I woke up yesterday, finally, and began a day of New England Patriots appreciation. First, it was the donning of a Patriots cap, and then it was the viewing of the Super Bowl XXXVIII DVD.
After all, two Super Bowls in three years is something, isn’t it? The Red Sox were five outs from a World Series berth with a 5-2 lead last October, I reminisced. Perhaps they could learn a thing or two from the methodically victorious New England football team.
But something caught my eye as I reached for the DVD remote, slowly waking up for the first time in over a month. To my left, on my roommate’s desk, was a cheering throng of Red Sox players, the picture heightened by a leaping Manny Ramirez, desperately trying to get into the middle of a gray and red pack of players.
The magazine, I could now see, was an all-red Sports Illustrated cover, and on its cover top, read “World Series Commemorative.”
Nope, not buying it, I thought, my eyes on the brink of closing again from drowsiness. Then they shot right open, as I leaned up, staring closer at the magazine and my roommates’ wall.
“Believe!” a Boston Herald statement read. “86 years in the making,” another printout said. Then there was reliever Keith Foulke in another picture; his arms steady above his head in half-shock and half-delight, preparing himself for a cheering Jason Varitek to land on him.
What was most odd to me, however, was a full-page picture of Varitek, in all of his catcher’s equipment, shoving back Yankees star Alex Rodriguez. It wasn’t the image, it was the headline: “Long-suffering no more.”
Maybe it was true, I thought, maybe Fenway Park had hosted its first World Series since 1986. Maybe the hopes of generations of Red Sox fans had come true as the Red Sox finally made it through the playoffs and through the biggest championship of them all.
Maybe another banner would be raised on Yawkey Way, and maybe a new generation of fans had their first taste of World Series play after years of “What if?” questions. What if Pedro pitched in a World Series game? What is it really like to win an ALCS and be the focus of the national media’s attention?
What is it like to be one of two teams remaining in Major League Baseball, all of the country and world having no other teams to watch now, other than you?
But how so? We’ve received samples of victory, but never the full treat. A regular season and up to six games of playoff glory in 1967. A Game 6 Carlton Fisk game-winning homer. A dominant Game 6 pitching performance from Roger Clemens. A 1999 Division Series Pedro Martinez gem. A three games to two comeback Division Series win in both 1999 and 2003.
And one victory in a Championship Series in 18 years.
Winning the ultimate prize isn’t easy. In fact, it asks for little to no mistakes. For an equal blend of defense, pitching and timely hitting. It asks for big wins, and if necessary, for it all to happen in a deciding Game 7.
For 86 years, Red Sox fans have fantasized about a Championship-ending ground ball to second, for a cheering catcher to throw himself into a pitcher’s arms, for chilled champagne bottles to be of use and for the lifting of the game’s most storied prize, a World Series trophy.
And then one picture rang true for me, now fully awake. It was off-season acquisition Curt Schilling embracing Pedro Martinez in what looked to be the middle of Busch Stadium’s infield. Players behind them wore brand-new T-shirts as the two pitchers gazed at each other with what looked to be amazement – and finality.
I stared at my roommates’ wall and I grinned.
Up high on the wall was a pinned “2004 World Series Champions Boston Red Sox” banner.
– Jeff Powalisz is a sophomore journalism major and a member of The News staff.
