Boston Red Sox
At the moment, Red Sox Nation has been getting a lot of attention, and you all know the story well, so I'll keep this brief. Mainly because I was born near Boston, there is no major league team in North Carolina, and because I had a friend in 2nd grade who was already a Red Sox fan, I began following the time avidly early in the 1978 season. Every morning I studied the boxscores closely, and early in that '78 season, more often than not I was savoring a W. As we all know things went south in the second half of the season, culminating in Bucky Dent, etc.
1986 was, of course, worse. But I kept the faith, and saw my first game in Fenway Park in 1987, a Bob Stanley complete game shutout. As a student at Brown I was able to attend a couple of games a year; my current beard owes its origins to a pledge not to shave until the Red Sox had clinched the 1988 American League East (my freshman year).
Finally in 2004 the Red Sox got it done and it was with great gusto that I joined the celebrations in Harvard Square after the ALCS triumph over the Yankees and then near Fenway after the Sox disposed of St. Louis to win the World Series. Three days later I got to see the World Series Trophy from about 15 feet away as the victory parade passed the Boston Common. Thank you Red Sox (even Pedro)!
Since 1999 I have been a member and supporter of Save Fenway Park!, an organization devoted to preserving and improving Fenway Park and to holding Red Sox management accountable to the fans and to the local neighborhood. To all the sportswriters who said the Red Sox could never win a World Series in Fenway....and you know who you are....you were wrong!
