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As a lifelong
Red Sox fan it is hard to believe they just
won their second World Championship in four
years. This year feels much different than
2004 when they finally pulverized the
"Curse" and fulfilled every true New
Englander's wildest fantasy.
The playoffs
felt different than 2004. This year when the
Sox were down 3-1 in the best of seven
series against Cleveland, there was no
panic, there was no feeling of impending
doom. There was an inner confidence that if
anyone could come back from a 3-1 deficit it
was the Red Sox.
They did come
back and win the Cleveland Series and earned
the right to play the hottest team on the
planet, the Colorado Rockies. There still
was no feeling of impending doom. There was
no anxiety just from turning the game on.
The only
question in my mind was if they could sweep
the Rockies the same way they swept the
Cardinals in 2004. A fairly cocky attitude
for a lifelong Sox fan. One World Series win
had erased 30 plus years of repeating, "Next
year."
When the Red
Sox won in 2004 my then five year old son
was asleep in my lap. He had nodded off for
the last time in the fifth inning and was
deep into his dreams when Foulke fielded the
ball of Renteria's bat. I woke him up as
soon as the final out was called. Even
though he was only remotely interested in
the Red Sox, or baseball at that point, it
was a memory I wanted him to have. I wanted
him to see the excitement unfold on the
field just in case it was another 86 years
before they won their next title.
This year we
watched most of every World Series game
together. We went to Fenway park in April to
watch the Red Sox beat the Angels. It was
his first trip to Fenway and his first time
seeing the Red Sox in person. He is now a
die hard Sox fan. He knows the players
names, and he can recite their stats from
past seasons that he learned from the back
of their trading cards.
With all of
the excitement after the Red Sox won the
World Series in 2004 I did something I later
regretted. I didn't bring him to see the
trophy when it came to Portland. Looking
back I thought that if I brought him it
might have been something he would look back
on and remember fondly.
Then they
announced this week that the trophy would be
on display at Hadlock field between 11am and
4pm Friday December 14. They also announced
that no players would be coming with the
trophy. I almost made the same mistake
again.
My first
thought was whether I should pull him out of
school to go see the trophy. It wasn't until
noon time on Friday that I decided I was
going to pick him up to bring him to Hadlock
Field.
He was excited
when I picked him up at school and told him
what we were doing. There was some
disappointment to find out there wouldn't be
any players there but he was still excited
to check it out.
Viewing the
trophy was well worth the time and missing
an hour of school. He was fascinated by the
fact that it was made up of little flags and
said he had a great time.
He got another
unique opportunity when I spotted Governor
Baldacci standing off to the side and asked
him if we could get our picture with him. He
graciously obliged and stepped over to us,
directing us to change places so that Ethan
would be in the middle.
Ethan plans to
bring the picture above into school to share
with his class on Monday December 17. There
aren't many afternoons you get to leave
school early, see a World Series Trophy and
meet the Governor.
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