Me and My Sox
My beloved Boston Red Sox are up 2-0 in the World Series, and I am simply too dumbfounded and fearful to say much about it.
Red Sox fans come in two flavors: Sun-is-always-shining optimists and world-is-about-to-end pessimists. In 1990, the Red Sox were down to Oakland 3-0 in the ALCS. A "sunny" friend of mine insisted our team was better, and we would win the series despite the odds. Not that they "had a chance" but that they would win. This is the same kind of person who, every spring, and after every three-game win streak, says "This is the year!"
So what of The Curse? The strange thing is that the sunny-siders tend to believe in it as much as anyone else. The just think it's due to end this year (every year).
On the other hand, you have us doom-and-gloomers. We don't have this attitude because we like being crotchety. On the contrary, many of us are considered optimists on most other subjects, and can have seemingly completely normal personalities. But we have loved hard, and been burned, and are reluctant to ever believe again.
In 1986, with two outs and two strikes and a two-run lead and nobody on, I kept wondering how that final out would come: a pop-up? Grounder to Barrett? A strikeout by Schiraldi? The third out was coming, it was fact, and I just wondered how. Of course, it never came.
Now, for fans like me, nothing can be taken for granted. We're afraid to assume, for fear we jinxed something. A few years ago, Adam Vinatieri missed a field goal with the game on the line. A short one. Not because everyone misses sometime, which is true. But because the person sitting next to me said prior to the snap, "He can't miss from here." Had no one said anything, I'd have been shocked. As it was, I knew.
Only a Red Sox Pessimist would be seriously worried with a six run lead in the eighth. The main cause for our worry is a legion of Red Sox Optimists who have undoubtedly been saying dumb things since the top of the second. If karma gets them, it gets us too.
Objectively speaking, it seems obvious that Sox fans on either side are delusional in one way or another. To be perfectly rational, the Red Sox, with money to spend, will eventually win a World Series. In an eight-team playoff, "this is the year" is dicey, even with the best team. And on the other side, Never is a long time.
Still, as I watch Game 3 tonight, I'll watch my words, make sure my family does the same, knock on wood appropriately at announcer comments, and hold my breath till the final out, regardless of the score.
Almost game time. Better go, since blogging seems to be a jinx...
Red Sox fans come in two flavors: Sun-is-always-shining optimists and world-is-about-to-end pessimists. In 1990, the Red Sox were down to Oakland 3-0 in the ALCS. A "sunny" friend of mine insisted our team was better, and we would win the series despite the odds. Not that they "had a chance" but that they would win. This is the same kind of person who, every spring, and after every three-game win streak, says "This is the year!"
So what of The Curse? The strange thing is that the sunny-siders tend to believe in it as much as anyone else. The just think it's due to end this year (every year).
On the other hand, you have us doom-and-gloomers. We don't have this attitude because we like being crotchety. On the contrary, many of us are considered optimists on most other subjects, and can have seemingly completely normal personalities. But we have loved hard, and been burned, and are reluctant to ever believe again.
In 1986, with two outs and two strikes and a two-run lead and nobody on, I kept wondering how that final out would come: a pop-up? Grounder to Barrett? A strikeout by Schiraldi? The third out was coming, it was fact, and I just wondered how. Of course, it never came.
Now, for fans like me, nothing can be taken for granted. We're afraid to assume, for fear we jinxed something. A few years ago, Adam Vinatieri missed a field goal with the game on the line. A short one. Not because everyone misses sometime, which is true. But because the person sitting next to me said prior to the snap, "He can't miss from here." Had no one said anything, I'd have been shocked. As it was, I knew.
Only a Red Sox Pessimist would be seriously worried with a six run lead in the eighth. The main cause for our worry is a legion of Red Sox Optimists who have undoubtedly been saying dumb things since the top of the second. If karma gets them, it gets us too.
Objectively speaking, it seems obvious that Sox fans on either side are delusional in one way or another. To be perfectly rational, the Red Sox, with money to spend, will eventually win a World Series. In an eight-team playoff, "this is the year" is dicey, even with the best team. And on the other side, Never is a long time.
Still, as I watch Game 3 tonight, I'll watch my words, make sure my family does the same, knock on wood appropriately at announcer comments, and hold my breath till the final out, regardless of the score.
Almost game time. Better go, since blogging seems to be a jinx...
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