Boston Red Sox: A Pictorial Call to Arms

My wife is a Boston Red Sox fan.

No, she is not a pink hat.  However, she is a Red Sox fan that does not know the joy of the 2004 World Series.

You see, while we have been together since 2000, we only moved in together in 2005 and it was then that she truly understood how deeply passionate I am about the Red Sox.

Surely, some people that are reading this have at some point in their life referred to themselves in some measure as Jimmy Fallon's character, Ben, in Fever Pitch.

In my case, it is actually a fairly accurate portrayal.

I don't recall the last time I missed a Red Sox game, either live or on television.

It wasn't until my wife (girlfriend at the time) moved in with me, did she truly learn my baseball obsession.

I made it a point to educate her.  Immediately I went out and purchased her a fabulous Baseball Field Guide authored by Dan Formosa and Paul Hamburger.  I wanted her to know all about baseball, not just names of Red Sox players.

Through my tutelage, she started to get it.  Upon her first trek to Fenway Park, she really got it.  She got to enjoy the World Series win in 2007, but has never known the pain, and rejoice of 2003 and 2004.

That got me thinking about the current affairs of the Boston Red Sox.  

We, as a fanbase have become fat and complacent, oddly enough, just like the 2011 squad.

Our belief in the local nine has dwindled and we merely rely on them winning another World Series, while we just assume it will come.  We are as much to blame for the collapse as they are.  It was us, feeding their egos, allowing them to believe that they just deserved to win the whole thing in 2011.

I want that old feeling back.

You know the one.

It was the way the entire city and state all chanted as one: I believe.  It was the way that fans really felt that they impacted the games by their belief in the players.

Our beliefs have transformed into assumptions.  We need to change that attitude before 2012 and start to believe in our team once again.

So how do we do it?

I Believed in Dave Roberts

Everyone and their grandmother knew as soon as Mariano Rivera walked Kevin Millar, Dave Roberts was going to pinch-run.

Not only that, Dave Roberts was going to try and steal second base.

This was it, this was the season, essentially, right there.

After three attempts to pick Roberts off at first base, Rivera threw his first pitch to batter Bill Meuller, and Roberts was off.  There was "the shot heard 'round the world" and then in Boston, Massachusetts on this Sunday night, the 17th of October, 2004, there was the stolen base attempt that brought utter silence to an entire state.

...then eruption when he made it in safely..

I remember how I felt at this exact moment.  I'm not a betting man, but I imagine that you recall how you felt just then too.

That feeling of magic, pride and joy that we all felt in the Boston Red Sox at that exact moment is what we, the fans, need to rally around right now.

Time To Forget the Past

Four years have passed since the Red Sox hung their last World Series banner.  It is time to turn the page.  This is not the same team that won in 2004 or 2007.  Sure, some of the faces are the same, but as Bob Dylan once said, "Times, they are a changin'."  

The best thing both the Red Sox team and Red Sox Nation can do is take a cue from the New England Patriots and keep their eyes on the week before them, not the accomplishments behind them.

Manny Ramirez, Curt Schilling, Pedro Martinez, Kevin Millar, Bill Meuller, Dave Roberts, etc, etc, etc, are all not walking through that door.

Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford, Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis, Josh Beckett, etc, etc, etc, are.

That Means Forgetting the Good... and the Bad

I loved Terry Francona, and as a fan of the team I am eternally grateful for everything he did for the Boston Red Sox.

As a fan, I am ashamed of how the 2011 version of the team just gave up, and allowed the complacency to rule their clubhouse. 

That is now all in the past.  ALL OF IT.

The team has shamed Boston baseball fans.  That is our scarlet (fitting) letter to bear.  In the words of Alfred Pennyworth: "Why do we fall sir? So we might learn to pick ourselves up."

If there is one thing Red Sox fans know how to do, it certainly is to pick themselves up.  Along with that, we need to pick our team up as well.

Believe It or Not, This Team Does Have a Heart...

...and he goes by the name of Dustin Pedroia.

This man lives and breathes baseball.  He lives and breathes for the Boston Red Sox.  He walks the walk and he talks the talk.

He never gave up on us or his team.  Why should we slap the unofficial captain of the team in the face by disrespecting the Sox?  

I have faith that Pedroia is certainly driven going into the 2012 season.  I have no doubt in my mind that he will be a voice in the clubhouse this season, and one not to be taken lightly.

Fans like to debate which player is better than whom, specifically those in Boston and New York when it comes to second basemen.

I'll tell you what though, there is not a second baseman playing today or retired that I would rather have on my team over Dustin Pedroia.  He brings so much more to this team than just his offense and defense.

This Is Not the Same 2011 Ballclub

I know, I know, there are a tremendous amount of players returning from the 2011 team.

That, however, does not mean that they are in fact "the same" as they were in 2011.  I have no worries or cause for concern with Dustin Pedroia, Adrian Gonzalez, Marco Scutaro, Jacoby Ellsbury or David Ortiz to name a few.

The question marks in large part come in the form of pitching.  With an entirely new coaching staff and a new manager in Bobby Valentine that will not tolerate an ounce of complacency, I highly doubt we will see a poor season out of Jon Lester or Josh Beckett.  

While only minimal blame fell his way, Clay Buchholz also has a lot to prove in 2012.  

If you ask me, having your top three pitchers coming in to the season with a chip on their respective shoulders is not a bad thing.  

I know they (those rumored to have involvement in chicken and beer) were embarrassed, both by the finish and the media explosion after the fact.

This Is Not a Bridge Year

The lineup is stacked.

Have we all forgotten about that?  In Adrian Gonzalez we have one of the best hitters in baseball with a swing so pure it qualifies for priesthood.

In Dustin Pedroia we have the scrappiest, hardest playing baseball player in all of Major League Baseball.

In Jacoby Ellsbury we have a man that by many accounts, should have won the 2011 AL MVP award, and is only getting better.

We can't assume injury off the bat, in that vein we have Kevin Youkilis coming back, a man that frustrates pitchers left and right and gets on base...a lot.

David Ortiz is back.  A man that can be argued as the greatest designated hitter of all time.

Carl Crawford will embark on his second season in Boston, one that I think will be a complete return to form from his days spent in Tampa Bay.

Our entire top of the pitching rotation is pissed off.  I can't stress enough how that (in my mind) cannot be a bad thing.

Believe It or Not, Red Sox Will Win a World Series With Bobby Valentine

I've already said my mea culpa on this and wrote an entire piece as to why I believe it to be true.

It all boils down to the fact that the Red Sox were in need of a new voice to lead their team.  No disrespect whatsoever to Terry Francona.

Bobby Valentine is the silver medal.  No disrespect to Bobby V.

It was widely reported that the Red Sox were hungrily trying to bring back John Farrell as their new manager, but it never came to fruition.

All that is dust in the wind now.  Bobby Valentine is here, heading up the most talented roster he's ever had to work with, and a city to win over.

It Is Our Charge to Keep

In Rocky IV, Rocky Balboa feels that he has to fight Drago after he, Drago, kills Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) in the ring.

After agreeing to fight Drago in Russia on Christmas Day, Rocky is confronted by Adrian who tells him that he does not have to fight Drago, and that he cannot win.  It is then that Rocky had the best line of the film:

"

"No maybe I can't win. Maybe the only thing I can do is just take everything he's got. But to beat me he's gonna have to kill me, and to kill me he's gotta have the guts to stand in front of me, and to do that he's gotta be willin' to die himself. I don't know if he's ready to do that. I don't know. I don't know. "

"

See, I believe that everything I've ever truly needed to know in life has been taught to me through Rocky movies.  This situation is no different.

The 2012 Boston Red Sox are very much Rocky Balboa.  The 2011 team is Drago and the 2011 team's expectations are represented by Apollo Creed.  The team killed their own expectations in 2011.

Now, the Red Sox have to overcome a fate created by their own doing.  It is our duty to be there, cheering the team on.  

While it is likely that Red Sox fans will start out eerily similar to how the crowd views Rocky during this epic battle, in time the crowd turns and favors Balboa, offering their support.  Our time is now, Red Sox Nation.  This is my call to you.  We don't have to forget 2011, but let's look towards 2012 with optimism and a clean slate. 

The time has come for this Red Sox team to live up to their expectations and it is our time, the true, hardcore fans of the Red Sox, to be there for the team, in their darkest hour, when they need us the most.