Please Exit the Bandwagon to Your Left

Congratulations to the 2004 World Series Champion Boston Red Sox.  Defined by perseverance, belief in each other, and incredible selflessness; this team will truly be one to be remembered.  To the devoted and loyal fans who literally live and die every year with the club, congratulations as well.  Those fans have also persevered through countless barrages of insults and taunts.  This article is not directed towards any of you true die hards.  I’m talking to the guy with that spankin’ new Boston hat from the “Did they really just beat the Yankees” era.  I’m talking to the folks at Fox who broadcast one of the most lopsided sportscasts in recent memory, but who cares about unbiased coverage.  Fox did everything but superimpose the Babe into the Red Sox dugout like he was a first down marker.  

I’m talking to the Tom Hanks’ of this world who arbitrarily decided that this was America’s team.  Since when?  Was it America’s Team back in June when they were hopelessly behind the Yankees?  Was it America’s team back when Dent hit his dinger?  Was it America’s team when Mookie Wilson hit that fateful groundball?  No.  All of the rest of these 86 long years this has been Boston’s team, and now out of respect for those faithful folks from Beantown it should remain as Boston’s team and only Boston’s team.  They suffered together; they should be allowed to celebrate together.

Now I know a lot of people will say that they were rooting for the Sox because they wanted to see the curse broken.  Very well, but I’ve got two pieces of bad news for you.  

1)    There never was a curse.  

2)    Your new favorite team is from Chicago.

What?  Never a curse?  How could that be?  

The curse of the Bambino has supposedly plagued the Red Sox since they traded the Babe back in 1918.  This was the last time they won the Series before 2004.  My question is when did the curse officially begin?  Was it from the moment the trade was finalized?  Was it the first time they made it to the series after that and lost?  Or (And this is my Guess)  Did it start when a Boston Sportswriter, on a slow news day, looked up and realized the boys from Fenway hadn’t won a championship since trading the Bronx Bomber.  

What about Dent’s homer?  What about Buckner’s grounder?  All I can tell you is that sometimes weird things happen in baseball.  If you don’t believe me ask Vince Coleman, he was run over by a tarp machine just before the start of the 85 World Series.  Had he played in Boston it would have been chalked up to THE CURSE…in St. Louis it was just a bad break.  

Now if you wanna find out about curses, look over to Chicago…there’s bound to be a team for all of you bandwagoneers to pull for over there.  The Chicago Cubs have not won a World Championship since 1908.  Legend has it that a man wanted to bring his goat with him into a World Series game.  When he was denied access he began verbally cursing the team.  How bad is the curse?  The Cubbies haven’t even made it back to the Series since 1945.  

But you don’t like National league teams right?  That’s fine; Chi Town’s got you covered.  Across the tracks are the White Sox.  They haven’t been crowned champs since 1917.  They made it back in 1919 and were heavy favorites.  But a few of the Sox player’s got mixed up with professional gamblers and decided to intentionally throw the Series.  Oops.  They’ve only been back to the dance 1 time since then, 40 years later in 1959.  

8 Members of the 1919 team were banned from baseball forever.  One of those players was “Shoeless” Joe Jackson the premiere centerfielder in all of baseball.  Joe hit for power and average, ran the Bases well, and was an exceptional fielder with a cannon for an arm.  Jackson was a 5 tool player before the terminology existed, but he wasn’t especially educated.  Basically, baseball was all that Shoeless Joe had.  

When Jackson found out that he would never play baseball professionally again he fell into a deep depression.  After repeated appeals to the commissioner’s office he eventually gave up and moved back to his home in South Carolina.  As the story goes, Joe in a moment of anger sought out a voodoo woman and placed a curse on the White Sox whom he blamed for the entire scandal.

40 years later in 1959 the White Sox played the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series.  Although they entered as favorites the White Sox were ultimately undone by costly errors, one by the centerfielder; and the phenomenal play of two opposing pitchers.  

Don Drysdale and Sandy Koufax were relatively middle of the road pitchers prior to the 59 Series.  Both players came up big in the Fall Classic of 59; their storied careers took off from there.  Oddly enough the Black Sox scandal included 2 pitchers that were on the take.  It is said that more than any other players involved the two hurlers contributed to the 1919 loss more than any other person.

Since 1959 the White Sox have not been back to the World Series.  Out of morbid curiosity I checked on the 1999 White Sox, I thought that there may have been some 40 year resurgence.  The 99 Sox finished 21 ½ games behind the Cleveland Indians in their Division.  They had an unusually high number of errors by the shortstop and second baseman.  In addition the rookie centerfielder Chris Singleton hit 31 doubles that season.  This is only significant because the standup Double was Shoeless Joe’s trademark.  In Jackson’s last complete season he also hit 31 doubles, it was also the last hit he got in the 1919 World Series.  

So I congratulate you curse busting fans!  But if I were a diehard Red Sox fan I would smack that new hat off your head and challenge you to tell me which year the Rocket won the Cy Young in Boston.  But I’m not a diehard Red Sox fan so I stand back and marvel at their team and quietly I am glad for them.  

I look forward to seeing you bandwagon bandoleers in all of your Cubs or White Sox regalia next year.  I don’t think the wagon will be quite as crowded as it was this year, but then again Fox won’t be talking about the curse of the Black Sox every 5 minutes.  

Oh and Mr. Hanks.  I know you’re an avid fan of the game, but in Fenway attendance is not a matter of money it’s a matter of capacity.  So whadda say, next time how about giving up your seat to a working guy who’s lived in Beantown his whole life.  You know him, he’s the same guy who’s willing to mortgage his house for a ticket.  

I don’t know I could be wrong, but hey, it’s just my opinion.