Tuesday, October 19, 2004
BEST GAME EVER! 10/18/04
WOW! Ok, as you may have read earlier in my blogs, I have been to many, many historical and exciting Red Sox games over the years. The most historic, being the 1978 "Extra game" against the Yankees to decide the American League East title. You know, the one where a guy named Bucky "f@#%&" Dent hit his famous 3 run homer to help defeat the Red Sox before going on to win the World Series. And going on to win the Series helped make the game even more historic, after the fact. Well, of all the exciting, memorable, historic games I have been to, I think game 5 against the Yankees (10/18/04) tops them all. And, hopefully, the game may become even more historic after the fact as well, should the Sox "Reverse the Curse" and win the ALCS!
And to top it off, I was with my brother, Jeff (and his son Evan) and my son Trevor. Now in an ironic twist of fate, it was Jeff and I, me at age 14, Jeff at 10, who ventured from Brockton to Fenway (alone) to see the 1978 Bucky Dent game.
I couldn't help but think of that all day and as we talked to our boys, we reminisced about how I left my younger brother at Fenway Park, after being separated in the post game crowd. ...How Jeff was reported to have approached strangers asking if they'd "seen my brother, he's wearing a red jacket?" (Ok, that would narrow it down, LOL). As we walked to the Park last night, we spoke to our boys about how historic and memorable the game was and how we'll remember it the rest of our lives. We talked about how, 8 years later, we ventured together to all of the playoff and World Series games at Fenway in 1986. I told Evan how his father, then 19, was a "wildman" after a couple of the games, particularly after game 5 of the World Series; taking a plastic Mets helmet, holding it high above his head like a football receiver would after a touchdown pass, then, in front of tv newscameras, spiked the helmet to the ground...and as the helmet shattered into thousands of pieces, the crowd in Kenmore Square went nuts.
"Ah, those were the days," we said, "they don't come like that anymore!" WE WERE WRONG!
Last year, the season ended with my, then, 11 year old son in my arms, wailing and sobbing for nearly 2 hours after Aaron "^%&()(" Boone hit the walk off homerun in game #7. I was left feeling like I had "exposed" my son to something terrible, just as I was exposed and hurt when I was 12 years old, back in 1975 when we lost to the Reds. "What have I done?" I asked myself. But at the same time, felt a wonderful connection. My baseball crazy son was missing one piece to the puzzle...the true pain, felt for generations. The pain of being a diehard Red Sox fan! Now...the puzzle was complete. Now, he's...one of us!
And fittingly, the circle was complete. Jeff and I, reliving those painful, yet exciting Red Sox moments, failures. My son and I, Jeff and his son, together...our sons being nearly the same ages as we were in 1978 on that fateful October 2nd day of Red Sox infamy. And again, I FELT THE CONNECTION. I felt the irony, so warm and thick that it was almost too strange to actually be real. The moments of defeat and pain in 1978, in 1986 shared with my brother, Jeff; the same defeat and pain in 2003, shared with my son, Trevor, now all coming full circle and we witness one of the greatest playoff games in Red Sox history together...well, its bittersweet karma, that I hope becomes more meaningful in the upcoming days.
This was one of, if not the most exciting Sox game I've been to in my life. Thats over 1,000 games worth. And for now, the baseball "circle of life" has come 'round full circle and I am just going to enjoy the moment while I can.
GO SOX!
And to top it off, I was with my brother, Jeff (and his son Evan) and my son Trevor. Now in an ironic twist of fate, it was Jeff and I, me at age 14, Jeff at 10, who ventured from Brockton to Fenway (alone) to see the 1978 Bucky Dent game.
I couldn't help but think of that all day and as we talked to our boys, we reminisced about how I left my younger brother at Fenway Park, after being separated in the post game crowd. ...How Jeff was reported to have approached strangers asking if they'd "seen my brother, he's wearing a red jacket?" (Ok, that would narrow it down, LOL). As we walked to the Park last night, we spoke to our boys about how historic and memorable the game was and how we'll remember it the rest of our lives. We talked about how, 8 years later, we ventured together to all of the playoff and World Series games at Fenway in 1986. I told Evan how his father, then 19, was a "wildman" after a couple of the games, particularly after game 5 of the World Series; taking a plastic Mets helmet, holding it high above his head like a football receiver would after a touchdown pass, then, in front of tv newscameras, spiked the helmet to the ground...and as the helmet shattered into thousands of pieces, the crowd in Kenmore Square went nuts.
"Ah, those were the days," we said, "they don't come like that anymore!" WE WERE WRONG!
Last year, the season ended with my, then, 11 year old son in my arms, wailing and sobbing for nearly 2 hours after Aaron "^%&()(" Boone hit the walk off homerun in game #7. I was left feeling like I had "exposed" my son to something terrible, just as I was exposed and hurt when I was 12 years old, back in 1975 when we lost to the Reds. "What have I done?" I asked myself. But at the same time, felt a wonderful connection. My baseball crazy son was missing one piece to the puzzle...the true pain, felt for generations. The pain of being a diehard Red Sox fan! Now...the puzzle was complete. Now, he's...one of us!
And fittingly, the circle was complete. Jeff and I, reliving those painful, yet exciting Red Sox moments, failures. My son and I, Jeff and his son, together...our sons being nearly the same ages as we were in 1978 on that fateful October 2nd day of Red Sox infamy. And again, I FELT THE CONNECTION. I felt the irony, so warm and thick that it was almost too strange to actually be real. The moments of defeat and pain in 1978, in 1986 shared with my brother, Jeff; the same defeat and pain in 2003, shared with my son, Trevor, now all coming full circle and we witness one of the greatest playoff games in Red Sox history together...well, its bittersweet karma, that I hope becomes more meaningful in the upcoming days.
This was one of, if not the most exciting Sox game I've been to in my life. Thats over 1,000 games worth. And for now, the baseball "circle of life" has come 'round full circle and I am just going to enjoy the moment while I can.
GO SOX!
# posted by fldodreams : 2:42 PM
