After This Fall

A few years ago, Sports Illustrated imagined New England after a World Series victory by the Boston Red Sox. Months after the celebrations ended, an inexplicable malaise would creep through the fans. Without defeat, they would lose direction; the Boston Red Sox, World Champions, would lose the haunting “almost” that made them distinctive.

But when the Red Sox finally won a World Series this year, the story of their victory was more amazing than anything fans could imagine – and yet the story we most hoped for. After lying prostrate before the New York Yankees, these “happy idiots” produced one of the greatest comebacks in sports history. How beautiful that a team driven by impossible standards should meet defeat at the hands of a team driven by sheer joy; how poignant that New York’s impossible perfectionism should fall to Boston’s practical idealism.

Can Red Sox Nation survive now that “long-suffering” must be stricken from the word “Red Sox fan”? Those who think it can’t don’t understand. Our passion was never about our pain; it was always about hope. The Red Sox finished second to the Yankees seven years in a row. For a Yankees fan, that level of defeat would be intolerable. For a Red Sox fan, this was a fountain of hope. It hurt – it definitely hurt. But I could always count on the Red Sox to make things interesting. Like many other fans, I never loved the Red Sox because they lost. I loved – and love – the team because every game was a thing of beauty. That’s what loving the Red Sox, for me, has always been about: blind, passionate, unfathomable but unquenchable hope – and a beautiful story to make the game worth watching.

Some have said that the Red Sox, those “lovable losers,” will by winning lose their lovability. But no Red Sox fan loves losing. What we love – and what defines that land without borders, Red Sox Nation – is possibility itself. Possibility is what makes every game new, every season “next” season, and every struggle an epic. I can’t thank these Red Sox enough for telling a story, time and again, that kept me coming back for more. If you think this year’s story was amazing … just wait ‘till next year.