born into it

jack’s been a little cranky this morning and that can mean only thing. yes. he watched his first red sox game, a loss to the yankees, last night. okay, so he didn’t as much watch as he was present in the room. regardless he’s feeling the pain of not only losing to the “evil empire,” but also the pain of never having witnessed a red sox world series victory. hopefully by the time he’s 35 he’ll have that wonderous feeling that many of us had this past autumn. through no fault of his own jack has been born into it. born into the family history of red sox fans.

all though jack doesn’t say much these days i could tell he had questions about last night’s game. david wells? david wells? you mean that 41 year old pitcher who’s obsessed with babe ruth? what the hell was he doing on the mound for the opening game against the yankees? what kind of crazy psychological warfare is francona trying to use now? as much as i hate the yankees they’re still, dare i say it, a great team. did francona think that having the yankees face one of their former pitchers would provide the sox with some psychological edge? another question jack seemed to ask with that staring-at-shadows-on-the-wall look, was about the overall game itself. was that a spring training game? a balk!, halama doing his best buckner impression, and manny playing his usual brand of goofy lackadaisical left field. oh wait that would be a sign of the regular season.

enough about that. we just signed up for the mlb comcast package so we can enjoy watching all the sox games this season out here in sunny colorado. jack will have plenty of games to critique. more importantly i got to sit on the couch and watch a baseball game with my son. ultimately what makes a red sox fan a true fan is the love of the game, unlike a yankee fan who’s love of winning is the only aspect of the game that drives them to the ballpark. i look forward to actually taking jack to a game, especially at fenway park, and cheering on those loveable bunch of idiots or cowboys or whatever they call themselves in the coming years. jack and the next generation of red sox nation will have a different relationship with the team than i did though. i grew up admiring jim rice, fred lynn, butch hobson (player not coach), and dwight evans. with free agency, inflated salaries, and the need to buy championships jack may never become attached to certain players as my friends and i did in the 70’s and 80’s. and that is unfortunate for the fans of his generation.

maybe seinfeld was right. we are just rooting for the uniforms!