I am still recovering from the zombie like state I have gotten myself into, in last two weeks, staying up past midnight watching the Sox (or the lovable ‘Idiots’ as we Bostonians call them) make the improbable (even impossible) happen… I still cannot believe it… but the Red Sox have won the World Series!!!
For those of you who are not familiar with this, there are two leagues of baseball teams in America, the American League and the National League. The champions from each of these leagues meet in what is call the “World Series”. To win this is the highest achievement for any professional baseball team in America.
Boston, which is one of the oldest, most loved and respected teams in America had not won this title in last 86 years. You might be surprised why I am calling them one of the best teams if they had not won for last 86 years… well its because the cause for their winless 86 years… believe it or not… is supernatural… or so people think (correction- thought.. I am still getting used to this!). This was because of the Curse… the Curse of the Bambino… It’s the stuff of folklore and the myths.
To know what this curse is (sorry… was), I need to tell you who this Bambino is…
In 1918 the Red Sox won their 5th World Series, the most by any club at that time. One of the stars of the Boston championship franchise was a young player by the name of George Herman Ruth, aka The Babe or The Bambino… who went on to become the greatest baseball player that ever lived… the Don Bradman and Sachin Tendulkar of Baseball combined into one person, if you may!!
In 1920, however, Red Sox owner Harry Frazee needed money to finance his girlfriend's play, so he sold Babe Ruth's contract to Colonel Jacob Ruppert's New York Yankees for $100,000 (plus a loan collateralized by Fenway Park... Boston’s baseball stadium).
Since then, the Yankees, who had never won a World Championship before acquiring Ruth, have gone on to win 26, and are arguably one of the greatest success stories in the history of sport.
Meanwhile, the Boston Red Sox, prior to 2004, had appeared in only four World Series since 1918, losing each one in game seven. Many considered Boston's performance after the departure of Babe Ruth to be attributable to "The Curse of the Bambino." The idea being that it was such a sacrilege to trade such a God like player that they had in Babe Ruth, for money…and that also for such a trivial cause… that the team was cursed never to win the World Series again.
Ever since that year, the Red Sox were ridiculed as a cursed team…particularly by the New York Yankees…their archenemy and the Yankee fans. Since 1918 and until this year, Boston had never beaten the Yankees when it really mattered. They would always have great record in the season and when it came to the qualification rounds (called post-season here) they would lose. Wherever they went, they were treated with the signs of the “Curse”, images of Babe Ruth and signs of “1918,” (The comma at the end being deliberate…indicating the list of championships that has not gone further after 1918. A short for “1903, 1912, 1915, 1916, 1918, ...???” )
On the other hand, the Boston fans supported their team with the signs of “Believe” and “This is the year”… never losing the faith.
To put it in perspective, there have been two World Wars, the Great Depression, end of the Colonialism, man on the moon, and the rise and fall of the Soviet Union during this time… and the Boston fans kept the faith… generation after generation… telling themselves.. this is the year!!
Nowhere else was this contrast more evident than when they played the New York Yankees. It’s a tale of two cities… on one hand, Boston, the oldest city in America with its old world values of undying loyalty and faith in the “can do” spirit… which seemed ludicrous to everyone but the Bostonians. On the other hand, New York, the city which cares for nothing but success… equally quick to discard the losers… with their legendary “what-have-you-done-for-me-lately” attitude.
The intensity of the rivalry between the two teams could be compared only to that of India and Pakistan. There is so much tension when these two teams play, it’s hard to believe… but you will feel it alright. This year, they had to bring on the police in riot gear, by the dozens, during the American League championship series, when a referee call went against the Yankees. The atmosphere in the Yankee Stadium was so tense that it felt like a riot would break out any minute. To both teams, beating each other seems far more important than winning the World Series… well… almost!
Last year, the Red Sox suffered yet another heartbreaking defeat at the hands of the Yankees in the 7th game in the best of seven series for AL championship. (The only good thing that came out it was that the Yankees still lost in the World Series. ) And this year again, they were down 3-0 after losing first three games in the AL championship series. No team had come back from a 0-3 deficit in the history of baseball...in the fourth game the Red Sox were down in the last innings and it seemed like it was all over…. yet another year….like the 85 in past. But the Red Sox came back… they leveled the game in the 9th innings, won the game in the extra innings and rallied from there to win three more games to beat the Yankees 4-3 to win the AL and enter the World Series. Yankees will now bear the humiliation of being the first team to blow the 3-0 lead forever…and unlike the curse.. it cant be broken!!
And then they went on to beat the St. Louis Cardinals, the National League champions, by 4-0… to win the World Series!!!
It’s impossible to describe how it felt!!
Only way to know is to be a Red Sox fan who has kept up the faith a year after year…we believed…. this is the year… this is the year… can you hear the church bells ringing in the small New England towns… and the honking in the streets of Boston? This is the year!!
The pigs can fly…. The Hell has frozen over…the wishes are horses… the impossible dreams can come true… and the Boston Red Sox are the World Champions...!!
************************************************************************************
Red Sox - The World Champions !! copyright © 2007 by Sushrut Vaidya. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No changes or edits in the content of this work or of the digital format are allowed. For information, write Sushrut Vaidya at sushrut.vaidya@gmail.com.
For those of you who are not familiar with this, there are two leagues of baseball teams in America, the American League and the National League. The champions from each of these leagues meet in what is call the “World Series”. To win this is the highest achievement for any professional baseball team in America.
Boston, which is one of the oldest, most loved and respected teams in America had not won this title in last 86 years. You might be surprised why I am calling them one of the best teams if they had not won for last 86 years… well its because the cause for their winless 86 years… believe it or not… is supernatural… or so people think (correction- thought.. I am still getting used to this!). This was because of the Curse… the Curse of the Bambino… It’s the stuff of folklore and the myths.
To know what this curse is (sorry… was), I need to tell you who this Bambino is…
In 1918 the Red Sox won their 5th World Series, the most by any club at that time. One of the stars of the Boston championship franchise was a young player by the name of George Herman Ruth, aka The Babe or The Bambino… who went on to become the greatest baseball player that ever lived… the Don Bradman and Sachin Tendulkar of Baseball combined into one person, if you may!!
In 1920, however, Red Sox owner Harry Frazee needed money to finance his girlfriend's play, so he sold Babe Ruth's contract to Colonel Jacob Ruppert's New York Yankees for $100,000 (plus a loan collateralized by Fenway Park... Boston’s baseball stadium).
Since then, the Yankees, who had never won a World Championship before acquiring Ruth, have gone on to win 26, and are arguably one of the greatest success stories in the history of sport.
Meanwhile, the Boston Red Sox, prior to 2004, had appeared in only four World Series since 1918, losing each one in game seven. Many considered Boston's performance after the departure of Babe Ruth to be attributable to "The Curse of the Bambino." The idea being that it was such a sacrilege to trade such a God like player that they had in Babe Ruth, for money…and that also for such a trivial cause… that the team was cursed never to win the World Series again.
Ever since that year, the Red Sox were ridiculed as a cursed team…particularly by the New York Yankees…their archenemy and the Yankee fans. Since 1918 and until this year, Boston had never beaten the Yankees when it really mattered. They would always have great record in the season and when it came to the qualification rounds (called post-season here) they would lose. Wherever they went, they were treated with the signs of the “Curse”, images of Babe Ruth and signs of “1918,” (The comma at the end being deliberate…indicating the list of championships that has not gone further after 1918. A short for “1903, 1912, 1915, 1916, 1918, ...???” )
On the other hand, the Boston fans supported their team with the signs of “Believe” and “This is the year”… never losing the faith.
To put it in perspective, there have been two World Wars, the Great Depression, end of the Colonialism, man on the moon, and the rise and fall of the Soviet Union during this time… and the Boston fans kept the faith… generation after generation… telling themselves.. this is the year!!
Nowhere else was this contrast more evident than when they played the New York Yankees. It’s a tale of two cities… on one hand, Boston, the oldest city in America with its old world values of undying loyalty and faith in the “can do” spirit… which seemed ludicrous to everyone but the Bostonians. On the other hand, New York, the city which cares for nothing but success… equally quick to discard the losers… with their legendary “what-have-you-done-for-me-lately” attitude.
The intensity of the rivalry between the two teams could be compared only to that of India and Pakistan. There is so much tension when these two teams play, it’s hard to believe… but you will feel it alright. This year, they had to bring on the police in riot gear, by the dozens, during the American League championship series, when a referee call went against the Yankees. The atmosphere in the Yankee Stadium was so tense that it felt like a riot would break out any minute. To both teams, beating each other seems far more important than winning the World Series… well… almost!
Last year, the Red Sox suffered yet another heartbreaking defeat at the hands of the Yankees in the 7th game in the best of seven series for AL championship. (The only good thing that came out it was that the Yankees still lost in the World Series. ) And this year again, they were down 3-0 after losing first three games in the AL championship series. No team had come back from a 0-3 deficit in the history of baseball...in the fourth game the Red Sox were down in the last innings and it seemed like it was all over…. yet another year….like the 85 in past. But the Red Sox came back… they leveled the game in the 9th innings, won the game in the extra innings and rallied from there to win three more games to beat the Yankees 4-3 to win the AL and enter the World Series. Yankees will now bear the humiliation of being the first team to blow the 3-0 lead forever…and unlike the curse.. it cant be broken!!
And then they went on to beat the St. Louis Cardinals, the National League champions, by 4-0… to win the World Series!!!
It’s impossible to describe how it felt!!
Only way to know is to be a Red Sox fan who has kept up the faith a year after year…we believed…. this is the year… this is the year… can you hear the church bells ringing in the small New England towns… and the honking in the streets of Boston? This is the year!!
The pigs can fly…. The Hell has frozen over…the wishes are horses… the impossible dreams can come true… and the Boston Red Sox are the World Champions...!!
************************************************************************************
Red Sox - The World Champions !! copyright © 2007 by Sushrut Vaidya. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No changes or edits in the content of this work or of the digital format are allowed. For information, write Sushrut Vaidya at sushrut.vaidya@gmail.com.
