Bummed

Ok those that know me know I am a Red Sox fan. Yes, I know I have a thing for pain.

So day was the end of their season again... such a let down. Losing three in a row to the White Sox... they just phoned it in. Didn't they learn anything last year?! Didn't they like the taste of victory? I know for a fact that several of them enjoyed the celebrity and the monetary gain, not to mention a place in baseball history. So what happened? There was no Boone or Dent ... they just didn't have it this year.

I think I knew it all along really. I wanted it. I wanted them to want it like they did last year .. but they didn't. They got full of themselves.. they got self important. They thought they were more valuable than they are and most of all they stopped being a team. They picked at each other in the press, they made themselves out to be know it alls in some instances.

Over the off season trades will be made and some that played today will never again wear the Red Sox uniform. Some we will be better off without and some will be sorely missed. Some will take the tension and the spotlight with them. Some will work hard in the off season to grow stronger and get their heads straight. Some will play golf and not think about it until February.

It was a great ride, the last year. A whole year of being better than our rivals. A whole year of no yankee trash talk. A whole year of no ridicule, no talk of the curse. It had to end and we had to pass on the torch... the torch goes to the White Sox. May they end their own curse this year. May they taste the taste of victory. May their fans cry at the last out, and may they have a year of no ridicule.

Is some ways it is best this way I suppose... how do you beat last year. It is the stuff of legends... the numbers of manny and johnny's uniforms... 1918... the eclipse .. the last out to a # 3 yankee... the bloody sock, the comeback after comeback. There will never be another like it and I am thankful that I was around to see it.

The way the season ended for us last year is the reason I have this thing for pain. The Red Sox have taught me a few lessons... patience, hope, dissapointment, frustration, perseverence, love of the game, and finally that dreams do come true..... eventually.

So with this I put away my ball cap for the winter and I will watch hockey for the rest of the winter... although hockey doesn't hold my heart like baseball does. Some people look for spring with the first flower or the first robin... I see spring when I see the Cactus and Grapefruit Leagues....