10 reasons why Red Sox fans should root for the Rangers in the World Series

OK, we now have our World Series match up. I personally was hoping for a Tigers and Phillies World Series so we’d have a Verlander vs. Halladay.

Then I wanted Tigers vs. Brewers...
So naturally I got Rangers vs. Cardinals.

Now my fellow Red Sox fans might be wondering who they should root for... those who can bring themselves to watch baseball in the post on field and off field collapse of the Red Sox.

Well, one thing is for sure, you should root for a seven game series, which baseball needs more than a resolution to the Dodger and Met mess.

But what if it comes down to a 7th game and a tie score in the 9th?
Who should Red Sox fans root for?

It's an easy call.
Root for the Rangers... let me count the ways.

10 Reasons Why Red Sox Fans
Should Be Rooting For The Rangers

1. Not one member of the Rangers 25 man roster has a World Series ring

OK, that's not a Red Sox related reason, but it is pretty cool when you think of it.

If the Rangers win the World Series, every single player in the pile would be celebrating their first title. Having a whole team where it is the greatest moment in their life for ALL of them? That's pretty awesome. (The Molinas, Pujolses, Carpenters and LaRussas all have theirs.)


2. If the Rangers win, would Nolan Ryan’s “Let them pitch” style would be the direction of the new Red Sox.

The Red Sox need to rebuild their pitching staff and it will take more than banning fried chicken from the clubhouse to do it.

I fear coddling of pitchers more than the Colonel's secret recipe. I think it has already claimed Clay Buchholz and the old Sox management hasn't exactly produced the 1995 Braves... or the 2011 Rangers for that matter.

Ryan has let the pitchers PITCH and lo and behold the depth of their staff is one of their strengths. Win or not, the Red Sox should emulate them. Hope the Rangers win do the Sox will have to notice that Ryan has delivered much better results than copying Moneyball.



3. How often do you bump into a taunting Rangers fan?

If you are a Red Sox fan, no matter where you live, you will inevitably live or work near a Yankee fan who will give you crap about the great collapse.

Same with a Phillies fan or a Mets fan (although Met fans should keep their traps shut.) And maybe a Cardinal fan too.

When was the last time you uttered the phrase "I work with the most OBNOXIOUS Texas Rangers fan"? I am guessing never. That's a good thing. You don't want taunters to have the ammo of "And MY team won the World Series!"


4. Texas can become a free agent destination instead of the Yankees

Let's face it, Sox fans. This is going to be a lousy off season with the change in management and all. I don't know how many free agents are going to be running to Boston. And frankly the Red Sox have been spending too much on free agents recently. They need to develop their own players.

But we also don't want to see the C. J. Wilsons et al sign with the Yankees, do we? Well as Cliff Lee showed us, players are allowed to turn down Yankee money. And maybe if the Rangers keep winning and show they have a stable organization, maybe people will be heading to Texas instead of the Yankees.

Besides, can't you get a big huge mansion in Texas with low property taxes? DEEP IN THE HEART OF TEXAS!!!


5. Hey! Adrian Beltre is a former Red Sox All Star!

Shouldn't we be rooting for former Red Sox All Stars?

OK, so Beltre was only a Red Sox for one season and he wasn't exactly beloved... but it would be easier rooting for him to win a ring with the Rangers than say Clemens or Boggs with the Yankees... or Eckersley and Hendu with the LaRussa A's.

Go Adrian! Represent the 3rd place 2010 Boston Red Sox!


6. Come on… you can’t root for LaRussa or McGwire!

Isn't there something you don't like about Tony LaRussa? I could never figure out why I don't like him. It has nothing to do with him being a lawyer or doing that Glenn Beck thing. There's something about him that rubs me the wrong way. Seeing the Red Sox clobber the Cardinals in 2004 made it a little bit sweeter.

And McGwire, forget about it. Some steroid guys I have some sympathy for. This guy? He would have had Ron Kittle's career if not for the juice.

And together they massacred the Red Sox in the 1988 and 1990 ALCS. Seriously, you want THEM to be happy?

7. We can’t have the Cardinals also winning 2 World Series in the last 10 years!

The last few months have been so brutal to us Sox fans that it feels like everything positive of the past 10 years is getting more and more blurry. There's not a lot left for us to brag about.

Well since 2001, the Sox are the only team to win multiple World Series. That's still cool... except the Cardinals will spoil the fun if they win this year to go along with their 2006 title.

We need the Rangers to win for our own pettiness.

8. For Rangers fans, this could be THEIR 2004!

Remember that wonderful feeling we all felt in 2004? That great sense of relief! We had gone our whole lives thinking "Man, I'm never going to see the Red Sox win the World Series." Then suddenly they did. It made everything a little better.

Even seeing the Yankees win in 2009 and the Red Sox collapse in 2011 doesn't hurt the way it used to.

Now imagine you are a lifelong Rangers fan. The franchise had NEVER won the World Series. Hell, until last year they had only won one playoff GAME! The idea of being a World Series champ seemed pretty far fetched. If they win, then the die hard Ranger fans... the one that loved Pete O'Brien, Dean Palmer and Rusty Greer... would have THEIR moment they had waited their whole lives for.

Someone else deserves that kind of happiness.


9. A Rangers World Championship would George W. Bush happy and occupied

I am not going to get political here. All I am going to say are two things that I don't think anyone can deny.

1. George W. Bush would probably be happier if he were the Commissioner of Baseball rather than the former President of the United States.

2. He seems very happy being out of the political fray.

There might be pressure for him to be more vocal in the scrum that will be the 2012 election. For his sake and ours, I hope he is just going to sit back and savor another summer watching the Rangers defend their title.



10. SPIKE OWEN WOULD GET A WORLD SERIES RING

This is the BIGGEST reason for the Red Sox to root for the Rangers. He is the manager of the Texas Rangers AAA affiliate, the Round Rock Express. If the Rangers win, he would get a World Series ring as a member of the organization.

Spike was of course the starting shortstop of the 1986 Red Sox. He came along with Dave Henderson from Seattle in an August trade and greeting Hendu at home plate when he hit the go ahead homer in Game 6 of the World Series... the homer we all thought would clinch the World Series.

Owen was a typical Red Sox infielder from the Yawkey years. Not flashy, got his uniform dirty and whiter than the Bushwood Country Club directory.

Also Spike Owen's real first name? Spike! It was his mother's maiden name.

Every time a member of the 1986 Red Sox gets a ring, an angel gets their wings. I think that's how it goes.


So there you go, Red Sox fans... it might not get you all gung ho like 2004 or 2007... but there's reason to watch this World Series.

Say it with me! Let's go Rangers!
(Just don't yell that at a Bruins game.)

Will the Pilgrims move to Utah in Rizzoli and Isles' Boston?

I enjoy Rizzoli and Isles... not just because Angie Harmon is awesome, Sasha Alexander is terrific and Liz Benjamin, a friend, is a supervising producer.



It's a good show and I like the fact that even though it takes place in Boston, not EVERYONE speaks in a Pahk the Cah in Hahvahd Yahd accent.



I just watched the latest episode entitled "Don't Hate The Player." It involved a baseball murder which was a wonderful combination of Brian McNamee, Manny Ramirez and the McCourt divorce.



But even though it involved a Boston sports team, but not the Red Sox. At first I thought this was an instance where they couldn't use the team name in the show and had to create a phony team to avoid copyright infringement with the Red Sox. But then an announcer says "Both the Pilgrims and the Red Sox have a chance to make the playoffs." And Rizzoli says at one point to a Pilgrim player "I'm a Red Sox fan but maybe you can convert me."

In the Rizzoli and Isles universe, evidently there are two Boston teams.

The Red Sox and the Pilgrims (who wear blue uniforms and a logo that looks a lot like the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes' hats.)

I guess that makes sense. Boston is a baseball crazed city and maybe they can support two teams. (Ironically, the Red Sox were originally called the Pilgrims and they won the 1903 World Series with that name.)

But maybe they can't. Part of the McCourt subplot involved them wanting to move the Pilgrims to Utah.

That's right, a potential playoff bound team in a baseball crazed market wants to move to Salt Lake City.

I for one really hope the Pilgrims stay in Boston. They have too much tradition in the Rizzoli and Isles alternate universe to move them!

And where the hell are they going to play? Spring Mobile Stadium in Salt Lake City can only seat 15,000 and isn't the media market that Boston is.

I hope they don't just forget the story line of the Pilgrims moving. It is too much for me to just gloss over.

(But where WAS that stadium? Were those palm trees in the background?)

New Sully Baseball Video "Loyal to a Fault"

I am a native of the Northeast who now lives in California. I have no intention of leaving California or ever living in New England again, yet I will never drop the Red Sox as my team.

In the last Sully Baseball video, I look at the strange phenomenon of Northeasterners who just can't drop their team and how a city like Los Angeles can enable us fans with illogical loyalty.

My amazing wife Lisa Zambetti co wrote the script, shot it and worked with me in the editing.

We shot outside of Sonny McLean's in Santa Monica. The management and staff were wonderfully cooperative to us.

Enjoy the video.

Some seats are too good

John Farrell is having a hard enough time watching his Blue Jays fall behind 2-0 in the first inning.

Does he REALLY have to be so close to the Yahoo in the Bruins jersey and old school Red Sox hat?

I mean he can lean right over and say "If you pitch to Papi without a shift you ahhhh totally re-tah-ded."

"Thanks for the tip."

Questions for panicking Red Sox fans

1. With 156 games left, do you think the Red Sox have enough time to close the 4 game gap with the Yankees?

2. Do you think Kevin Youkilis will finish the season batting .105?

3. Will the Red Sox home record improve from 0-0?

4. Do you think that Blue Jays infielder Yunel Escobar is going to win the batting title? He currently leads the AL with a .474 average.

5. While the Red Sox are slumping, the Orioles are in first place in the East, the Indians and Royals are tied for first in the Central (with the Royals playing the most exciting baseball in the majors) and the Pirates are a 1 1/2 games out of first in the NL Central. Should those teams be printing playoff tickets?


CALM DOWN!!!!!!!

A guide for Red Sox fans in picking a playoff team to root for

So the playoffs are starting and the Red Sox are on the golf course.
Does that mean we Red Sox fans should just NOT watch the playoffs?

Of course not... just because our team is dead doesn't mean our interest should be.
Seeing that I was too young to remember 1975, I never saw the Red Sox play in October until 1986, when I was 14. Yet I never missed a post season... I would just temporarily adopt a new team to root for.

It's fun and involves a lot less pain if they lose.

So here is a guide for Red Sox fans to help you make a decision in picking which of the 8 playoff teams to root for.

CINCINNATI REDS

Why Red Sox fans should root FOR the Reds

- It is nice to see storied traditional franchises win. (Do we need ANOTHER Marlins World Series winner?)

- A title would be the icing on the cake for Dusty Baker, a great baseball lifer who had near misses with the Giants and the Cubs.

- WKRP in Cincinnati was a great underrated show.

- Old friend Bronson Arroyo is still pitching for the Reds. How can you not love Bronson?

Why Red Sox fans should root AGAINST the Reds

- I don't care how many titles we've won since... the Sox should have won the 1975 World Series and seeing Cincinnati celebrate again would be too much to handle. Seriously, watch the Ed Armbrister play again and tell me you are rooting for Cincy!

- I'm still bitter that all we got for Bronson Arroyo was Wily Mo Pena. We got snowed.

SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS

Why Red Sox fans should root FOR the Giants

- The fans have been tortured in a "Pre 2004 Red Sox" kind of way.

- They lost a World Series where if Willie McCovey hit a ball a foot higher they would have won.

- They lost a World Series because an Earthquake hit. Forget the Bambino... they had a FAULT LINE trip them up.

- You know who... Mr Juicer... is no longer there.

Why Red Sox fans should root AGAINST the Giants

- How much suffering can those fans really be going through? Even in their WORST day, they are living in the San Francisco Bay Area!

ATLANTA BRAVES

Why Red Sox fans should root FOR the Braves

- Winning a title without Glavine, Maddux or Smoltz would shut up the critics of Bobby Cox.

- Jason Heyward is a great budding super star and baseball needs super stars front and center.

- The Braves were once a Boston team... and rooting for them is as close to rooting for a Boston team as we are going to get!

Why Red Sox fans should root AGAINST the Braves

- Wasn't there... ahem... domestic charges against Bobby Cox? And now I'm supposed to root FOR him?

- Braves fans couldn't even sell out NLCS games and their playoff tickets are always available minutes before first pitch. How can you root for a team whose fans don't even support them?

- The Braves broke our hearts when they left town... and has Boston sports ever recovered? (OK, yes, but still. They dumped us!)

PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES

Why Red Sox fans should root FOR the Phillies

- It would be nice to see a dynasty in baseball outside of New York. It might even tick off New York fans which is always fun.

- It's easy to root for Charlie Manuel. He's like Grady Little, but with a backbone.

- It's impossible to NOT root for Ryan Howard.

- A pitcher as good as Roy Halladay deserves a ring.

Why Red Sox fans should root AGAINST the Phillies

- Hey! If there is going to be a bunch of insecure Native Northeasterners with a New York inferiority complex having a baseball dynasty, it had better be US!

- Not that we Red Sox fans are angelic Boy Scouts... but doesn't it seem like every time there is a knuckle head fan being tazed or doing something stupid like vomiting on a little girl, it tends to be in Philadelphia?

TEXAS RANGERS

Why Red Sox fans should root FOR the Rangers

- They are the only franchise to never win a single playoff series. It's fun to see a team finally reach the top and know you are witnessing the best moment in the team's history.

- It is a nice redemption story for both Josh Hamilton and Ron Washington. Hell, you can make the feel good sports movie right now!

- Nolan Ryan runs the team and says "to hell with pitch counts." If they win, maybe everyone else will follow suit.

- The Rangers most famous fan is George W. Bush... a native New Englander.

Why Red Sox fans should root AGAINST the Rangers

- So, Vlad Guerrero sunk the Red Sox last year and sent Papelbon into a tail spin and I'm supposed to root for him now?

- As I addressed in my video, do Ranger fans even care? Would Game 7 of the World Series in Arlington be preempted there for an interview with Tony Romo?

MINNESOTA TWINS

Why Red Sox fans should root FOR the Twins

- Nice people in a nice outdoor park and a cute name... what's not to love?

- 9 years ago they were going to be contracted. Now they are in the playoffs for the 6th time since then. Winning it all would be the icing on the cake (and a wonderful f--- you to Bud Selig.)

- Joe Mauer is a great superstar and having players like him win a ring can only help the sport.

- Jim Thome has played for 20 seasons and played in October now 9 times... but still is ringless.

Why Red Sox fans should root AGAINST the Twins

- There are teams with real legit title droughts... this would be the third World Series title in 23 years for the Twins. Spread the love to Chicago or Cleveland!

- Jim Thome... the guy with 7 post season homers against the Red Sox... I'm supposed to root FOR him now?

- I miss the trash bag right field wall of the Metrodome.

- It might snow in Minnesota. Do we REALLY need to see that?

TAMPA BAY RAYS

Why Red Sox fans should root FOR the Rays

- The greatest turn around of a franchise would be complete... before inevitable cost cutting tears the team apart.

- The Rays can be the answer to anyone who whines about a salary cap and how unfair baseball is.

- Evan Longoria, Carl Crawford and David Price are the kind of stars baseball should be promoting. Having them all shine on the big stage can only help baseball.

- It will take some of the sting out of the Red Sox not making the playoffs.

Why Red Sox fans should root AGAINST the Rays

- I hate the Rays. Don't YOU hate the Rays?

- I'm still bitter about 2008. Why couldn't the Red Sox score a few more runs off of Garza???

- How can you root for a team whose fans need to be handed free tickets to attend a big game? Even their own players crap on their fan base!

NEW YORK YANKEES

Why Red Sox fans should root FOR the Yankees

- You want to test your own personal threshold of pain by watching the Yankees AND Lakers repeat as champions. If you can survive that, you can survive anything.

- You are convinced Joe Girardi is leaving after this year for the Cubs. Winning the title and leaving would be a wonderful f--- you to the Yankees.

- You lost a bet.

Why Red Sox fans should root AGAINST the Yankees

- They are the New York Yankees.

- Derek Jeter would be happy.

- It would make the Alex Rodriguez deal look wonderful.

- You will have to interact with that Yankee fan friend of yours who will be saying "28 TITLES!" all winter long.




So go ahead... pick a team. Cheer them on and have a fun but stress free October.
Heck, a lot of fans rooted FOR the Sox in 2004 and AGAINST the Sox in 2007.

Let's return the favor.
(I'm rooting for San Francisco... who are YOU adopting?)

Good Luck Manny Delcarmen

Another member of a World Champion Red Sox team is gone.
And if I could salute Julio Lugo then I can damn sure salute Manny Delcarmen, who got traded to the Colorado Rockies (ironically the team he helped beat in the 2007 World Series.)

It may not have ended well in Boston, let's not forget what a wonderful Red Sox story his is.
He is a native Bostonian and "The Pride of Hyde Park" pitched at West Roxbury High School, dreaming of pitching for the Red Sox.

The Sox drafted him in the second round and in 2005 was called up to pitch for the Defending World Champs.

In 2007 he was up for good and contributing. With Papelbon and Okajima anchoring an All Star Bullpen, Delcarmen posted a 2.05 ERA over 44 relief innings. He kept the Angels off the board with 1 1/3 perfect innings in Game 2 of the Division Series that year (which ended on Manny Ramirez's walk off homer.)

He pitched in the clinching Game 4 of the World Series where he got to accomplish what so many kids in Boston had dreamed of and so few ACTUALLY have achieved:

He won a World Series ring as a player for the Red Sox.

He did it.
All of us who grew up in New England all wanted what he actually got done.

So while this year has been rocky and his season will end AS a Rockie, let me just say, from one life long Red Sox fan to another, thank you Manny Delcarmen for living out all of our dreams.

It was fun for us. I assume it was even more fun for you.

This Red Sox fan says BRING BACK JOHNNY DAMON

According to ESPN Boston, the Red Sox have claimed Johnny Damon off waivers from Detroit. Now that DOESN'T mean he is automatically going to Boston. That just means in the post Waiver Wire deadline, the Tigers can only make a deal with the Sawx.

Well why not?
Are people still bitter about how he left the Red Sox for the Yankees?
GET OVER IT! That was 5 years ago and the Red Sox have won a World Series since then.

We need to be less petty about things. And wouldn't it be nice to have a GOOD conclusion with a former Red Sox star?

Why does everyone have to be on the Ungraceful Exit Red Sox Team?

We've been starting Bill Hall in left field too often for my taste. Maybe a little bit of Damon's ability and willingness to crash into the wall can rub off on Ryan Kalish.

Who knows? Maybe Johnny can spark a big comeback for the Red Sox.

Either way, I like amicable good byes and if there is tension between me and someone else, I like to resolve it.

Maybe Dice-K can let him wear #18 for the last few months.

I say WELCOME BACK

Responding to Adam Felber

I've been good friends with Emmy nominated writer, NPR personality and author Adam Felber for well over a decade now.

We've worked on projects together, done comedy together, our wives have become friends, our kids play together and our siblings are all friends as well.

We get along about as well as any friend I have... with one exception. Our lone true tensions have arisen during Red Sox/Yankees match ups.

As you all know, I am an obnoxious Red Sox fan.
And Adam is a cocky Yankees fan.

While I have preached goodwill between Sox and Yankee fans, I can't claim I've always PRACTICED what I preached.

And when we both lived in New York, no matter how good our will was, it sometimes caused some tension, apologetic e mails after nasty passive aggressive taunts and some moments where we both wished the match up would just be over with.

Adam is a lifelong Yankee fan who went to college in the Boston area... and lived among Red Sox fans and saw us at our worst.

I am a lifelong Red Sox fan who went to college and lived 15 years in Manhattan... and I have always wondered why Yankee fans consider themselves to be classy.

In a recent e mail exchange, Mr. Felber tried to get me fired up about the upcoming clash between the Red Sox and Yankees.

I couldn't take the bait. Earlier in the year, I compared a lifeless Red Sox/Yankees series with Superman IV.

All the players were there, but it just seemed tired.

Well with the decimation of the Red Sox this season, I have a hard time getting pumped for this series. No Youk, No Pedroia, possibly no Lester and nearly a week behind in the standings...

It's worse than Superman IV.

It's like Caddyshack II.

There are too many replacement Red Sox to give me any real hope for making up six games in the loss column.

I wrote to Adam "This Year is Lost for the Sox."

I guess this was NOT what Adam had in mind.


"What are you talking about? With a sweep the Red Sox could be 2.5 games behind the best record in baseball. There are 4 teams in all of baseball with more wins than the Sox right now. And the Yankees have been kind of sucking this week. If the Sox win a couple this weekend, talk sh*t and rub it in! Make me hate Boston fans all over again. What's the matter with you?"

He then tried needling me comparing the Sox with the 1980s era Yankees and talking about how if this were a small market team this close, people would be pumped.

But alas in order for the Sox to really make any headroom, they would have to sweep. And in case you missed it, they couldn't even WIN a series against Seattle nor Cleveland, 2 of the 4 worst teams in the American League.

I'd love to see them back in it and when they slapped around the Angels and the
Tigers I thought "Oooo, maybe they're making a run at it."

However Youk's injury and Lester looking hurt may just be the final white flag.

But hey, the morons who said we Red Sox fans were going to miss "The Curse" are
proven wrong again. If I were still waiting for the Series win, this year would
be agonizing. After seeing them win a few titles, I can be a little less frantic and more practical.

That being said... there is one constant to the world of Red Sox and Yankees... the pleasure felt by seeing our team win can only be rivaled by the sick joy of watching the other team squirm.

That's why Yankee fans were so happy all those years.
That's why we Sox fans were so nuts in 2004.

In 2009, I had to sit through the Lakers and the Yankees each winning a title.
This year I had the gut punch of the Lakers beating the Celtics... I can't deal with a Yankee repeat.

Chances are the Yankees and the Rays are both going to the post season. And one of them will probably have to face Cliff Lee and the Rangers in a Best of Five series.

And with the Yankees shaky starting staff, uncertain bullpen and the implosion of Joba Chamberlain, a team like the Rangers could certainly steal a game from the Yankees and throw Cliff Lee at them in games 1 and 5.

And if the Yankees are the Wild Card team, they'd be facing Lee on the road.

And if that is the case, there would be a damn good chance that the Yankees would lose, Derek Jeter would have his 1,000 yard stare and Yankee fans would be sad.

And that's a GOOD thing!

So one way to help set up that match up that would NOT favor the Yankees is to WIN THE SERIES!

That's it!
I got all the motivation I need to get pumped for this series!

Schadenfreude is a powerful muse.

OK, Felber... it is ON!

My Red Sox may not win this year, but I'll be damned if YOU feel any joy this October!

Let's Go Sox!
Suck on it Felber!

(And we should get out families together soon.)

Sully

My fellow Boston fans... the 2000's are over

When the game ended at the Staples Center Thursday night and Kobe and company were crowned as repeat champions, a thought crept into my head:

This wouldn't have happened in the 2000s.
If this were the 2000s, the Celtics would have drained a bunch of threes in the last minute and the Lakers would come up just short.

That's the way the 2000s were for Boston teams it felt like.
But it is 2010 now... and despite some nitwits insistence that it isn't a new decade yet, the results on the field, on the court and in the rink suggest otherwise.

For so long, the Boston sports scene was a place of futility. And after the 1986 Celtics title it was barren of titles.

After the Celtics beat the Rockets that year you had the 1986 World Series and the legacy THAT gave Boston.

You had Magic's hook shot over the Celtics. That along with the deaths of Len Bias and Reggie Lewis, the breakdown of Bird and the M.L. Carr and Rick Pitino years turned the once proud Celtics into just another team on the schedule.

You had the two Stanley Cup Finals where Edmonton waxed the Bruins (and the lights were shut off in the Garden during one of the games.)

You had the Patriots in the Super Bowl against the Packers, only to lose and the Bill Parcells/Robert Kraft Soap Opera hanging over the entire game. And let's face it, the Patriots were an afterthought in New England.

For 16 years that was it. The 1990s saw each Boston team sinking into irrelevance and the Yankees AND Lakers transformed themselves into dynasties by the beginning of the 21st Century.

It was tough being a Boston fan. We thought Drew Bledsoe, Joe Thornton, Antoine Walker, Mo Vaughn and Nomar Garciaparra would be the next great Boston sports hero... but all fell short.

Then came the 2000s.

And the change in Boston sports came without warning. The tuck rule went the Patriots way, but the Super Bowl was going to be yet another mismatch like the Bears in 1986 and the Packers in 1997. The Rams were going to kill them.

But when Vinatieri's field goal went through, I remember my friend and current workmate Jon Corbett yelling with disbelief "I can't believe the Patriots won the Super Bowl!"

It is hard for young Boston fans to understand how unbelievable this was. Using my theory that you don't really follow a sports team until you are 8 years old, there are 16 year olds who only know Boston sports as a place where championships are expected.

But between the 86 Celtics and the Patriots first Super Bowl win, there was a grand total of zero victory parades in Boston.

That's a 16 year gap. There were 24 year Boston fans where that Super Bowl was the first real memory of one of their teams winning.

Then they did it again... but when Grady left Pedro in too long, it looked like more of the same for the Red Sox. Sure the Pats could win, but the order of the universe was still the same.

Then Dave Roberts stole second... and anything became possible.

Could the Red Sox beat the Yankees?

Yes and in humiliating ways never seen before.

Could the Red Sox win a championship?

You bet... and like the Patriots, they could have MULTIPLE titles.

Could the Celtics be champs again? Why not? And why not have one of the biggest thumpin's in NBA history for a clincher against the Lakers no less?

Could the Patriots go undefeated in a regular season? Check the videotape!

Could the Red Sox win an elimination game where they were down 7-0? Do you even doubt it?

The Duck Boats got a lot of miles on them and we Boston fans showed we could be just as obnoxious in victory as we were in victory.

There were so many new heroes in Boston sports lore that they threatened to push many older legends out of everyone's memory.

Tom Brady! Tedy Bruschi! Richard Seymour! Curt Schilling! Big Papi Ortiz! Josh Beckett! Paul Pierce! Ray Allen! Kevin Garnett!

And cult heroes like Kevin Millar, Ty Law and Big Baby Davis!

But it was more than just victory... remember with every victory there is a team defeated and for a glorious period of time some of the most hated figures in Boston sports kept wetting the bed.

The Yankees had two of their biggest collapses in team history in the 2000s with the 2001 World Series and the 2004 ALCS... and after 2004, they couldn't make it out of the Division Series and missed the playoffs altogether in 2008.

And the pick up of A-Rod seemed to blow up in their face as he kept folding like a tent and slapping wrists in the playoffs.


The Lakers imploded in the 2004 Finals and the team was dismantled to please Kobe... and the titles dried up as Kobe couldn't deliver a title without Shaq.

And Peyton Manning had the stats, but Tom Brady was the CHAMPION.

Phil Jackson and Joe Torre wrote books about how rotten things were behind the scenes.

It was a glorious time and it was a petty time.

It was a time of happiness for our team's victory and for schadenfreude for other fan base's misery.

It was a perfect storm of our ability to celebrate and be pricks.

And it's over now.

Manning? He's a Super Bowl champ now and he's won one more recently than Brady because of the OTHER Manning.

A-Rod? He's a World Champion now and he hit key game tying homers and game winning hits in the Division Series, ALCS and World Series to get his ring.

Kobe? He has back to back titles now, the last one coming at the expense of our Celtics not being able to hold a 13 point second half lead. People are now talking about him in the same breath as Michael Jordan.

Since October 2009, Papelbon let up 3 ninth inning runs to eliminate the Red Sox, the Patriots got blown out at home in the playoffs, the Bruins blew a 3-0 series lead and the Celtics blew a shot at the NBA championship with less than 6 minutes to go.

The swagger is gone and that sense of impending doom has sadly crept back into our consciousness.

It's kind of like the movie Awakenings. For a brief moment we were able to come out of our slumber to experience the joys of winning teams, only to slip back into our immobile state.

Now in full disclosure, I am not a Boston Bruins fan. I am a San Jose Sharks fan and they have their OWN issues!

And my devotion to the Patriots is tenuous at best. I would trade all three Super Bowls for J. D. Drew to get a double off of David Price in the 8th inning of Game 7 of the 2008 ALCS... or for the Celtics to hang on to the 4th quarter lead on Thursday night.

And I am sure my friends who follow the Bruins primarily would trade the 3 Super Bowls, 2 World Series titles, and the NBA title for one Stanley Cup.

Maybe it will be good for us Boston fans to take a few lumps. It will help us appreciate what an amazing decade we experienced. What a huge class of water we had after a long thirst.

I'm not saying we shouldn't root hard for our teams. We should.
I'm not saying we won't see our teams win this decade. I bet some will.

But perhaps it was appropriate that Manny showed up t Fenway the day after the NBA Finals loss.

It was a reminder of that glorious decade where everything seemed to go our way.

We may never have a decade like this again.

Think of how lucky we are that we could experience it.

I feel bad for the kids born in 2002 and are 8 years old just following teams now. They missed out on a great decade.

Turn the page and let's give those kids some memories of their own!

Hey my fellow Red Sox fans... turn off the game

I have some thoughts about the 2010 season, some good and some bad... but right now there is nothing good that can come about from watching this game.

Yeah I know they could come back and win today and it would be one of those great Red Sox wins against the Yankees.

But that is a risk we'll have to take.

This year is turning into that strange type of season that kids in Boston 15 years or younger probably can't even comprehend... and that every other fan base (save for the Yankees) experiences so often:

A transition year.

A year between the great ones.

I grew up in transitions years.
Between 1979 and 1985, the years when I was 7 to 13 years old and really beginning to understand the game, the Red Sox never really contended. They put winning teams on the field, but they weren't contenders.

I wrote about that already and I will bring it up again later when I dissect this edition of the Sox. But right now, stop obsessing. Oh be a good fan... but for today, go outside or do some chores.

You'll only be angry at the end of the day that you spent so much time watching the game.

I have a dream... that Boston fans would have better perspective

Last night was a great tribute to Nomar Garciaparra... someone whom I have already saluted on the blog.



It was wonderful to see whatever ill will existed 5 or 6 years ago between management and Nomar has been put aside to remember what a terrific Red Sox player he was.



But of course it is Boston... the city of my youth... and these are Red Sox fans... and I am one of them... and someone HAS to say something nuts.





And that person would be this lady, who appears in a Boston Globe video posted by Dirt Dog guru Steve Silva.



She compares the night that Nomar got traded to one of those days you all remember like "when Martin Luther King got shot."



I'm just glad they cut away before she took the analogy further. "And you know Dr. King died defending racial justice and Nomar was traded and it lead to the Sox winning the 2004 World Series... so he sacrificed himself for a greater good. I just can't figure out who was more noble."



It's one of those moments where I can't figure out if I am proud or ashamed to be a Sox fan. I guess a funny combination.



Here's her clip... it's right after the band plays up top.