Baseball is a game full of capital letter lore. Tinker to Evers to Chance. Merkel's Blunder. The Shot Heard 'Round the World. The Homer in the Gloamin'. The Streak. The Called Shot. The Catch.
I'm not sure what the events of the last four games will live through the ages as. Much of that history is yet to be written. I do, however, know that it almost certainly is the single most monumental series of events in the history of postseason baseball. It's that, well, epic.
Forevermore, the date goes into the New England calendar as an official no-school/no-work/no-mail-delivery holiday in Red Sox Nation.
Mark it down. Oct. 20. It will always be the day that Sox citizens were liberated from 8 decades of torment and torture at the hands of the New York Yankees and their fans. Boston Baseball's Bastille Day.
- Dan Shaughnessy, Boston Globe
Shaughnessy's going a little overboard. We still have to win the goddamn World Series first.
Posted by: Frankenstein on October 21, 2004 08:33 AMI as a Cub was waiting to hear those words written about my team this year. Alas, we have to go back to next year will be our year. I am glad that Boston beat the Yankees. I live in Kalamazoo Jetters hometown, and I am sick and tired of hearing about how great he is. When I used to watch New York sataions there was never this much talk about that boy. I will route for the Red Sox. Not to jump on board to shifting masses, but as a sign of respect from one underdog fan to another.
Posted by: Brad on October 21, 2004 09:47 AMFrank's right -- unless they win the Series, last night's win will be a glorious footnote to compound their fans' misery. My hope is for Boston to win it all, then the White Sox win it next year, and the Cubs stretch to infinity as the Team That's Gone the Longest Without a Championship.
Posted by: VC on October 21, 2004 02:15 PMI both agree and disagree. That was my point about this history not yet being written. But let me ask you this, Paul, as Red Sox fan would you view this year unfavorably should the Sox lose in the Series? Slaying the mighty Yankees in the most dramatic fashion possible would all be for naught?
Posted by: mrw on October 21, 2004 05:47 PMOh, no--slaying the mighty Yankee dragon is a worthy & glorious goal unto itself, no questions at all (particularly in what is already being hailed as the greatest comeback/biggest choke of all time).
But to truly reverse the curse, the Red Sox have to conquer the World Series.
Posted by: Frankenstein on October 21, 2004 09:14 PM