay to put my heart back out there. 

The drama was taken out of it for us all in the 1^st inning:  and how sweet it was.  A Johnny Damon leadoff home run, and just like that, the “curse” was gone.  The Sox went on to blow out the Yankees in hallowed Yankee Stadium.  This was finally going to be it.  It was truly a changing of the times.  I had only been alive for 16 years, and I was witnessing the end of generations of hurt and loss.   

The World Series went by with a blur, never being what I expected it to be, because I had never envisioned the Sox actually winning one.  I mean sure, every kid growing up in New England lets their mind wander once and a while, hell, I had been at the parade 4000 times in my life already.  But when it really happened, it was more of a sense of “No friggin’ way” than anything else.  Not to mention the fact that the Yankees series WAS the World Series to most Sox fans.  It was more than just beating the Yankees, it was a sign of things to come, the way I saw it, it was a new chapter in my life.   

My father told me he just sat there and really didn’t celebrate; he “just kind of took it all in.”  And as odd as I found that, I realized what it truly meant.  All the years of torment and hurt the Sox provided him and millions of others growing up; it all just seemed to disappear with a blink of an eye. 

For those of you who aren’t getting this, take the build up to Christmas morning when you’re a little kid, and then the feeling you have right after you’ve opened all your gifts, and then times that by a hundred. The parade was a whole experience itself.  I was the loser who got up at 6 am to grab a spot, and it paid off.  I was front row to see something people had lived an entire lifetime and died before seeing.  I saw people with tears in their eyes as Curt Schilling hoisted the World Series trophy, the man they had acquired to “break an 86 year curse”. 

It was the high of all highs for a die hard Sox fan. 

The 2007 title was just as meaningful, but in a different way for me.  Don’t get me wrong, I still rubbed it in as many Yankees fan’s faces as possible, but the 2007 Sox won it with young talent, some just 3-4 years older than myself; it was a sign of this generation really beginning to be a factor in the world, and that hit me like a ton of bricks.  The other difference here, was that the Sox were EXPECTED to win, a place where not only they, but there fans had never been before. 

They were the best team in baseball from April to October, and that took some getting used to. The Boston Red Sox have provided people with a sense of belonging, a sense of pride, a sense of faith, a sense of loyalty and a sense of community for nearly 100 years now. 

When you are born into Red Sox nation, you aren’t baptized until you go to Fenway, and you learn quickly, you’re in for life.

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?