GO SOX

[Lynn]

Those of you who know me, know I have the Red Sox disease. Got it from my dad how got it from his mother.

Any of you knuckleheads going to be in the St. Louis area on Sunday the 27th?

Sherri and I are going to game 4, hopefully to see history repeat itself, and watch the Sox clinch the World Series. Of course, I don't really think it can happen a third time in a row.

I haven't been to a game in St. Louis since watching McGwire hit nos. 66, 67, 68, 69 and 70 in one weekend (went to all three games).

If anyone wants to meet up before the game, beers are on me.

[Postsedan]

Go Cardinals <<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/biggthumpup.gif

Dan

[markjohnson]

I was at the 2004 World Series when the Red Sox swept (man . . . it kills me to say that) the Cardinals in four games straight so I'm looking forward to some payback this year!

[Lynn]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Postsedan</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Go Cardinals <<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/biggthumpup.gif

Dan </div></div>

Really???? I thought it was a rule that guys from Chicago had to hate the Cards.

[396L35]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Lynn</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Postsedan</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Go Cardinals <<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/biggthumpup.gif

Dan </div></div>

Really???? I thought it was a rule that guys from Chicago had to hate the Cards. </div></div>

Well they have to root for a team that will win because the Cubs will never see post season... <<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/haha.gif

[Lynn]

We aren't throwing in the towel yet.

[Postsedan]

Very cute <<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/biggthumpup.gif

Dan

[Lynn]

Well, Sherri and I had a great time at Game 4. The pick-off happened so fast, the Card fans in front of me couldn't figure out why everyone was walking off the field.

After the game, I am walking up the stairs and a guy says &quot;What a crappy way to lose a game.&quot;
I say: &quot;NO... What a great way to win a game.&quot; He looks at my Sox hat and says &quot;Oh man.&quot;

I must say the Cardinal fans are much kinder and welcoming to the opposing fans than the fans in Boston (or New York for that matter - but that is another story). I am sometimes embarrassed by some of the rude crude behavior of the few assess in Fenway. Not many, but enough to be embarrassing.

I will also say the classiest ex player I was ever around was Stan Musial. He spent about 20 minutes in a golf cart with his arm around my then 11 year old son talking baseball. My son still has the autographed ball and the autographed hat from Stan the Man.

One more game. Go Sox.

[Lynn]

I am not a sports fan. I don't care when the OKC Thunder make the playoffs. I haven't watched an NBA game since the 80's. I don't watch the NFL. In fact, I have seen one Super Bowl.... ever.

I do not watch baseball unless it is the Sox. When people see my Red Sox hat, they usually ask if I am a baseball fan. I always say: &quot;No, I am a Red Sox fan.&quot;

It is a family thing. I know this is now 9 years after the fact, but, I am going to post the open letter I wrote back in 2004. That same sentiment still applies today.

Sorry for the long post. Here is my letter from 2004:

<span style="color: #3366FF">It seems that all over the country, there are stories about the &quot;Red Sox thing&quot; and how it touches, even binds families. Here's mine.

I know it seems silly to sit in front of the TV, heart pounding, sweating, just because the Sox are down to their last three outs against the Yankees. I even said it out loud. &quot;Look, this is just a game. It shouldn't affect you like this.&quot; You can't imagine how deep this &quot;Red Sox thing&quot; goes with my family. My Dad was born in NH and grew up a lifelong Sox fan. His mother, born in 1900, immigrated to Manchester, NH from Quebec in 1912, the year Fenway opened, and became a fan upon arriving in New England.

I was never very close to my Dad (long story) but one thing he did pass on to me, and therefore one of the things we shared, was a love for the Sox. I remember as a young boy in Oklahoma, watching Mickey Mantle and the Yankees on TV in the early sixties (yeah, I am that old). Of course, since the Mick was from Oklahoma, most of my friends were Yankees fans. My Dad told me about Ted Williams and all the great Sox teams that never won the Series and about this &quot;new&quot; kid, Carl Yastrzemski (Dad called him Yazbo) whom he hoped would carry the Sox to a title. I was hooked. I was only 14 when they played the Cardinals in 1967. I really thought they would win. Yastrzemski won the triple crown that year (the last guy to do so) but they came up short. Back then the games were played during the day and I had to sneak a small transistor radio into school and listen to the games with a hidden ear piece. Similar heartbreaks, all well documented, followed in 1975 and 1986.

My grandmother (we called her “Memere” which is French for grandmother) stayed a fan, as in fanatic, her whole life. She had to have cable when it first came out so she could follow the Sox games. She knew every player. Like a true Sox fan, she would cheer when they did well, and yell at the coach when he brought in the wrong reliever! She always seemed to know who could get the job done. She died in 1999, just a couple of months shy of her 99th birthday. At her request we buried her with various Red Sox memorabilia. All my relatives in New England are big Sox fans.

When Sox fans leave New England, they take the “Red Sox thing” with them, usually passing it on to the next generation. My Dad brought the &quot;Red Sox thing&quot; to Oklahoma with him, but for some reason, I am the only one of Dad's four boys that really got it. My three brothers like to see them win, but I am the only one that got it to the point of disease. Heck, I even wear a Boston Red Sox hat to OU football games. I think my daughter, Jenny, was only two or three the first time I took her to a Sox game in Arlington, something that became a yearly ritual. All three of my kids became infected. Each spring they wanted to know what weekend the Sox were going to be in Arlington, so we could plan accordingly. Sometimes we would make it to KC for a game. We go to Boston when we can, usually in the fall, to see the Sox at Fenway. What a great place to see a game. Maybe I got the disease so badly because that is one of the few things I had to tie me to my Dad. Don't get me wrong, Dad was a great guy in many ways. We just weren't that close. However, we did have our &quot;Red Sox thing.&quot;

My Dad died the summer of 1998, never having seen a Red Sox world title in his lifetime. I went to see my Dad the night before he died. He was at home under hospice care, after battling multiple cancers for 14 years. There he was on his death bed, barely able to breathe, even with the assistance of oxygen, weighing well under 100 pounds, with that dreaded death rattle in his lungs. He was, however at peace with life, knowing his was about to end. He looked up at me after I kissed him on the forehead, and was about to leave. The last words my Dad ever spoke to me were: &quot;Did the Sox win today?&quot; I don’t even remember whether they did on that particular day. It really doesn’t matter, because now I can say it when it really counts. Last night, after the last out, I looked heavenward and said, &quot;Yeah Dad, the Sox won today!&quot; Boy did they ever.</span>

[Xplantdad]

Thanks for sharing that Lynn..... <<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/beers.gif

[Postsedan]

Congrats to the Red Sox.... they played with their hearts out and confiction.

Dan

[parkbrau]

Great story lynn. I'm also a Red Sox fan...lifetime disease. I 'll send you an E-Mail chain with a lot of great Red Sox fans and patriots. Most of us are vets/active duty, but we all have the love of Red Sox baseball. I'm sure you will be welcomed into the fold.

GO RED SOX!