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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Bosox Fans, I just HAVE to Ask...Edit: 3rd WSJ Letter

Posted: 9/29/2011 6:42:05 PM EDT

You're Out and the [Censored] Yanks are In for the World Series contention this year.

I was rooting for the Sox to take it all again.

But the Wall Street Journal had two different articles about your bad luck streak.

I may see a third before too long.

I just have to ask: What ghost are you blaming/Going to blame for the disaster?

Posted: 9/29/2011 6:44:39 PM EDT

[#1]

Bush's fault.

Posted: 9/29/2011 9:30:09 PM EDT

[#2]

The "Curse of the Bambino" returns!

Posted: 9/30/2011 1:55:28 AM EDT

[#3]

Quoted:
Bush's fault.

LMFAO

Posted: 9/30/2011 3:04:37 AM EDT

[#4]

Ghost of Dominic DiMaggio ... He always wanted to be a Yankee.

Posted: 9/30/2011 4:32:32 AM EDT

[#5]

The Ghost of Carl Crawford's career. The Ghost of John Lackey's Divorce. The Ghost of Dr Gill. The Ghost of Nancy Drew. The Greek God of Walks. The Ghost of Brad Mills and a real spring training program. The Ghost of Fundamental Baseball.

Take your pick, choose one, choose them all, add more, you can even blame a Goat if you want.

Posted: 9/30/2011 8:07:05 AM EDT

[#6]

I'd have to say it wasn't Terry Francona, really hope he quit on his own accord. He'll get a job anywhere he wants that has anything resembling an opening.

Carl Crawford, John Lackey and a few others can be blamed pretty tangibly.

Posted: 9/30/2011 9:38:48 AM EDT

[#7]

For the record, I have a subscription to this newspaper. Mods may edit if they want.

Third Letter:

WSJ:

With Boston's Historic Collapse, Red Sox Fans Are Back to Blue

BOSTON—After seven years of baseball euphoria, Boston is cured.

Following a colossal collapse in which the city's famous Red Sox coughed away a nine-game lead, then missed out on the major-league baseball playoffs in agonizing fashion, the city is back to being heartbroken by its team.

Even the weather turned, as New Englanders rose Thursday to a drizzle to match their melancholy.

"They killed this city. This city is in mourning as of right now, no doubt about it," said Alan DeAngelis, an Amtrak worker at South Station, where tired commuters staggered past, many looking as though they were still emerging from a bad dream.

But in the Boston air is a blend of heartache and contempt—for high-priced players who some locals believe lost their hunger and performed as if a spot in the playoffs was inevitable. "They deserved everything they got," Mr. DeAngelis said.

To be sure, Boston is in an uncommon era with its major sports teams all winning recent championships: the Patriots, the Celtics and the Bruins as well as the Sox. But the 110-year-old Red Sox are most deeply embedded in the city's psyche. Fenway Park, the Sox's home, is a beloved relic that opened the same month—April 1912—as the sinking of the Titanic. It's one of the smallest parks in professional baseball, with poles in the way of some views and tiny seats built before the arrival of fast food. But it exudes Old World charm and sells out every game.

What makes this loss so painful is that Boston now expects the Sox to win, while for years, fans were used to having the team stab them in the heart, taking them right to the edge of victory before losing in horrific manner.

The team's world championship in 2004 came after an 86-year championship dry spell, dubbed the "Curse of the Bambino" for the Sox's sale of Babe Ruth to the rival New York Yankees.

The team won again in 2007, which proved that 2004 wasn't a fluke and changed the way the region thought about the Red Sox.

Expectations for this season were extremely high. The team spent heavily over the winter acquiring players like outfielder Carl Crawford, who fetched a seven-year, $142 million deal.

But the fans have now been thrust back into a familiar, fatalistic place.

In a game Wednesday, the Red Sox blew a ninth-inning lead—with the game-winning hit glancing off the glove of Mr. Crawford—and lost to the last-place Baltimore Orioles.

And then, just minutes later, 1,350 miles away, the Tampa Bay Rays won on a dramatic home run in extra innings after coming back from a 7-0 deficit to win 8-7 against the Yankees, who had already clinched a spot in the postseason games.

Tampa edged out the Sox for the American League "wild card" playoff spot, awarded each year to the squad with the best record of the teams not finishing first in one of the league's three divisions.

The Sox became the first team in baseball history to hold a nine-game lead in September and not make the playoffs.

In televised news reports after the loss, Red Sox Manager Terry Francona said "we needed to take care of business today and we didn't," while Mr. Crawford said "we had high expectations and didn't live up to them."

"Oh, it's like a bad hangover," said Brian Gibbons, a 45-year-old worker in Boston's financial district who said he was "tossing and turning" all night and then woke Thursday feeling detached from reality. "It's like, 'did that really happen?'" he said.

"Ahhhh, the good old days," sighed his colleague, Grant McQuillan, 49.

People are disgusted by the historic choke, but no one can agree on who or what to blame.

Already an undercurrent was bubbling up that the team had become arrogant, drawing Johnny-come-lately fans who wear pink Sox caps and don't care that much whether or not the team loses.

"The wine-and-cheese crowd," said Vito DiGregoria, a 52-year-old Boston schoolteacher and lifelong Sox fan.

For many, a sign of lost passion is that every game, fans ignore any troubles on the field and jump up in the eighth inning to belt out Neil Diamond's song "Sweet Caroline."

Even when the Sox floundered this season, "the fans, they didn't care, they were singing like nothing happened," said Mr. DiGregoria, who added, "I hate that song. It's stupid."

At the Cask'n Flagon, a pub by Fenway Park, locals said a sort of sickness had afflicted the Sox. "Something happened psychologically to this team," said Mark John Bowler, a golf caddie, as he tapped a finger to each temple.

Down a few bar stools, Jason DeSantis, 27, said this season will and must go down in Boston's history. "Not for nothing, but this is one of the biggest collapses in Red Sox history and no one should forget," he said.

Posted: 9/30/2011 1:29:30 PM EDT

[#8]

Nobody to blame you silly Sox fans . . My Yankees are just too damn good! hahaha

Posted: 9/30/2011 1:37:56 PM EDT

[#9]

Quoted:
The "Curse of the Bambino" returns!

The curse haunted the Red Sox back when the Yankees where winning World Series under Joe Torre many years ago. Every year the Sox would collapse at the end of the regular season. It was like clockwork.

Posted: 9/30/2011 3:45:26 PM EDT

[#10]

Just like you set the clocks, Spring Ahead.... Fall Behind.

C'mon Buffalo Bills! Patriots suck.

Posted: 9/30/2011 5:31:28 PM EDT

[#11]

Just thought:

Can they get the Guy On A Buffalo to make next years Spring Training

Posted: 9/30/2011 5:52:16 PM EDT

[#12]

what a great day to be a Mets fan.

I've been tortured for 7 yrs now with this kinda stuff. You guys took us off the hook.

The best part was the Braves caving in...

Posted: 10/1/2011 12:39:18 PM EDT

[#13]

Quoted:

what a great day to be a Mets fan.

I've been tortured for 7 yrs now with this kinda stuff. You guys took us off the hook.

The best part was the Braves caving in...

Not quite. Mets Fans would be rejoicing at the Yanks being trounced by anybody at anything. And here goes them Bronx Bummers in post-season again.

Posted: 10/2/2011 9:40:36 AM EDT

[#14]

Oddly enough, I dont feel that way about the Stinkin Yankees.

Now the Braves on the other hand..and any team PHILLY?!

I'm NY centric in my rooting interests, so i give The Stinkin Yankees TBOTD.

I have good friends that are really hurt by the Bosox, I feel bad for em...again.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Bosox Fans, I just HAVE to Ask...Edit: 3rd WSJ Letter

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With Boston's Historic Collapse, Red Sox Fans Are Back to Blue

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