Major League Baseball's World Series is not easy to get to, never mind win. We Sox fans know that now only thanks to the miraculous 2004 season that ended a drought that began with the team's last title win in 1918. No team had ever come back from being in the hole 3-0 like our team did in 2004 against the Yankees. The ringless Sox years were a running joke on us Sox fans, a joke many of us thought we'd never outlive.
The one moment that stands out for me from the 2004 playoffs is a storybook TV shot of a particular fan in the stands in game 4 of that Red Sox vs.Yankees series. Down three games to none to our arch-rivals and running out of opportunities in the first game to begin the curse reversal, nobody could have known or predicted what was to come. The Red Sox were just getting ready to engage the "clutch" mechanism that team would become known for that year. Late in the game a random Red Sox fan caught the cameras as he held up a simple cardboard sign bearing a message written crudely with a fat Sharpie. That sign read: Make History or We're History. The "We're History" part was crossed out.
Once that fan got his airtime, the playoffs turned into a a free-for-all favoring the Sox. They swept the Yanks in 4 straight games, made their fan base believe the curse could be reversed, and finally got the job done once and for all. Three years later they did it for us again, making Red Sox Nation feel veritably spoiled. We're living beyond our wildest dreams compared to our dead and buried ancestor Sox fans, fans who never witnessed their team accomplish what we lucky living members of Red Sox Nation have seen them do twice now. Both seasons they pulled it off were Cinderella years that will give us Sox fans comforting thoughts and memories for years to come.
It could be worse, we know all too well now. It could be way back in the day when we never thought we'd ever win the World Series ever again. Sitting out another postseason is no sweat now compared to how hard it used to be. Don't get me wrong, seeing the Sox fold this year still hurts, especially after I predicted they would crush it in the second half. Yet, because we've been to the promised-land twice before, it's easy to see this year's squad didn't have the complete parts to do what the other World Series winners did in '04 and '07.
Those series-winning Sox teams had the perfect combination of magic, skill, and luck. September's slump sucked away any last mojo the Red Sox had left in the tank this year and gave it to the surging Devil Rays and ex-idiot Johnny Damon. You could tell this year's Sox team could see their many weaknesses begin to shine brighter with each defeat as September unfolded. The conditions became ripe for meltdown when the confidence of the squad began to erode a little more with each tough loss, and even Big Papi was telling us it was time to panic. It just wasn't meant to be, like the many years before the curse was in full effect. We're used to it.
Now we can look at the situation, shake it off and say, "At least we're not the Cubs."
At least we're not in this unlucky gentleman's position: a fallen victim of the title drought buried in a suburb of Boston who was a true DIE HARD Red Sox fan (Shot taken by Rich Bergeron after the Sox took home the 2004 title and family or friends had obviously paid Harvey's gravesite a visit to let him know):
