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Why Care About The Red Sox?
You know, every year all we hear is about the "Curse Of The Bambino" and how sad the history of the Red Sox is. HBO even had a documentary about their "long suffering fans".
To be frank, to hell with the Red Sox. For a team that hasn't won anything in 86 years...they sure do get a lot of TV pub. I mean, you can't watch Baseball Tonight without a Pete Gammons take about Pedro and the Bunch. And they get almost as many games as the Yankees on national TV.
But why should I, a non-Red Sox fan, give a damn about that?
What about the Chicago White Sox? Those Pale Hose have won TWO World Series in their history [Boston has won 5] with their last title the year BEFORE the Red Sox last title. So, they've suffered a year longer. And those White Sox have been in ONE World Series since 1919.....the year they THREW the World Series to the Reds. No one talks about that curse. Their last World Series appearance was back in 1959. That means a 44 year old man has never seen the ChiSox in the World Series. Granted, you don't see memorable ChiSox hearbreaks like Bucky, Buckner and Boone....but they did have Disco Night.
Oh, and we know about the Cubs. They haven't won a World Series since 1908. They haven't even BEEN to the WS since 1945. But, ask Steve Bartman if those fans are bitter. This team, though, hasn't had consecutive winning seasons since the early 70s.
What about some teams you don't normally think about when it comes to heartbreak and misery?
How about the Atlanta Braves? Unlike the Red Sox, these Braves have won 13 straight division titles. THIRTEEN straight playoff appearances.....and 1 World Series title to show for it. In fact, THREE times have they seen the team that finished behind them get to the Series ahead of them [Marlins '97 and '03, Mets '00]. Hell, the Florida Marlins....who played their first game in franchise history the season the Braves won their 3rd straight division title....have won TWO World Series rings. Then, they watch the Arizona Diamondbacks in their 4th season win a title.
How about the Cleveland Indians? They haven't won a World Series since 1948, and since then were the punchline of theMLB. And, you want heartbreak.....how about blowing a 9th inning lead in GAME 7 OF THE WORLD SERIES!!!!!! That happened in 1997.
How about the Philadelphia Phillies? In 120 years of Phillie baseball...they have one World Series ring. One. And, just like the Red Sox, they blew a Game 6 that they had won. RememberJoe Carter?
How about the Houston Astros? They've been around since 1962 and have never won a playoff series. Ever. Oh, and neither has the Texas Rangers...and they became a franchise in 1961. So, 74 seasons of Texas baseball and they have ZERO playoff series wins. In fact, the Astros have lost 19 of their 25 playoff games. The Rangers have lost 9 of 10 playoff games in franchise history. A robust 7-28.
What about the Milwaukee Brewers? They've had 12 straight losing seasons.
What about the San Francisco Giants? They've had Barry Bonds and Willie Mays. And the Giants haven't won a title since moving to the West Coast. Pssst....they also had the heartbreak of relinquishing a lead late in the WS winning game.
What about the Montreal Expos? They've only had Randy Johnson, Larry Walker, Pedro Martinez, Vlad Guerrero, Gary Carter, Andres Galaragga and Andre Dawson. And the season they held the best record in the majors, the strike ended the season.
So while the media believes the Red Sox to be the "loser darlings" every year....find a little space in your heart for some of the other teams who have had travesty filled moments in their histories.
sportzassassin at 3:41:00 AM EDT Blog about this entry |
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The reason to care about the Red Sox is that it's something to care about. Unlike other teams who have won the championship, we are still waiting for the one to come and therefore we deeply care about this team.
Haven't you noticed that teams with more championships start loosing their fan base? People expect them to win so they are not that much interested in the daily going ons of the team any more. -
Having been a White Sox fan for well over 40 years, dating from when the Sox were arguably the second best team in the major leagues (annually finishing right behind the Yankees in the pristine world of pre-playoff baseball) I see SPORTZ ASSASSIN'S point and feel the pain. Living in Chicago where the Cub marketing machine has crafted an unbelievable (and unsubstantiated given actual performance on a year over year basis) image for a team that couldn't give away Wrigley Field tickets in the early 60's makes it doubly hard. Maybe we should look deeper and see if there is a Bill Veeck curse that needs to be exorcised. At least Bill had more to do with baseball than some stupid goat!
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The Cubs and Red Sox have loyal fans who will sell out every game. Don't you people give me this I'm a long suffering Indians fan crap when they have no fans left. The Cubs and Red Sox have MORE long suffering fans than these teams that haven't won,and oither teams go unoticed.
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Thank you for a GREAT journal and commentary SPORTZ ASSASSIN! I am SO bloody sick of the "long-suffering" Red Sox and Cubs fans bleating about their romantic "curses". Red Sox fans, for the most part, are effete snobs and Cubs fans are front runners (many in that part of the Midwest are White Sox fans when the Sox are contenders and then jump on the bandwagon when the Cubs look to actually do something in the post-season, saying they've always been fan of the "Cubbies").
As a die-hard Indians fan who moved to Indianapolis a year ago it's hard to put up with the mercurial, "who's good to root for this season", allegiance of local baseball fans. Indy's not at ALL a baseball town, overall.
PS. Does anyone posting here know how to spell?
5/24/04 11:06 AM
Red Sox thing, heard. Far too much attention. I do think you are missing the point on why the attention is given to them, though- demographics and pathos.
The Red Sox are not the only game in town, or the state....they are the only team in the REGION. all of New England. MA is densely populated, too. Boston isn't like Dallas- you can't be in the center of the city as you light a cigarette, and drive to some Wyatt Earp-looking scene before it's done. 14th largest US city,6th largest media market.
What's more...all these people get tired of winter. They move South. You end up with Red Sox fans in Montana, Oklahoma, Florida and Alabama. These are people Rick Pitino once calls "The Fellowship of the Miserable", and they are as large a marketing block as gays or Baptists.
This leads into Pathos. Everybody has experienced some sort of Abject Failure. The Cubs haven't won since 1871, and the White Sox fixed it in 1919(they did WIN, at least in a point spread sense), but they are just regular losers. The Red Sox lose with panache.
Children make that Buckner play 99 out of 100 times. Monkeys would grab that ground ball, out of instinct. Had that field been properly fertilized, the growth of the grass should have stopped that grounder. Having a pitcher serve up a meatball to Kirk Gibson is one thing- but with Buckner, yikes.
This goes beyond performance, and actually delves into Mysticism, Karma, Conspiracy Theory, and Crime. People see the Buckner, and suddenly things like Predestination don't seem so far-fetched. If a Hall of Famer can muff a ground ball, then maybe the Swiss did kill Kennedy.
We're Seabiscuit breaking his leg coming down the stretch in the Kentucky Derby. We're a space shuttle crash landing on an orphanage. The gods are at work. People are afraid NOT to believe in the Curse. Look at what happened to Eve.