October 28, 2004, Curse in Hearse
That's it. 9-11 did change everything. It's been nearly twelve hours now, and the universe has not been destroyed, despite the Boston Red Sox prevailing in an inconceivable eight game winning streak starting with being down 4-3 going into the 9th inning down three games to none against the New York Yankees to come back and sweep the St. Louis Cardinals to win the 2004 World Series.
Many in New England will now lose a sense of their collective identity: the bitter taste of bizarre means of defeat, heart-crushing late inning errors or opponents' home runs, somehow made the long, cold dark New England winters seem less troubling than the annual fall collapse of the beloved BoSox. And now, its gone.
Now the BoSox will be "just another team", and a good one-- like the Atlanta Braves, for example, that wins once in a while, and is always in contention. No more curse. No more regional sense of collective angst. Curse exorcized.
Interestingly, October 27, 2004, besides the day of the Red Sox improbable victory, happens to be the 100th anniversary of the opening of the New York subway system; New York, of course, being famous for "subway series" (the most recent being pre-9-11, with the Yankees prevailing over the Mets in 5, in 2000), even though (few people outside of New England realize this), the Boston subway (the "T") is actually older than New York's. IIRC, 1904 was also the first year that the Boston Pilgrims (later the Red Sox) won the World Series (this franchise won 5 of the first 15 of them, before falling star-crossed).
Well, although the Bruins and the Celtics didn't get the job done, I'm counting on one more team from Massachusetts taking it all this fall. Go team!
Comments
Anyone want to start speculating on what Kerry will do after the election?
My guess is consulting. The only New England wonders are baseball and football teams, and Kerry has dropped so many balls, he couldn't make a team.
Posted by Crimson Dynamo at October 28, 2004 12:49 PM
You keep believing that, CD. Reality is, his senate term isn't over, and seeing as senator is the best damned job I can think of, methinks he'll keep it.
More than likely, it'll be a matter of who gets appointed to replace kerry in his seat by that hard-ass right wing Mormon governor elected by the so-called liberals of Massachusetts (did you count all the Black people in Fenway that weren't actually on the field or in dugouts, btw? I counted them all on no hands.)
Posted by the talking dog at October 28, 2004 3:21 PM
You know, I wondered about that lack of representation in the Fenway crowds. Is it just that the place is perennially sold out, or residue of the lack of team integration until far later than most other teams in baseball, or what?
Posted by Linkmeister at October 28, 2004 4:56 PM
"Curse in Hearse"!
Cold brains unmoved
Untouched unglued alone at last
No thoughts, no mind
To rot behind a trail of disasters
A final curse abandoned hearse
We ride disowned corroded to the bone
The fields of green are bent obscene
I lay upon the gravel
A worm of hope, a hangman's rope
Pulls me one way or the other
A final curse abandoned hearse
We ride disowned corroded to the bone
A bird of song is heard no longer
In the evacuated heavens
The drain is drawn and drained and gone
And on and on, it doesn't matter
A final curse abandoned hearse
We ride disowned corroded to the bone
Posted by Bentaly at October 29, 2004 3:04 AM
Right. You guys ever actually watch a game at Fenway?
Ever since Pedro got to Boston, you need to speak Spanish to talk to the people around you. Dominican flags are the most popular banner. And, remarkably, many Sox fans - Dominican and otherwise - just happen to come a range of colors.
Don't race bait just 'cause you think you can. It isn't seemly, TD - not from anyone, but especialy not from you.
Posted by Martial at October 31, 2004 9:38 PM
The Series was, of course, covered by Fox, and the crowd shown by Mr. Murdoch's network was, invariably, homogeneously White. But no excuses for race baiting; if I've offended, mea culpa, and I'm indeed sorry.
Posted by the talking dog at November 1, 2004 7:28 PM