Looking back, I see that almost exactly one year ago (six days earlier, to be exact), I posted an entry entitled "SIGH," which conisted basically of two words..."Damn Yankees."
My how things have changed! Break out the celebratory horns!! Those "Damn Yankees" have gone home for the year and my beloved Boston Red Sox are headed to the Whirl Serious!
*cue fireworks*
What a playoff series that was! I must confess that I had all but given up when the Sox were down 3-0. But, say thankya to God, they didn't give up, no sirree! Instead, they made baseball history. FOUR TIMES!!! Two of those were the two extra inning games in a row, the longest playoff games in MLB history. The third history-making event was when they forced game 7 of the series. Never in the history of baseball had a team done that after being down 3-0. Then, they made further history by winning that 7th game. And, oh, my friends (all 5 of you), they didn't just win that game. They dominated that game right from the starting gate. That feat has only been accomplished two other times in all of our recorded major league sports!
Wow!
And now...ladies and gentlemen...it is time for the curse to be broken. I feel it in my bones, do ye ken it?
The Boston Red Sox are going to win the Whirl Serious for the first time in 86 years! YAR!
For those of you who are not familiar with "The Curse of the Bambino," let me explain. I'll try to be brief. The Red Sox won five Whirl Seriouses in 15 years back in the early 20th century. In fact, they were their first 5 appearances in said championships. The last one was 1918. Two of the four games won that year to defeat the Cubbies were won by a left handed pitcher named...*ahem*...Babe Ruth.
You've heard of him, right?
Well, two years later, the Red Sox had a brain cramp and sold the Babe to the "Damn Yankees." They have not won a Whirl Serious since. Not only have they not won any, they have lost several in some of the most heartbreaking circumstances ever.
I wailed in grief when they lost to the Reds in 1975, the turn around point being when a Reds batter interfered with the Sox catcher on a play and it wasn't called.
In 1986, I was working graveyard shift, as I am now, when the Sox went up against the Mets. It was game 6. The Sox would be putting the Series away. I turned on the VCR (for those of you youngsters, that was a tape machine that actually taped television programs), so I could see the Red Sox celebrating when I got up to go to work. I fell to my knees in agony when I rewound the tape and saw METS dancing around the pitcher's mound. NOOOOOOOO!!! It couldn't be!!! And then I heard. That fateful grounder that Bill Buckner will never live down, dribbling between his feet to allow the Mets to win game 6. Alas, the Sox were never really in game 7. That was the last time our heroes have been in a Whirl Serious. 18 years ago.
2004 is the year.
I would really hate to be the Cardinals this year.
If I'm wrong, I will turn tail and cower in the corner, tail between my legs. If I had a tail, that is.
TTFN
Oh! I almost forgot. The person to whom my last entry was addressed also holds the Boston Red Sox as his favorite team. Yes, indeed, boys and girls, Stephen King loves the Boston Red Sox, too.
