end of an era

agony/ecstasy: fall 2004

in keeping with tradition...

just after midnight on thursday morning, october 21st, my friend chris calls me on the phone.  as soon as she says, "hi," i start to laugh.

"have you called to gloat?" i ask.

"what?  me?"  more laughter.

for those who don't know, chris lives in boston and has been a life-long red sox fan.  i live in brooklyn and claimed the yankees as my own back in 2001.

i watched game seven of the 2004 american league championship series with severely mixed emotions.  i love the yankees, and i am a little sad that they lost the world series last year against the florida marlins and haven't won a world series championship since 2000, the year before i started following them.  i also love my friend chris and know how upset she is (along with most red sox fans) that her team has not been to the world series since 1986 and has not won a world series championship since 1918.  ("curse of the bambino" and all that.)

"brighton just erupted," she reports.

"yeah, i'll bet."

the red sox came oh-so-close to going to the world series last year, and would have, had it not been for the statistically improbable home run off tim wakefield by aaron boone (former yankee third baseman) in the bottom of the 13th inning in game seven of last year's alcs. 

"that hurt SO much," chris tells me.

still, that's the kind of "miracle in the bronx" moment that most yankees fans have come to love and, to a certain degree, expect from their team (which probably explains the our collective reputation for arrogance).  in 2001, when i was mourning both national and personal tragedies, i followed the yankees and their surprising comeback following back-to-back losses against the arizona diamondbacks' dual arsenal of curt schilling (now with the red sox) and randy johnson.  for three games, the yankees seemed like they could do the impossible and come up with some kind of happy ending to balance out the horror of 9/11.  they fell short in game seven, but, by then, i was a convert.

since those games, i still watch for those moments (aaron fuckin' boone!) and half-expected a come-from-behind win in last thursday's game. 

again, as chris says, "that was NOT happenin'!"

in the wake of the loss, i'm tempted to make excuses for my team (mariano riveira's death in the family, having to play five games in a row, losing pettite and clemens earlier this year, having super-hottie jason giambi on the disabled list), but that's really doing a disservice to both teams.  the fact is, the yankees ARE a good team, with mussina, lieber, matsui, jeter, and (even) a-rod; and, just as in the 2001 world series, they lost to a better team — like the diamondbacks, the red sox had superior pitching (hello, curt schilling and cutie tim wakefield) and a team of players who just really really REALLY wanted to win. 

"well, congratulations," i say to chris.  "i'm really happy for you." 

which is not entirely a lie.  again, maybe it's arrogance, but "there's always next season" doesn't seem like that big a stretch.  i also have no problems seeing a cutie like gabe kapler for at least another two games.  frankly, if the red sox do go all the way, i think that will be good, not just for boston, but for baseball in general.

besides — and this is definitely arrogance — the yankees are still way WAY better than that other new york baseball franchise...which, come to think of it, is the real reason i became a yankees fan in the first place.

so go on, sox!  reverse that curse, already!

bad blogger

yes, i'm a bad parent, and this website is my sad and lonely neglected child.

the pic above is from a drive up mt. greylock in williamstown, massachusetts.  nice, eh?

more soon.  i promise.