Why I'm a Boston Fan...

Have you ever been forced to listen to someone rail on for hours and hours on end about a movie, trying their hardest to pick it apart so that no one can enjoy it. Or, worse yet, saying that the fans of the movie don’t know what they’re talking about – that anyone who enjoys the movie must be an idiot, or else doesn’t have any movie sense in their head.

Yeah, me too.

Well, I’m getting a little tired of this. All the sports “pundits” have spent years saying that Red Sox fans wouldn’t know how to react to winning a title. That we were defined by our history of losing. That when if the Sox ever managed to win a title, the fans would continue to be miserable – finding a way to complain. And after listening to hundreds and hundreds of angry Red Sox fans over the course of the first two games of this season, I was almost inclined to agree.

Then came Wednesday’s Game 3. Then came the Ninth Inning. Then came Mariano Rivera, and “Enter Sandman”, a song that usually drives fear into the heart of the opposing team. But for whatever reason, whether mental, physical, or both, that song just doesn’t seem to bother Boston anymore. As a fan, I used to hear the opening riff and I would just naturally assume that the game was over. But then a funny thing happened…

… the game wasn’t over. The Red Sox fought back. And they kept fighting, again, and again, and again. And then there’s Joe Torre coming out in the middle of the inning to take the ball away! He’s taking the ball away from Mariano Rivera?!? This doesn’t happen – this is a joke, right? Torre’s gonna turn around and call Mo back to the mound and say something like “Just kidding – now go get these guys”, right?

Who is this coming out from the bullpen? This, Felix Rodriguez? Joe Torre has more faith in him than in the great Mariano Rivera?! What just happened here?

And that’s when it hit me. We must be better than these guys. Maybe we got stunned Opening Night by Randy Johnson, but New York had their ace, and we didn’t. And maybe Carl Pavano looked pretty damned good in Game Two, but that’s why Theo Epstein made such a strong push to get him in the offseason. Can’t control that he chose New York over Boston – it’s happened before, it’ll happen again. But I know, deep down, that right now the Red Sox are better than the Yankees, and probably better than any other team in the American League. And once the postseason opens, we’ll get seven more games between Boston and New York to figure out who can lay claim to being the better team heading into 2006.

I don’t think Red Sox fans are trying to find ways to complain. I don’t think we’re still trying to be miserable. I don’t think we’re sado-masochists. In fact, I think the absolute opposite. I think that Red Sox fans are riding such a wave of happiness that we don’t want to see it end. We’re scared to go back to where we once were. We’re petrified that, come November, we won’t be able to call our team the “World Champion Boston Red Sox” anymore. Or worse, we’ll have to listen to “World Champion New York Yankees” once again.

So we find things to nit-pick about our team. We try to pick out areas where they can improve, in order to keep us atop the baseball world. Because if we can’t play for the team, and we can’t be the GM, we can sit on our couches and break down game tapes, trying to find the one flaw that needs to be fixed. And we can call talk-radio (not me) and tell the hosts what we think needs to be done, citing statistics and individual plays from weeks earlier, all in the vain hope that those in charge of OUR team will be listening and agree with us.

Because after all, the Red Sox are OUR team. Sure, John Henry, Tom Werner, Les Otten, Larry Luchinno and a host of others have the money invested and have the titles of “Part Owner” or “Principal Owner”. But this team, perhaps more than any other in professional sports aside from the Green Bay Packers, belongs to their fans. I can’t think of any other team in sports whose fans live and die with their team as much as we do.

And we’re tired of being dead.

Quick Thoughts while staring at yet another rainy day in New England…

- It couldn’t last forever. We had three straight days of beautiful weather. Then yesterday was OK. Now today sucks. Welcome to New England…

- Speaking of rain – has the first round of the Masters ended yet? I can’t remember a golf season with more rained out days than this one has had, and it’s only early April. These guys must be getting tired of this…

- Then again, these guys are getting paid millions of dollars to play golf all over the world. Guess they can’t really complain…

- Monday, 3PM. Monday, 3PM. Monday, 3PM…

- Pedro Martinez’s bitterness towards Boston is really absurd. If you’re angry with the management, then say your piece and let it go. If you’re mad because you chose to go to New York for the extra year and a couple millions dollars more, then shut up and deal with it. You made a choice, now you’re stuck. Maybe you can force a trade out before the end of the year…

- Speaking of mid-season trades, there’s already a lot of talk on the radio up here that mid-season this year, if the Cubs and Astros are both out of the race, Nomar and Roger could easily end up back in Boston. And all I can say is this: Why? I know Boston is all about bringing back former “favorite-son” stars (see Antoine Walker), but really, why? After all the Nomie-bashing we experienced halfway through last year, I don’t think too many fans would even want him back. Roger, maybe – you can never have too many #1 starters (see: Yankees). But at $9M for ½ of a season…?

- More than likely, the Sox will dump Johnny Damon and the rest of his $8M salary this season before he becomes a free agent, and stick Hanley Ramirez in center field.

- Yes, I realize it’s April 8^th and I’m talking about mid-season trades. What can I say – I’m a Boston fan. I’m always looking to make my team better.

Quote of the Week (Part II)

So, I know that I already offered a Quote of the Week back on Tuesday, but then Wednesday’s Sox/Yankees game happened…

“So, it’s the ninth inning, and the Yankees are three outs away from sweeping the Red Sox in this series. Stop me if you’ve heard this before…”

-- Michael Kay, Yankees’ “YES” network broadcaster

And this quote came BEFORE Mariano’s collapse… Talk about foresight.

posted by Big D @ 9:00 AM