My short history with the Boston Red Sox

I have been a Red Sox fan for a long time. It seems strange to like a team from Boston, but I do. It all started in 1975 when the Red Sox played the Cincinnati Reds in the World Series. I was 10 at the time and I hated the Reds. Why? Because they always made the Atlanta Braves suffer so much. I guess I liked the Braves, since they were so close to Tennessee and were on tv all of the time. But in 1975 I was rooting for the Red Sox. My father let me stay up that year to watch all of the games. I saw an amazing series, generally considered one of the greatest of all time. In the end, the Reds won in seven games, but I loved the Red Sox at the end.

In 1975, I had never heard of the Curse of the Bambino, so I didn't realize the Gods had cursed Boston for all of eternity. Then came 1986, I was in college, and lo and behold the Sox were back in the Series. That was a bad year. I had a neighbor who was a Mets fan, and I was poor, bored with school, desperately pining for a woman named Laura, and looking for a bit of good news in my life. Surely the Sox would provide me those good feelings. Wrong! They lost in seven and I trashed my dorm room. Everyone was surprised at my outburst, including me. A few months later, I joined the Air Force. I really think the loss of the 1986 series affected my decision. It was a good choice in retrospect, but a very tough one at the time. I think it came out of a lot of the confusion and despair I felt during that fall of 1986. I ended up dating that woman, but then I left for basic training and we kind of broke each other's hearts.

I moved to Boston in 2000. I had friends there, but the fact that the Red Sox played there really made it all the better. What a horrible year that was. I actually loved Boston and would happily go back in a heart beat, but I taught there and that was the worst thing that could possibly happen to a person. Then I fled America, and haven't looked back.

I am now in my fifth year in Kuwait and Boston has won the World Series twice in those years. Oh joy! They did it again today. It made my heart go all flitter flutter. I was shocked in 2004 when they won, but today I was just happy.

So God bless Beantown! Maybe I will return to you someday. More than likely I will just watch you from afar, through Red Sox games.