After getting home from school one day in 1981, my parents surprised me with the announcement that we would be going to Yankee Stadium--that night-- to see the Red Sox play the Yankees. I was ecstatic. And when we got to the Bronx and walked up the ramp and got a view of the field, I was transfixed. Not because it was Yankee Stadium, but because it was ANY stadium...my first visit to a big league ballpark.
The first player I saw was Carl Yastrzemski, my favorite player, tossing the ball around near third base. Soon afterwards he and the rest of the Red Sox went to their dugout. Then the Yankees did, too. All except Reggie Jackson, who continued stretching and signing autographs next to the Yankee dugout. Soon after the game started, and though I don't remember much of the details, I do remember that the Yankees won. And that I saw someone smoking pot for the first time. A couple blocks away on the way back to our car. (Listen to Adrian Belew's spoken word portions of "Thela Hun Ginjeet' on King Crimson's Discipline album...the vibe was much like that.)
Because the Yankees ruined my first trip to a big league game, I've hated them ever since. I've been to tons of games since then, and every time the Red Sox got close to winning, I had a sense of foreboding; that they wouldn't be able to pull it off.
Not this year.
Red Sox fans are sick of losing. And so are the Red Sox. As someone who has watched hundred of Red Sox/Yankee games, it's quite amazing what the Red Sox have accomplished. This turnaround would not have been possible prior to this year. I can just picture all the Yankee fan punks I grew up with getting what for from all the Red Sox fans I grew up with.
My mother died in 1997.
My dad is 72-years-old.
I want the Red Sox to win this year.
For a moment, I'll be eight again.