This Season
Since this is an offday I want to say a little about what this season means to me personally......
First off, I want to say that I have been a Red Sox fan thanks to my dad being an avid fan as I have grown up. I have watched some games here and there every season since about 2001 or 2002. I watched (and heard about) them lose to the Yankees in the 2003 ALCS. That was devastating for my dad, and I understood what happened and why my dad was sad and mopy the next morning, but I didn't feel it for myself. I understood how everyone else felt about what happened and I somewhat put myself on their level of thinking, but I don't think I really did know how they felt. What I knew was that this baseball team that I knew about and sometimes watched had lost a huge game to their rivals. I knew about the curse of the Bambino and what it had to do with these teams and I heard all the Yankees fans use that for the reason as to why the Red Sox had lost to the Yankees.
The 2004 season I think I watched a few more games than usual, but I still didn't get into it completely. I got excited when my dad would be excited about how they were doing and I learned a little more about the game, but it still wasn't anything major for me. When they got to the playoffs and the Yankees series, I don't remember if I watched the full games or not. But I definitely remember key things in those games that I saw at some point (either during the game or on replays). Like Pedro knocking down the Yankees bench coach when he charged him and other things like that.
My dad was so extraordinarily excited when the Red Sox won four games in a row and beat the Yankees in Game 7 of the ALCS. I know I didn't even have a clue as to how my dad (and all Red Sox fans and Red Sox nation) felt when that heppened. Once again all I knew was that the Red Sox had beaten their rivals where they hadn't the year before. I didn't have any idea just what was happening and why it meant so much to all of these people and why they were so happy. Everyone was throwing around the Curse of the Bambino and soem saying the Red Sox couldn't win it all because of it.
Then came the 2004 World Series. It is sad that I don't even remember the games themselves. I do remember different things though. Schillings bloody ankle for instance, I remember thinking about how much this guy wanted to win and would do anything for his team and his fans. My brother and I had to go to bed before the end of Game 4, but we told my dad to wake us up if the Red Sox were going to win.
Sure enough, I was woken up by my dad. I can't even begin to describe how excited and ecstatic my dad sounded. I followed him downstairs to watch the end of the game and I remember so clearly how there was the ground ball that was flipped ever so lightly to first base, and the Boston Red Sox were the 2004 World Series Champions. My dad grabbed me into a huge hug and I could hear his heart beating faster than if he had just run two laps around the house. I will never forget that moment and the next few days, weeks, months, and even years that people went crazy for that season and that team. That may have been what made me realize what this team meant to so many people.
I keep thinking of all of the people who lived and never saw the Red Sox win the World Series. My grandfather being one of them, although he wasn't a Red Sox fan.
The 2005 and 2006 seasons I didn't end up watching, and I don't really know why. It didn't seem like my dad watched as many games, but I don't really know. Maybe it was as if there was a weight lifted off the fans who followed the Sox for so many years and the fact that they won let them be able to live with it for the next few seasons.
I sometimes think about how many years my dad (and so many other fans) watched the Red Sox try and fail and how agrivating it must have gotten. Sometimes I feel like I should suffer like those fans did before 2004 to be able to call myself a true Red Sox fan.
Then I think about how I love this 2007 team and will love every team I get to watch in my lifetime and how I would feel if they never got there. How I would feel if they lost at every time when it started to get good. I feel like I can begin to feel the passion, dedication, devastation, excitement, dissapointment, heartbreak, and truly overwhelming love fans have felt over all those seasons leading up to and even beyond 2004. And then finally even begin to imagine what 2004 was like for those fans. Not for me, who hadn't gone through anything with this team up until a few years before, but for those fans who some of which may never have thought they would ever see thier team win it all in their lifetime.
I hope that one day I can look back and remember how all of my love for the Red Sox started to blossom with that 2003 season and myself wanting to understand. Then to the indescribable 2004 season. Now to the first season where I could truly call myself a dedicated and passionate Red Sox fan. Where I could truly say that I was a part of Red Sox nation and that I knew what was going on with MY team. I don't have to try and understand why a person would feel a certain way about this team. I can KNOW the emotions the fans are feeling and exactly why they are feeling them because I am a truly passionate and dedicated Red Sox fan for life....
First off, I want to say that I have been a Red Sox fan thanks to my dad being an avid fan as I have grown up. I have watched some games here and there every season since about 2001 or 2002. I watched (and heard about) them lose to the Yankees in the 2003 ALCS. That was devastating for my dad, and I understood what happened and why my dad was sad and mopy the next morning, but I didn't feel it for myself. I understood how everyone else felt about what happened and I somewhat put myself on their level of thinking, but I don't think I really did know how they felt. What I knew was that this baseball team that I knew about and sometimes watched had lost a huge game to their rivals. I knew about the curse of the Bambino and what it had to do with these teams and I heard all the Yankees fans use that for the reason as to why the Red Sox had lost to the Yankees.
The 2004 season I think I watched a few more games than usual, but I still didn't get into it completely. I got excited when my dad would be excited about how they were doing and I learned a little more about the game, but it still wasn't anything major for me. When they got to the playoffs and the Yankees series, I don't remember if I watched the full games or not. But I definitely remember key things in those games that I saw at some point (either during the game or on replays). Like Pedro knocking down the Yankees bench coach when he charged him and other things like that.
My dad was so extraordinarily excited when the Red Sox won four games in a row and beat the Yankees in Game 7 of the ALCS. I know I didn't even have a clue as to how my dad (and all Red Sox fans and Red Sox nation) felt when that heppened. Once again all I knew was that the Red Sox had beaten their rivals where they hadn't the year before. I didn't have any idea just what was happening and why it meant so much to all of these people and why they were so happy. Everyone was throwing around the Curse of the Bambino and soem saying the Red Sox couldn't win it all because of it.
Then came the 2004 World Series. It is sad that I don't even remember the games themselves. I do remember different things though. Schillings bloody ankle for instance, I remember thinking about how much this guy wanted to win and would do anything for his team and his fans. My brother and I had to go to bed before the end of Game 4, but we told my dad to wake us up if the Red Sox were going to win.
Sure enough, I was woken up by my dad. I can't even begin to describe how excited and ecstatic my dad sounded. I followed him downstairs to watch the end of the game and I remember so clearly how there was the ground ball that was flipped ever so lightly to first base, and the Boston Red Sox were the 2004 World Series Champions. My dad grabbed me into a huge hug and I could hear his heart beating faster than if he had just run two laps around the house. I will never forget that moment and the next few days, weeks, months, and even years that people went crazy for that season and that team. That may have been what made me realize what this team meant to so many people.
I keep thinking of all of the people who lived and never saw the Red Sox win the World Series. My grandfather being one of them, although he wasn't a Red Sox fan.
The 2005 and 2006 seasons I didn't end up watching, and I don't really know why. It didn't seem like my dad watched as many games, but I don't really know. Maybe it was as if there was a weight lifted off the fans who followed the Sox for so many years and the fact that they won let them be able to live with it for the next few seasons.
I sometimes think about how many years my dad (and so many other fans) watched the Red Sox try and fail and how agrivating it must have gotten. Sometimes I feel like I should suffer like those fans did before 2004 to be able to call myself a true Red Sox fan.
Then I think about how I love this 2007 team and will love every team I get to watch in my lifetime and how I would feel if they never got there. How I would feel if they lost at every time when it started to get good. I feel like I can begin to feel the passion, dedication, devastation, excitement, dissapointment, heartbreak, and truly overwhelming love fans have felt over all those seasons leading up to and even beyond 2004. And then finally even begin to imagine what 2004 was like for those fans. Not for me, who hadn't gone through anything with this team up until a few years before, but for those fans who some of which may never have thought they would ever see thier team win it all in their lifetime.
I hope that one day I can look back and remember how all of my love for the Red Sox started to blossom with that 2003 season and myself wanting to understand. Then to the indescribable 2004 season. Now to the first season where I could truly call myself a dedicated and passionate Red Sox fan. Where I could truly say that I was a part of Red Sox nation and that I knew what was going on with MY team. I don't have to try and understand why a person would feel a certain way about this team. I can KNOW the emotions the fans are feeling and exactly why they are feeling them because I am a truly passionate and dedicated Red Sox fan for life....