Hello, Hello, Is There Anybody In There?

Yes, I am still here. First off, I wish to apologize for my lengthy (almost a month!) hiatus from the blog. Not that it is an excuse, but I have been locked in an ongoing death match all month with Comcast and AT&T for my home Internet service. I am seriously starting to wonder if my apartment is like the Bermuda Triangle when it comes to connecting to the 'Net. I am so beaten down that I don't even get worked up with the customer service people anymore. It's like, "Hey, Leo, how are the kids? Wife still happy with her new job? Oh yes, and can you send another technician out to check my phone line? Cool, talk to you tomorrow."

Enough unpleasant thoughts. Let's move on to something that still makes me smile two days after it happened, that being another World Series championship for my Boston Red Sox this past weekend. After once again coming back in the ALCS, this time from down 3-1 to the Cleveland Indians, the Sawx rolled the overmatched Colorado Rockies 4 games to 0 for their second title (and second Series sweep) in 4 years. That's right, the formerly tough luck Sox are now a juggernaut, a powerhouse, your worst nightmare. Trust me, it is as weird for me to write that as it probably was for you to read it.

As I said to my mom and sister, it was definitely a new kind of feeling for me as a Sox fan watching the 2007 run. 2004 was like this fairy tale experience, completely nervewracking and I was so anxious that I wasn't able to completely enjoy it while it was happening. This time around I was much more relaxed and confident that the Red Sox were the better - excuse me, the best - team and would prevail in the end no matter what the obstacle. The thing I like more about the 2007 team is that it is a nice mixture of young and old, with newcomers like Pedroia, Ellsbury, Beckett, Lester and Papelbon blending in seemlessly with experienced vets like Ortiz, Ramirez, Lowell and Varitek. It is a team built to win now but also well stocked for the future.

"The Boston Red Sox on Sunday night graciously removed the crushing weight of baseball angst from all those blank-faced 2-year-olds toddling around New England wondering if they would ever see a World Series title in their lifetimes."

-Washington Post 10/29/07

I exchanged some e-mails this week with my buddies Rob and Greg about the implications of this title for the Sox. Specifically, how they are perceived now that the 86-year drought is over and they are no longer the perennial bridesmaid but rather the smoking hot bride. Rob, a Cubs fan from Illinois who rooted for the Rockies in the Series, was saying that most casual fans outside of the Boston area were also pulling for the Rockies. Much like the Sox in 2004, they were the feel good, cinderella story this year after going on a ridiculous run to squeeze into the playoffs as the Wild Card. Greg, a former Boston resident, suggested that when the Sox ended the "Curse" in 2004, they threw it on the Yankees, whose Series drought is now seven years and counting.

I will concede that I am a bit biased in this discussion as a Red Sox fan, but as I said to Rob there is always going to be some backlash when a team has the kind of success the Sox are having now. Just like everybody outside of New England is sick and tired of the Patriots winning or contending for the Super Bowl every year. The Sox went from the cuddly upstart to the relentless bully in a span of three years, and an already rabid fan base is going to be that much louder now that they are winning regularly. All I can say I guess is that if you want to shut us up then beat us. It is that simple. You don't hear a lot from Yankees fans these days, which is a beautiful thing in my opinion.

In short, the Red Sox are the gold standard baseball organization now, not the Yankees, and it is a strange and wonderful feeling.