Welcome To The New Red Sox
Before 2004, the Boston Red Sox had not won a World Series in 86 years. Many attributed this to a curse. My thoughts on that is that it probably had more to do with playing with the best team historically in baseball in their division and choke jobs. It wasn’t a curse that forced them to lose game seven in 2003 against New York, it was Grady Little’s decision not to remove an ailing Pedro Martinez from the game.
But all that is moot now. The team has won two championships in four years and has the talent to contend for years to come. They have the right mix of young, exciting players and veteran players who use their smarts to help the team win.
Now I’m not going to regal readers with recaps of the last two games and the ensuing celebration. The Red Sox swept the series and are the best team for the 2007 season. The real story here is how the team that used to be a lovable loser has now become the enemy. What are the things fans hate about the Yankees? That they spend more money than most teams can afford? That they make the playoffs every year while other squads fight to make it once every few seasons?
Well the Red Sox are now in the same overspending, perennial contending boat that New York is. The fact is that Boston, while never completely adapting the Yankee’s philosophy, won their titles in much the same way Steinbrenner went about winning. They bought big names and free agents and put together a team that would be a failure without a title by the end of the year.
So I hope now that the team is prepared to take the hate that comes with being elite and wealthy. I highly doubt fans outside of Boston are going to sympathize with the organization anymore. And I fully expect some other lovable loser, like the Cubs, to get nationwide attention now.
But at the end of the day, I doubt Boston really cares. After all, they do have two more rings than they did when everyone liked them.
Congrats to the Bo Sox.
