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You just don’t understand, you just can’t understand, unless you live it…
The Red Sox played the Blue Jays at Fenway the other day, and I was falling asleep on my couch. I was dog tired, and zonked out somewhere around the sixth inning. In the bottom of the eleventh inning, I woke up, surprised that there was still baseball available for my viewing pleasure.
So I stumble over to the fridge, grab a bottle of water, and make my way back to the couch, where I again get comfy with my blanket and pillow. I’m watching the game, but honestly, I’m still half asleep and not paying close attention.
Bottom of the twelfth – I’m a little bit more alert now, but still pretty damn groggy. Then Ortiz comes up, man on first. I perk up. The guy has been more clutch than a fortune teller helping you make your March Madness picks (UNC v.Kentucky final?? clearly my fortune teller wasn’t up to snuff). So now I’m watching with some interest.
Uh-oh. A hanger. Ortiz clobbers it. Don Orsillo starts shouting – I love when that guy gets excited – it sounds like he’s about to pass a kidney stone. “Its way, way, way gone! David Ortiz has done it again!”
I’m not going to lie. I’m sitting there, drinking my water, and suddenly I feel it. A tear rolling down my face. It’s the seventh game of the bloody season, 155 more to go, and I’m crying after a walk-off homer to beat the Blue Jays. Granted, it was only a couple tears…but hey, Marlins fans, did you even cry when Posada was tagged out? I bet you didn’t.
I’ve heard that Cardinals fans are better than Sox fans. If Pujols cranked one out of Busch to win game 7 of the regular season, would their fans start crying? Again, I think not. Maybe a few, but I guarantee, I was only one of vast legion of fans in Red Sox nation who leaked out a couple tears after that homer.
You have to understand – we live and die Red Sox baseball. The Pats won the Super Bowl, and the celebration was huge. But minutes into the celebration in front of City Hall, people started chanting “Yankees Suck.” You aren’t going to hear “Jets Suck” if the Sox win the World Series. There will be hordes of people, young and old, weeping along with the person next to them, praising God that the curse was lifted and that they can maybe, just maybe, move on with their lives.
Every now and then (oh, who am I kidding, it happens about three times a week) I dream of a World Series game 7 at Fenway…and I dream of Nomar hitting the game-winning homer over the Monster. I dream of Fenway shaking, the hysterical joy that would run throughout the night and throughout the following day. I dream of the elderly ushers, who’ve probably been at the Park since they sold the Babe, who’d finally get to see the boys work some real October magic. I dream of me and everyone else sobbing in ecstasy and running madly through the city yelling “Yankees Suck!” Oh, I can dream. And dream I will.
It’s a new season. And of course, this year is the one! 
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