World Series tonight
It’s the Red Sox vs. the Dodgers, and it’s scheduled to start at 8:09 PM. But there may be a rain delay.
The Sox won the Series in 1918 and then didn’t win it again till 2004. People who weren’t Sox fans for those frustrating lean years can hardly imagine how it was for those of us who were. I started being a sometime fan in the late 60s and an intense fan in the 80s, and the years between that and 2004 were enough leanness for me.
Well, Cubs fans probably understand, I suppose—they had quite a bit of a dry spell themselves between 1908 and 2016, although I don’t think they were quite as “creative” about their losses as the Sox.
After 2004 and the Sox’s Series win, which was a fabulous high that didn’t dissipate for months, I discovered to my surprise that I was now satisfied. I stopped watching the Sox’s regular season cold turkey, although I always tuned in when they were in contention in the playoffs.
So here I am, paying attention again.
[NOTE: Please see this post for the story of how I became an intense baseball fan—and why.]
No stros. Not watching. Go Dodgers…
I’m a die hard Red Sox fan in the Yankees’ Home State. I love being outnumbered.
I still wear my lucky Red Sox hat on rare occasions: my ex-girlfriend gave it to me as a gift on the eve of ALCS Game 4, thinking it to be a consolation gift on their imminent loss. That hat is now sacred to me and I have refused to wash it since then. It sits on my book shelf right next to my baseball signed by Wilbur Wood (he was a friend of my grandfather’s).
Ah! Perhaps we Yankee fans can make you another sort of changer, neo.
But I don’t think so. The best of luck (though I most likely lean towards the Dodgers – you know that old t-shirt which says “I root for two teams, the Yankees (Red Sox) and whichever team is playing the Red Sox (Yankees) ).
Dodger fan here. But hey, it’s just a game, right?
Don’t tell my husband I said that.
Gonna be hard to top the miracles of Fall ‘16. Cubs win the WS, Trump elected, and Hawaii’s John John Florence wins the World Championship of Surfing!
Les:
Since I grew up in NY in the Yankees’ heyday and was never a fan, it ain’t gonna be happening now.
“Well, Cubs fans probably understand, I suppose—they had quite a bit of a dry spell themselves . . .”
Hey, how about us Phillies fans? It took the Phightin’s a mere 97 years from their establishment in 1883 to win their first World Series (in 1980)– longer than any of the other original 16 teams in the major leagues. MLB video of Tug McGraw’s last pitch in the 1980 WS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPcFeaLLltY&ab_channel=MLB
Right below the video was this comment from another Phillies fan: “The magnitude of this moment has been lost really. We were the Cubs before the Cubs.?”
Funny story: the mother of one of my childhood friends was a die hard Red Sox fan (hailing from Rhode Island originally ). During the ’86 World Series, she was very hubristic about the Sox winning. I really didn’t care either way, but I insisted the Mets would win, just to antagonize her. Finally, she proposed a $1 wager.
I earned a buck. 🙂
I lived in Boston during the 1975 season. Sox were in the WS against Cincinnati Reds. Carlton Fisk hit HR to win game 6
which thrilled me because I had tickets to game 7 at Fenway- they lost & I was broken-hearted.
Curious: the very opposite of a Subway Series, right? Two teams could hardly be farther apart geographically than these.
PA Cat:
It’s true that for some reason I never think about the Phillies.
“It’s true that for some reason I never think about the Phillies.”
Well, they did scout Trump in his younger days; that if nothing else should make them memorable!
There is also James Michener’s 1985 tribute to the Phils:
“Garland them with timeless lilies,
Although they are a bunch of dillies,
Who give honest folk the willies–
Still we love them for their sillies.
Hail, The Phillies!”
Little World Series friction in our house. Since we live (too) close to LA now, my wife has become a fan of LA sports teams. I have not. I never was, but, it started to become a real issue for me when the Anaheim Angels became the LA Angels at Anaheim. Before that the California Clippers became the LA Clippers. Now the San Diego Chargers, whose birth date only slighted pre-dated that of my San Diego born daughter, have become the LA Chargers. Enough.
Actually, I mentioned this evening that I would never pull for a team representing a city that proudly flaunts the law, and pretends moral superiority because it is a “sanctuary city”. I don’t think she understands my logic.
In the past, as a devoted Oriole fan, I have only cheered the Red Sox when they were playing the Yankees. But, I will quietly hope for their success this year.
A good start! Good night.
Yeah, the Red Sox lost 7 game series in 1967, 1975, and 1986- that had to be a tough stretch for any baseball fan. Probably harder than being a Cubs fan the last 60 years- the Cubs didn’t even get to the World Series again until 2016.
I grew up a Reds fan, so I hate the Dodgers (they were in the same division and each other’s biggest rival during the 70s when I was an avid baseball fan).
I’ve never been that much of a BB fan, but I’ll remind all you Red Sox fans of this gem of a parody commercial.
For the few noobs reading, in the early 2000s, MasterCard had adverts touting itself, with people obtaining stuff that couldn’t be had for money (hugs from children after long absences, etc.) … “But for everything else, there’s Mastercard”, that is, if you can buy it for cash, use MasterCard…
Well, someone did a spoof of the ads about the 2004 Sox win:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-WhIpdqrNk
I was a baseball fan in my youth, and LA was my team (nearest one). But in recent years, with reports of people being attacked in the stadium parking lot, the general degeneration of the LA area, I’ve left them.
What’s nice about baseball is it has stayed relatively non-political. Hope that continues.
Yancy Ward.
Yeah, the Red Sox lost 7 game series in 1967, 1975, and 1986- that had to be a tough stretch for any baseball fan.
Also 1946. A Sox fan never forgets.
A Sox fan even remembers outfielders who bat below .250, such as Lou Clinton or Gary Geiger. There was a reason why a friend of mine listed as his pet peeve in his high school yearbook: “Watching those Red Sox lose.” Though the record shows that the Sox had really bad teams only from 1920-1933 and 1960-1966.
In fact, a Sox fan learns about what happened before he was born. Did Pesky hold the ball?
🙂
Gringo:
Just two words: Bill Buckner.
Also, Calvin Schiraldi.
OBloodyHell, that was a good Mastercard ad. That World Series win, after an 86 year drought, meant a lot to Sox fans.
Coincidentally, the only regular season baseball game I watched in 2004 was this one: Jason Varitek and Alex Rodriguez were great sparring partners in that epic 2004 Red Sox-Yankees brawl.
After the so-called Curse of Babe Ruth was broken, my passion for the Sox has diminished even more. I checked twice on ESPN for an update on the first game score before going to sleep, and checked the score this morning.