Yesterday social media was inundated with “Ten years ago today” posts. Well, for those of us lucky enough to be Red Sox fans anyway. I purposely missed the window. This is a memory I want dragged out as long as possible (hell, the Boston Red Sox are still the reigning World Series Champs…I like to hold on). So here’s part one of my two-part anniversary post.
Because of what was going on last year, it seems I didn’t post anything on October 27, 2013 to commemorate the anniversary. And because of a bunch of my posts getting sent to oblivion, I don’t have anything from 2012…but going through my archives, it seems I had a lot to say about this anniversary.
2005 – my first year blogging
I was worried that a new World Champion would take away how I’ve felt all year about the Red Sox winning in 2004 – when I watched Ozzie Guillen interviewed last night, I realized I was wrong. Nothing will ever diminish what the Red Sox did and how they made me feel. If anything, I love them more this morning than I did yesterday.
2006 – I was so excited I wrote two posts about it
More than once since I’ve been on MLBlogs, Yankees fans have complained that “all Sox fans have is 2004”. Taunted me with it, really, about ‘living in the past’. I suppose to fans of a team that continually go to the playoffs and have as many World Championship rings as the Yankees do, one specific World Series win isn’t that big a deal. But even if the Red Sox win 10 more in my lifetime, NOTHING will ever top 2004. And, as Red Sox fans, we’ve nothing to be ashamed of for remembering that season at any opportunity we can.
2007 – with the Red Sox in the World Series (and having gone to Game One), I was too occupied to actually write anything
2007 was sweet. It shut up everyone who said after 2004 “You won’t win for another 86 years!”. But 2004 was magic. And unless the Cubs win the World Series, no other fan base will truly understand what it meant to Red Sox fans. I don’t care how egomaniacal that sounds, it’s true.
2009 – I totally ripped myself off and just re-posted old stuff (sounds familiar…)
My memory isn’t always the greatest, but I remember everything about that night. I remember the moon. I remember the looks on the faces of my parents. I remember my sister’s voice cracking when she called me after the final out. While I hope that every sports fan can be as happy as we were on October 27, 2004, I believe that it will be impossible to ever duplicate what went on that October. And for that, as well as the two World Championships in my lifetime, I will be eternally grateful.
I’m not ashamed to say that the post-season of 2004 changed my life. It did. You don’t devote a significant part of your life to something like following a baseball team that hasn’t won it all in 86 years without being affected by it when they finally do. Maybe I’m not richer, maybe I’m not any better a person than I was in 2003, and maybe the world didn’t turn entirely upside down but, at the very least, I’m a bit happier. And that’s a lot to be thankful for.