The Red Sox have won the World Series for the second time in four years! The last time was in 2004. Before that, well, there was a little bit more of a gap between World Series wins. 86 years to be exact.
Up until 2004, generations of Red Sox fans waited almost nine decades to see what my nine-year-old Red Sox fan has seen twice in her lifetime already! When I share with my daughter that some Red Sox fans lived their whole life without ever seeing the Red Sox win the World Series, she looks at me puzzled. To her, they’re world champions. Again.
What do you mean some people never saw the Red Sox win the World Series?
So I tell her about the infamous Red Sox curse. For those of you who aren’t baseball fans, many believed that the Red Sox were cursed when they sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees in 1919. I then quickly add that’s all ancient history! The curse is over. Forever.
Unlike my daughter, my Dad remembers all those fateful Red Sox losses. He knows all too well how long it took for the Red Sox to be victorious. So he’s relishing every moment of this year’s victory, just like he did in 2004.
What will I remember about being a Red Sox fan?
I’ll remember going to Fenway Park each year with my Dad.
I’ll remember the year we started bringing my oldest daughter to Fenway Park with us.
I’ll remember watching an entire game at Fenway in rainy 40 degree weather and loving every minute of it even though they lost!
I’ll remember walking around the warning track of Fenway Park with my Dad while a light mist fell and Louis Armstrong sang “What a Wonderful World.”
I’ll remember my Dad meeting the president of the Red Sox, Larry Lucchino, and when my Dad told Larry he’d been a fan his whole life, Larry responding “That’s a labor of love.”
I’ll remember my Dad and I getting to try on one of the 2004 World Series rings.
I’ll remember waking my daughter so she could see the Red Sox win the World Series again and again.
I’ll remember calling my Dad after midnight to rehash the exciting moments of each game of the American League Championship Series and World Series.
I won’t remember the curse.
My daughter won’t grow up like my Dad and the many other members of the Red Sox nation. My daughter will grow up with the Red Sox being champions. Again and again.
“What curse Mommy?”