I Miss the Curse

I know can't be the only one who feels this way, but somehow it just seems like rooting for the Red Sox was so much more, well, virtuous, when you knew they were destined to break your heart.

I mean, I'm not even sure who these guys are any more. It's like rooting for the Yankees, only without the pinstripes. Even Rudy Giuliani has professed his loyalty to the Red Sox Nation. And only Captain Veritek (have you ever noticed how close his name is to Veritas?) still actually wears his Red Socks with pride.

I don't really care whether a little more hardware gets paraded through the streets of Boston; it's not as if Beantown Fans have ever needed much of an excuse to lift a bottle and conduct themselves in a disorderly manner. But where's the Character? Where's the True Faith? Where's the Eternally Hopeful "wait 'til next year?"

It used to be that the Boston Celtics were the franchise to be feared -- the Dynasty which gave that word its definition. The Bruins were the only American hockey team who could skate even up with the Canadiens (as in Canadiens de Montréal, imbécile), while the Patriots were pretty much the doormat of the NFL.

And the Red Sox?...well, the Red Sox were special. '67, '75, '86...call me crazy, but the Sox were much more inspiring to watch in glorious defeat than they were in this most recent roll-over victory over the once-hot Rockies, who had to cool their heels for a week a mile above sea-level while our boys finally found their bats and disposed of the Indians. As for the Fall Classic itself? Yawn. I could hardly stay awake past the 5th inning.

Nobody in the NFL can really touch the Pats these days. The Bruins...well, nobody really cares about hockey anymore anyway. And the poor Celtics are reduced to trying to buy another championship on the backs of aging and frustrated free agent superstars. But at Fenway they're talking dynasty. That's right, Dynasty. The whole world seems upside-down.

Don't get me wrong. '04 was wonderful, especially after coming back from 0-3 in the ALCS to sweep the Yankees (which was actually much sweeter than the Series itself). But in a perfect universe, '03 should have really been the year of the once-in-a-century match-up between the BoSox and the Cubbies. That Fall Classic would have truly marked the end of an era and the beginning of a New Age. And I'm still convinced that a lot more people would have tuned in to watch that "consolation" series than bothered to watch the teams that actually played that year. Who were they again? Maybe I'll look it up on Wikipedia...

I love Papi and Manny and all our guys; but I miss the Cowboy Up crowd, as well as all those other "shoulda beens" -- Space Man and Oil Can and El Tiante, Pudge, Dwight Evans, Fred Lynn, Jim Rice, Wade Boggs, Nomar, and, naturally, Yaz and Teddy Ballgame and all those other great players who lived and lost for so many decades in the shadow of the Green Monster and under the Curse of the Bambino.

And now those days are gone, and what do we have to replace them? Another stupid parade. I hate to say it, but I might actually have to move on and start rooting for the Cubs. Even if they have finally broken the faith and added lights at Wrigley Field....