BASEBALL PLAYOFFS!

[A Black Falcon]

If we can't depend on the Red Sox losing every year what can we depend on?!

Pretty much, except it means a bit more than that... the Red Sox are really popular in New England. Team #1 of any sport easily. So what happens when the character of being a Red Sox fan changes? Think about it. The Sox have been identified with failure and suffering in their fanbase for 85 years... we don't win and part of being a Red Sox fan (was?) recognizing that. But now we HAVE won. What does it mean? Well, it well could mean that being a Sox fan isn't really 'special' anymore -- it's like being a fan of any other team, except being more passionate about it. That is to say, winning loses a big part of the identity of Red Sox fandom. And honestly, I am not really going to say that losing it was a good thing...

Sure, overall little will change. But the fact is we won and that really does have an impact on what it means to be a Sox fan. Does it now mean that we expect another? That if, next year, we go any less than to the Series we should be dissatisfied? In my opinion, the line between that and in some respects becoming Yankees-lite is too thin for my liking...

I know, we won so I should be happy. And I am. It's amazing and fantastic, and I only wish that we had done it while Ted Williams was still alive... (as I said before, on the players front winning is a clearcut Very Good Thing -- just read any articles now about Johnny Pesky to prove that one... he's been waiting so long...) But, I just had to say that I have to mourn for the loss of a big part of the identity of Red Sox fans.

So in short, in this case Fittisize is too close to the truth here... not quite, but too close for comfort for a fanbase that spends its time attacking the Yankees and their over-spending ways.

But with the Red Sox winning the World Series, what do they have? What are they? A team that has won a single championship in 80+ years, and a team that had to buy a championship, that's what they are. The Red Sox are nothing without the curse.

Isn't the goal of these games to determine who the best team is? Well, doesn't that mean that if they win this, it means they are the best team? If it doesn't, then is the manner in which the best team is decided year after year flawed? If it is flawed, should it not be changed? If not, then what kind of tournament setup is this anyway?

DJ, this isn't exactly about that but it helps go to show that you just have no idea what the Red Sox mean to New England...