Tonight (x-posted)

[khaosworks]

Something I've been asked: as a Red Sox fan, should I be gloating?

Damn right, I should be gloating, and I am. It's only hubris if I thought we were a dead certainty for World Series victory, and I'm not even thinking that far. I'm still wrapping my mind around tonight.

My throat is sore from yelling and jumping. My eyes sting from the tears. For those of us who remember one year ago, sitting there screaming at the television set when Grady Little walked to the mound and then walked back without Pedro Martinez, for those of us who watched Aaron Boone destroy our hopes for that year... tonight was oh, so so sweet.

Because right now, this moment, this crystalized, forever slice of time, we beat them. We beat the Yankees. We came back up from three games down. We did something that has never been done. That's not enough for posterity, and I won't be satisfied in the long run, but it's enough for tonight.

Now we have a chance to do something that has eluded us for 86 years. But that's for tomorrow.

We have tonight. Tonight. Tonight.

And nobody will take that away from us. Ever.

Comments

[mgrasso.livejournal.com]

Funny, I'm not gloating. I actually do feel pity and sadness for the Yankee fans. Is that weird? I mean, I've lived here my whole life, watched '86 as an 11-year-old who just cried and cried afterwards. And yet I can't hate the Yanks now.

[camwyn]

And at least one of us really does appreciate that. Congratulations to you guys, though. And welcome back to Real Ball Team status.

Now I'm going to have to insist, regardless of the Series outcome this year, that y'all make it to the Series again next year and steamroll the Mets into the ground, okay? Can you do that for me?

[mgrasso.livejournal.com]

Funny, I have strategic alliances with many Mets fans, despite '86, for our shared hatred of the Yankees. So I have to say... um, I dunno. Let's just handle the NL Central representative first, then worry bout next year. :)

[camwyn]

That's okay, I understand. Can't blame me for trying, eh?

[mgrasso.livejournal.com]

Heh, it's cool. If there was a team I absolutely despised in the World Series for the NL, I might ask the same thing. :)

[khaosworks.livejournal.com]

And welcome back to Real Ball Team status.

I know you didn't mean it to sound patronizing, but I do have to say that we've always been a Real Ball Team.

Even the Cubs.

[camwyn]

Well, yes, but in my family it's generally been a contention that the Mets, despite their various wins and such, are not in fact a real ball team. Which means that 1986... well... you get the idea, right? So you beat the Yankees, and that makes up for everything, and that's cool.

Now go party or something, okay?

[khaosworks.livejournal.com]

It's all cool. And I would buy you a drink and offer a hug if I were there.

[camwyn]

Muchos gracias.

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

What camwyn said, up until the Mets bit :-)

Sportsmanship matters. People and their feelings matter, and it's good to know that there are folks who remember that, in the moment. Thank you.

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

Your icon makes me want to throw you kisses.

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

*Reaches up with his Reggie Jackson mitt (from his Little League days, lo these many moons hence :-) and catches, samples with delight, then offers to return volley*

Feel free to take the usericon and use and/or share it. That's what it's for.

[mgrasso.livejournal.com]

Well, it's not conscious. I just think, as I said, that we've lost so much, so often, that I can't help but have that empathy for loss. It's also the sense of relief.

[camwyn]

Force of habit. My family was all Yankees fans when we lived in New York, and the kids I went to school with were overwhelmingly Mets fans. They got really annoying.

Perhaps if you could just stomp on Craig Loizides and Jason whose-last-name-I-have-forgotten instead...?

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

*g* And I grew up in a family devastated by the loss of the Dodgers who adopted the Mets -- but my best friends were Yankee fans. I had to learn to appreciate both, or live even more alone than I was.

Given the choice, though, I will root for the Mets over the Yankees eight days a week.

[khaosworks.livejournal.com]

I sympathize with Yankees fans, but not with the Yankees themselves, if that makes any sense.

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

It does. Doesn't make some parts of the celebration any easier to take, but I understand what you're saying.

[khaosworks.livejournal.com]

For some reason, I'm basking in schadenfreude, for sure, but that's not tempered with hatred for the Yankees. I don't know if that's a contradictory emotion, or even if it can be reconciled. I do not sympathize with them, certainly, but it's not out of hatred - it's out of complete indifference for whatever emotion they're feeling.

Yankees fans? Those I sympathize with, because I know the pain of having your club not make it, after getting so close. To that end, I accept their congratulations with grace, and will gladly buy them a drink to commiserate.

But the Yankees team? Joe Torre? Screw 'em. As a fan, I feel no obligation to extend good sportsmanship to the team. Let the Red Sox team do that. I'll reach out to my peers.

[mgrasso.livejournal.com]

Torre's mostly a class act, really. But Jeter and A-Rod annoy the living SHIT out of me. As do the Yankees broadcasters. I've got no love lost there. :)

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

True about Torre. A good Joe, you might truthfully say.

The Yankee broadcasters lost my sympathies when Phil (Rizzuto) left the booth. It's one thing to be a hopeless homer when your heart and soul have belonged to the team since you played with them. (Bobby Murcer just wasn't the same, though.) It's another when you're just some guy with a resonant voice.

The Yankees lose! Theuhuhuhuhuh Yankees lose!

[mgrasso.livejournal.com]

That's why I hate Sterling and Steiner. :)

Re: The Yankees lose! Theuhuhuhuhuh Yankees lose!

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

Trust me, if I could, I'd can 'em. I do, when I have access to the TV (which means I can cut the audio and play music). Radio makes it harder -- which is why I "watch" on the Internet. (No, not mlb.com's pay-per deal. I don't pay for content on the Net, yet.)

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

The Red Sox earned their victory tonight. Every bit of it.

And that will never go away.

[querldox.livejournal.com]

Um, I think you meant Pedro, not Manny (although Manny pitching would explain a lot about last year...)

A related question; is it wrong to be thinking "Go Astros!" because one would like the icing on the cake if Boston does manage to win of beating Clemens? [Side note: while clearly it turned out that he did have quite a bit left in him, I think the Sox made the right call in letting him go based on his last seasons with the Sox. Maybe he needed the wake-up call, but he was not a staff ace his last several seasons in Boston].

[khaosworks.livejournal.com]

You're right. I'm gonna have to correct that.

[khaosworks.livejournal.com]

The symbolism of Texas v. Massachusetts would make our brains explode. ;)

And yes, Clemens was pretty much done, so I didn't really mourn his departure.

heh

[etherial.livejournal.com]

The Symbolism of Massachusetts vs. New York was pretty good, too.

[scs-11.livejournal.com]

Come the end of this season, I was rooting for both the Cubs and the Red Sox (hey, I live in Detroit, what else can I do?) Since the Cubs didn't make it, the Sox are my official favorites.

Congrats to them and their fans. Nice to see some gracious winners out there.

And congrats to the Yankees on having a class act like Joe Torre as manager. His post-game comments were as thoughtful and level-headed as someone looking back with a year of perspective. Well-done, Joe.

[mrlogic.livejournal.com]

I so hope that Houston are nominated for advance to the Series, so that Boston can get elected over defeat them.