Ode to the Red Sox Nation

Friday 22 October 2004

I'm not a real baseball fan, but my cousin-in-law Benjamin Lloyd is. Here's his poem about the epic Red Sox victory:

Ode to the Red Sox Nation: October 21st, 2004
The Red Sox and Yankees collided
The ALCS to be decided
The fans were on fire
But predictions were dire
When Schilling was spanked and raw-hided.
In Boston they picked up their fight
There was a massacre Saturday night
Arroyo was chased
The offense was spaced
The Red Sox were done, but not quite:
Three outs away from the hearse
And a triumph again for the Curse
Roberts stole second
Home plate beckoned
And Bill Mueller made the Curse disperse.
So cold it felt like a freeze
The faithful in prayer saying: Please
God answered the call
By sending a ball
Over the wall from the bat of Ortiz.
On to game five we careened
Hoping we wouldn't get reamed
This game never ended
And our guts were offended
By the hours of tension we'd seen.
What is it that makes a man super?
Good looks like Mancini or Cooper?
No — a hero is when
You do it again
Like Oritz did with the game winning blooper.
So back into hell we did go
With the Empire State all aglow
Our hope was all spilling
Into the hands of Curt Schilling
Who's tendons were part yes and part no.
Curt fired off a game for the ages
Cutting down Yankees in stages
And Bellhorn came back
With a fourth inning jack
But Schilling redefined courageous.
In history it'd never been done
Win a series down three games to none
But D Lowe came through
And Damon came too
And the Bambino is still on the run.
Has the Curse finally been defeated?
Will 1918 be repeated?
All I can say
On this glorious day
Is the Sox are victorious
Exaltus in glorious!
And Steinbrenner's team
I guess they can dream
And suck on my expletive deleted.
— Benjamin Lloyd

tagged: funny, sports» 7 reactions

Comments

Jeff 10:16 AM on 22 Oct 2004

From somewhere in the US far west of Boston, I cannot see the appeal in rooting for the Red Sox. They have an enormous payroll and many obnoxious, whiny fans who somehow think that they are owed a win in the World Series. I can understand why the fans hate the Yankees, but to everyone else, the club looks more like Yankees Jr. than a genuine, deserving underdog. Please, many of us live in cities that have not had a championship in our living memory. Don't spread this mind virus any more.

Damien 3:38 PM on 22 Oct 2004

You must be a blast at parties Jeff.

Jeff 4:27 PM on 22 Oct 2004

Hey, everybody I know already hates or is at least sick of the Red Sox already. I'm sorry that you feel my minor criticism merits an insubstantial and ad hominem rebuttal. May Boston weep for another ninety years.

Susan 8:34 PM on 22 Oct 2004

Who is this "everyone else" who thinks of the Red Sox as a "Yankees Jr?" That is absurd. Who is this "everybody" who "hates" the Red Sox? Whoever "they" are, Jeff, they (you) are missing the whole point. This group worked together with half the resources of the Yankees and against all odds pulled off a fantastic, historic win. End of story. If you are too jaded to grasp that then I guess you are nothing but a pathetic closet Yankees fan. This is not ad hominem, it is merely the point of view of most of the Northeast at this point.

Chris Reckling 10:11 PM on 22 Oct 2004

Hey Ned,
Love the poem! I've been waiting 18 years for this...had the champagne out for '86 and everything. This team is alot more loveable. Not everyone has to like the Red Sox, but we'll enjoy it here in the "hub of the universe".
Chris

Jeff 2:34 PM on 23 Oct 2004

Susan, thanks for a better retort, but I still disagree. $125M is not half of $180M, and those are easily the two highest payrolls in baseball. St. Louis and Houston, both on the high end themselves, have payrolls of only around $80M. I will readily admit that to be stuck in the same division as the Yankees would be awful for a team as good as Boston, but that's what you get with the current uncapped salary system. Just because NY is a mercenary band doesn't mean that the Sox aren't goons as well. P.S. I do hate the Yankees even more than Boston! However, any team that beat either in the World Series would overcome an even bigger disadvantage in my opinion.

David Boudreau 4:49 AM on 25 Oct 2004

Jeff, I think you fail to see the significance of what was accomplished (and I'm not even a sports fan). The "spreading of the mind virus" was the Curse itself, well before all this commotion- that's your "mind virus" right there, and the Sox cured it. Overcoming that mental block in this case was historic and inspirational. All great things start with ideas, with beliefs... and you're upset with those who believed? Consider your beliefs carefully because, as clearly demonstrated by the Red Sox, you can translate them into reality. For more inspiration, please see

http://media.shoryuken.com/srk-daigo.zip (video game tournament footage)

Ode to the Red Sox Nation

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