I work at a school for kids ages 4 to 14, so when Jerry Remy selected me to be Vice President of Red Sox Nation (after I placed second in the presidential election), I immediately began brainstorming ways to bring "Red Sox love" to the students, teachers, and staff at my school. I like to think big, so I asked the Sox if I could have the World Series trophy for a morning. Miraculously, they responded that the trophy would be between other engagements and in my school’s area on one particular day, making it available to me and my school for perhaps 45 minutes. Unbelievable.

I arranged for the trophy to be a surprise. And what a surprise! I unveiled it at a school assembly at the conclusion of a brief speech to the community on the lesson that there are many ways to "win" in any contest besides getting the most points, getting the highest grade, or winning the gold medal. "For example," I said, "I didn’t get the most votes in the race for president, but as the runner-up, today I have the chance to present to you THE RED SOX 2007 WORLD SERIES TROPHY!"

Within five seconds of the unveiling, the trophy and I were in a sea of kids (with a sprinkling of adults who had suddenly become kids again). Over the next hour, hundreds of students and teachers posed with the trophy, as did several of the construction workers out back and a few parents who were lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time.

Posing for one particular photo, I put my arm around a member of our school’s maintenance staff who was holding the trophy, and his whole body was shaking and trembling uncontrollably. Other adults at the school were moved to tears when they finally cradled the trophy, and the smiles in their "trophy photos" express a wild combination of bewilderment and joy.

The first, second, and third graders lined up against the wall of a long hallway, and I paraded it down the hall slowly so they all could touch it. I wish you could’ve seen the expressions on their faces. (see above photo) Many of them hugged it, several of them kissed it, and their elation was every bit as real as the adults’.

I know physicists say that an object’s gravitational force is proportional to its mass, but then how do we account for the pronounced gravitational pull of the 33-lb World Series trophy? The way in which people at my school were drawn to it – the euphoric look in their eyes, their animal need to touch it and to hold it and to embrace it – well, I’ve never seen anything quite like it. But I’ve got my own amateur physicist’s theory:

The World Series trophy’s mass consists of all the emotions of the season, as experienced by every member of Red Sox Nation. It includes the "mass" of the emotional roller coaster every fan experienced during the Mother’s Day Miracle" on May 13, when the Sox scored six in the last inning to defeat Baltimore, 6-5. It includes the "mass" of the stress every fan experienced as the Yankees inched closer and closer to us in the A.L. East in August and September. It includes the "mass" of the emotions every fan experienced when Manny connected off of K-Rod for his walk-off homer in game 2 of the Division Series. And it includes the "mass" of every fan’s emotions at the moment Bobby Kielty hit his pinch-hit homer in game 4 of the World Series (pictured here). All these emotions from the 2007 season – and every emotion that occurred between these games, from every fan around the world – are contained within that 2007 World Series trophy. That’s a lot of "emotional mass," and it helps account for the fact that the trophy has the gravitational force of a moon.

And the 2004 World Series trophy? Well it has the "emotional mass" of 86 years of Red Sox fan experiences crammed inside it. Only a Cubs trophy will ever come close to matching the "mass" of that baby…..

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As I wrote in my blog article, Fenway Holiday, oneof the best days I’ve ever had at Fenway Park took place on Father’s
Day, 2002. On that day, I brought my then three year-old son to his
first Red Sox game. He insisted on wearing his duck boots (it was a wet
day) and on wearing his blue Red Sox helmet backwards (funny, now that
he’s 8, he still wears his hat backwards). After the game, my son and I
joined thousands of others on Fenway’s outfield grass, playing catch in
the shadow of the Green Monster. I’ll always remember the emotional
rush of the day — an truly remarkable experience for a young dad —
and I remember thinking, this is my favorite day as a parent.

That was my introduction to Dr. Charles Steinberg, the Red Sox’
Senior Vice President for Public Affairs who, last week, accepted a
front office position with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Steinberg, who
invented Fathers Day at Fenway, transformed the fan experience
for all of us in Red Sox Nation, and the news of his departure made me
truly sad. Am I being overly sentimental? No.

With Steinberg in the front office, we knew there was someone with
power who was thinking about the kids of Red Sox Nation, and someone
who was tending to the sacredness of the Fenway experience 81 games per
year. Steinberg designed the Fenway experience for Fenway first-timers,
which injected magic into the game for all fans, every game, regardless of the win-loss outcome.

Certainly, winning changed the tone of the fan experience at
Fenway Park. But so much of the joy we’ve grown accustomed to at Fenway
was masterminded by Steinberg. He is a treasure. He is L.A.’s treasure
now. Seems a fitting destination for the Walt Disney of baseball.

Red Sox Nation will miss him. And we are grateful to him.

Some of the greatest sports moments of the day never make it onto ESPN’s Sports Center. Two perfect examples:

1. On Saturday night, Harvard’s
men’s basketball team defeat the Michigan Wolverines before a sell-out
crowd at Lavietes Pavillion in Cambridge, 62-51. That’s right, an Ivy League team that has NEVER won the Ivy League Title
(a drought that’s comparable to the Red Sox’s 86-year ordeal) beat the
one-time Big Ten powerhouse, a team full of Michigan’s best high school
players, almost ALL of whom are on scholarship (Ivy League teams cannot
give scholarships). I’m not a Harvard graduate, but I was in attendance
and I was rooting hard for the underdogs.

At the end of the game, hundreds of Harvard students stormed the
court. Has that EVER happened at a Harvard basketball game? And has
there EVER been a bigger win in Harvard men’s basketball history? I
think the only win that comes close was a victory over Boston College,
at the Heights, several years ago.

Sports
Center loves great stories, and this victory has a doozy…. Harvard’s
new coach, former Duke guard Tommy Amaker, was fired as Michigan’s
coach last year. He could have taken a major division 1 coaching post
this season but opted for Harvard and the challenge of winning their first-ever Ivy title. Amaker
is too classy to call this victory "revenge," but it is what it is — a
coach who was fired by a big-time program went to a coaching graveyard
against the advice of his old mentor (Coach K) and then defeated the
school that fired him. Awesome.

2. Last weekend, I played the 355th game of wiffle ball vs. my 8
year-old son and his best friend in our backyard, and the way the game
ended will be talked about for years and years at our family’s kitchen
table. In over three years, I have never beaten these two kids. (Yes,
to handicap myself I do bat lefty and I let them hum the ball from a
pitcher’s mound that’s about 25 feet from home, but these guys don’t
win because I’m not trying, they win because they earn it.) Last
weekend, for about two and one-half seconds, I thought victory was
mine…. and then, it was snatched away.

Bases
were loaded, two outs, I was down by two runs, bottom of the last
inning, 2-2 count. My son hucked a fast curveball over the plate and I
pulled it, driving it deep to right field… way back, way back….
could this be Daddy’s first victory ever at Fenway West?… then his
friend soared over the plastic green fence, glove arm outstretched,
caught the ball, and slammed to the ground. GAME OVER. My son and his
friend screamed, ran to each other, and chest-butted. I just stood
there, stunned at what I had just seen.

I
knew at that moment that I would write about the game on this blog, and
I knew exactly what I would say – that sometimes, the most elegant,
miraculous, unbelievable sports moments happen right in our own
backyards, when no fans are watching and nothing is at stake except
individual pride. That catch was, truly, every bit as good as the best
Coco Crisp catches, and the fact that it saved the game and a
three-year unbeaten streak made it an instant classic. No film crews
were there to record the incredible play – it will never make it onto
The Best **** Sports Show’s 50 Greatest Catches of All-Time – but the
three of us who were there may never forget it. Indeed, our heroic, 8
year-old right fielder may never make a catch as great as that one the
rest of his life. Don’t you just love sports??

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Some November thoughts from the Vice President of Red Sox Nation:

1. First of all, let it be known that the VP of RSN became a dad for
the fifth time on the same day that Mike Lowell re-signed with the Red
Sox (November
19). When my new little daughter is grown up we’ll still be talking
about what a great day November 19, 2007 was in Red Sox Nation! (I
lobbied my wife to name her Lowell, but to no avail…. just as I
lobbied hard to name my second son Drew when he was born during the
second quarter of the Patriots’ AFC Championship victory vs. Pittsburgh on January 27, 2002…
Bledsoe came off the bench to win that game…. but, alas, our son had
already owned a different name for an hour by the time the game ended.)

2. What Curt Schilling and Mike Lowell did (signing contracts to
stay on a team they love for fewer years and less money than they could
have received elsewhere) is unbelievably rare in professional sports.
How many players can you name who have done this? 99%
of the time, the player complains "my team doesn’t respect me" and
"doesn’t want me as much as the other team does" and then they say it
has nothing to do with money, but with "respect" when they take the
extra year and the extra $15M. All of us in Red Sox Nation need to
appreciate these guys for choosing US over millions of dollars
that were available to them elsewhere. And I congratulate Curt and Mike
on seeing the big picture. There actually aren’t many people who have
retired as certified Red Sox Legends (and who see the priceless value
of doing so) and these two have put themselves in a position to do just
that.

3. I am THRILLED that the Yankees have re-signed Posada, Rivera, and
A-Rod for the same reason I’m thrilled the Sox have re-signed Schilling
and
Lowell. The Sox-Yanks rivalry is such a gift to us sports fans in
Boston, and having the same players involved over a long period of time
gives the rivalry real substance. The distinctive story lines that have
already developed involving these players and many of their teammates
will get carried over to another season and now there will be another ending to this particular rivalry’s story.

In my late-’70s childhood, we learned to boo Chambliss, Randolph,
Dent, Nettles, Munson, Piniella, Jackson, Guidry, and Gossage. And
these guys stayed together for a stretch that was long enough that they
were THE YANKEES of their era.
I’m happy for the children of Red Sox Nation — that their childhoods
will be enriched by a consistent set of Sox/Yankees rosters. This is
part of the reason I was distressed when the Sox traded Nomar, and when
Damon signed with the Yankees. I’m really happy that, for at least the
next three years, all of us in Red Sox Nation will get to witness the
thrill of ninth inning comebacks vs. Mariano, and we’ll get to watch
A-Rod’s daunting figure in the on-deck circle, and we’ll be graced with
the emotion that Posada brings to big games — and that all these great
athletes we love to boo will be wearing the hated pinstripes. It just
makes life better that way.

About a week ago, my dad wrote an email to an unknown person who had left some great comments on this blog during the Red Sox Nation campaign. He wanted to say "hello" and "thanks for the support." This "mystery commenter" immediately wrote back, revealing herself to be an old friend of my father’s and telling an amazing story about an encounter with Manny Ramirez on the day of the Rolling Rally. The story is too good to not share with Red Sox Nation on this blog. Here are excerpts from that email…

Dear Jim,
Whoo Hoo!  Yes, c’est moi!  Some communications are best kept secret until they aren’t secret any more!  And here is a story for you!  There is something in the wind …

I am a Red Sox fan, but "one step removed," not having frequented a game for some twenty years, if truth be told … however, I am a total fan of sport as a way of building character, sense of fair play, earnest and skilled competition, and a profound sense of the holy AND totally identify as a member of Red Sox Nation. A number of people who are my clients for consultation, etc. are wildly active members of Red Sox Nation … and for the FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE, on Tuesday [the day of the Rolling Rally], I wore a Red Sox tee-shirt given to me by one of my clients who knew I was watching every single game during the playoffs and World Series.

So, continuing my story … to my dismay, due to work obligations and deadlines re: a written project, I wasn’t really able to go to THE PARADE. But I did wear my Red Sox tee-shirt all day!  And, at 4:30 p.m yesterday [the day of the parade], I had an appointment to provide consultation for a colleague who has significant vision problems, so I go to her home for our meetings. Her home is located in the Ritz condo building off Tremont Street.  Arriving 15 minutes early, I sat for a bit in the (ever so nice) lobby, wearing my Red Sox tee-shirt.  And, while reading there, wearing my Red Sox tee-shirt, in walked none other than Manny Ramirez (this is the building where he lives), who noticed me sitting and wearing my Red Sox tee-shirt, came right over, sat down in the seat right across from me and struck up a 15-MINUTE conversation with me!!! 

He was as nice and interesting and conversationally engaged as a person could be and we talked about a range of related topics including: my congratulations to him and to the team, my appreciation for all they give to so many of us who just love the team and Red Sox Nation, what Red Sox Nation means to children, how wonderful it is to "get lost for three hours+" in a GREAT game in a world where so many tragic and terrible realities occur, how important it is for skill and practice and fun to be combined in people’s minds and experience, when the players will get their World Series Champion rings, how great it is that there is a President and Vice President of Red Sox Nation, what Manny finds interesting about Boston, how Boston is different from Cleveland, and how he feels about his fans.  (He told me he loves them — "it’s all for the fans!")  He talked about the parade and the reaction of the fans and the whole of Red Sox Nation.

Then, after fifteen minutes of chatting, I had to get to my meeting and he had to get going too, and as I headed toward the elevator, the concierge said to me: "Unbelievable!  Manny never does that — you just had a fifteen minute private audience with Manny!" And I said, "Yes, and what a delightful, very nice, sweet, and interesting person he is!"

WOW! Life is full of surprises!  And how wonderful!
Shalom/Sallam/Peace

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After the triumphant ride through Boston on duck boats, I followed Red Sox personnel into a post-parade reception at Fenway. The place was crawling with familiar faces, but the one I was most eager to meet belonged to former Red Sox catcher, Rich Gedman. Gedman played for the Sox from 1980 to 1990, right in the prime of my Red Sox childhood, when I was between the ages of 12 and 22. I walked up to Gedman because I wanted to tell him that he had the key hit in the greatest baseball game I ever witnessed in person – and to ask him what he remembered about it. Rich was happy to talk.

After introducing myself, I told Rich that I remember attending an extra-innings game at Fenway in my youth and, when it was over, I proclaimed, "I will never see a game more unbelievable than that for the rest of my life," and I recall that the opposing team made a couple of big blunders in the last inning to aid a Sox comeback, and that Gedman had the game-winning hit. But that’s all I recall.

Rich said, "Yes, that was 1986, and it was against California, and we fell behind by three runs in the 12th or 13th inning, and I didn’t get the game-winning hit, I got the game-tying hit – a line drive to right field – then we won the game on a balk." YES! I said, THAT WAS THE GAME!

We then recalled that Angels 3B Rick Burleson dropped a pop-up that, had it been caught, would have ended the game. Rich tried to remember the name of the pitcher who balked, but he could not. (Further research reveals that his name was Todd Fischer… more on him later.) And Rich said that part of the reason he remembers the game is that, when the Sox made their miraculous comeback against the Angels in game 5 of the 1986 ALCS (thank you, Don Baylor and Dave Henderson), everyone in the Sox dugout was saying, "This is just like that game we played against them back in July!"

Thanks to Google, I discovered that this game took place on July 10, 1986 (I was 17 years old), and the Red Sox won, 8-7. The entire box score and play-by-play detail is available here. And after reviewing how the game ended, I see why I knew I’d never see a more exciting game. In the 12th inning, the Angels and Red Sox scored a combined total of 7 runs with two outs. Here’s how it happened.

In the top of the 12th inning, with the score tied, 4-4, Sox pitcher Steve Crawford retired the first two batters of the inning (Ruppert Jones and Gary Pettis) and then gave way to lefty Mike Brown to face left-handed hitting Wally Joyner. Mike Brown proceeded to implode. Joyner stroked a triple, then scored on a wild pitch. Unnerved, Brown then walked George Hendrick and Brian Downing in succession and gave up R.B.I. singles to Rick Burleson and Bobby Grich. Tim Lollar relieved Mike Brown and got **** Schofield to pop out to Gedman, but the damage had been done: three two-out runs for California and an almost certain loss for the Sox.

As a kid, whatever tickets got my hands on were almost always standing room (and that was fine with me). I remember after that three-run burst, Fenway emptied and my little brother, Ben (16 at the time), and our friend, Sam (13 at the time), and I moved down to the front row behind home plate. We didn’t stay for the end of the game to see a Sox comeback, we stayed because we wanted to experience even a half-inning of Red Sox baseball from the good seats. We were sad the Sox were about to lose, but we were jacked to be sitting in the best seats in the house. Little did we know, we were about to witness history.

Marty Barrett led off the bottom of the 12th against Angels pitcher Mike Cook with a single to the second baseman, Bobby Grich. In the box score it’s called a single, but in my memory, it was a botched play – perhaps it was a bad hop, I don’t know. Wade Boggs then did something he almost never did – he struck out looking. And after Bill Buckner flied out to left field, with the Sox down to their last out, Jim Rice did something he did frequently – he hit a ball into the screen above the Green Monster for a two-run homer. But when Don Baylor hit a pop-up above third base, it looked like the game would end — until the ball bonked off of Burleson’s glove and Baylor ended up on first. I remember that well – and I remember that Ben, Sam and I went nuts. Are we going to win this game?? And when Dwight Evans walked, putting the tying run on second base, the 1,000 or so of us left at Fenway jumped and screamed with anticipation. Number 10, Rich Gedman, shook the donut off of his bat and strode to the batter’s box with an expression of total calmness.

And this is what I remember most about that game: seeing Gedman walk to the plate and thinking, "When this half-inning started, there is no way Gedman thought he’d be walking back onto the field again tonight." And I remember just praying, praying, praying for Rich to get a hit and continue this amazing comeback. And he did! Line drive, base hit to right field, Baylor scores. YES! YES! YES! TIE GAME! TIE GAME! Again, the loyal few of us left at Fenway, all crammed into the front five rows, romped and cheered like lunatics. RICH GEDMAN IS CLUTCH became a new fact in my baseball-encyclopedic head. And the winning run, in the person of Dwight Evans, stood at third base with two outs.

At this remarkable juncture, with the ever-dangerous Rey Quinones (lifetime batting average of .245) coming to the plate for the Red Sox, Angels manager Gene Mauch removed pitcher Mike Cook from the game and replaced him with rookie reliever, Todd Fischer. It was Fischer’s 9th major league appearance, and it turned out to be his last. And what a way to end a career – before even throwing a pitch, Fischer balked, Evans scored, and the Red Sox won.

As Evans ran down the third base line, most of us in the stands didn’t know what had happened for a few seconds, but as the news spread, bedlam ensued. Gene Mauch argued vociferously while the Sox players and fans reveled all around him. As Ben, Sam and I walked out of Fenway that night, we all said to each other, that game will never be topped.

How rare is it for a winning run to cross the plate as the result of a balk? According to Jayson Stark, it’s only happened three times in the last 33 years.

Another interesting postscript to this story: soon after Mike Brown pitched like dog doo vs. the Angels and Rey Quinones stood there while the game-winning balk occurred, the Mariners traded 1986 heroes Dave Henderson and Spike Owen to the Sox for Rey Quinones and Mike Brown (and the immortal Mike Trujillo)! Thank you, Rey and Mike! And thank you, Rich Gedman, for the chance to reminisce about an extraordinary moment we both witnessed and participated in 21 years ago…. and that we’ll never forget.

Ahalf-hour before the Red Sox’ World Series Rolling Rally began, I
received an email at work from the Red Sox inviting me to ride one of
the 20 duck boats that would drive through the city. (Are you kidding
me???) 30 minutes later, I was aboard the white duck boat carrying
Johnny Pesky, Dom DiMaggio, their families, and the medical staff.
(Getting there on time was no simple matter… but that’s a story for
another day…)

What an honor! To be included among the Red Sox family riding
through the city amidst a sea of overjoyed, proud Sox fanatics was an
experience of a lifetime. And I didn’t just stand there and wave.
Knowing I’d probably never be there again, I got into it: pointing,
pumping fists, whooping it up for two straight hours. A lifetime of Sox
passion poured out of me and I felt an intense kinship with the crowd –
that’s the only way I can explain it. The next day, my voice was gone
and my whole body was sore. Like I said, I’d really whooped it up for
two hours….

I looked into countless faces as we cruised through
Boston, and each one was filled with tremendous joy and excitement.
Thousands and thousands (it seemed like millions to me, actually) of
people skipped work or school and braved enormous, dense crowds to
experience this glorious conclusion to a banner Red Sox season. And
while I could try to wax poetic about it all, I think these photos of
Red Sox Nation, taken by me from the duck boat, speak for themselves
about the incredible experience I had and that all those satisfied Sox
fans had, as well.

Thanks to my former fifth grade student, Morgan Pierson
(who’s now graduated from college), for taking that photo of me on the
duck boat as I passed him on Boylston Street (top of page). I quote
from his email to me: "To be honest, Mr. C., I don’t think ANYONE on
ANY of those Duck Boats showed as much sincere jubilation as you did."
Couldn’t help it. I was just mirroring the emotions of my fellow fans
in front of me, and they were going absolutely berzerk…. After all, we did win the WORLD SERIES, BABY!

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I’m sitting here in the dark in my living room watching game 4 of the World Series – potentially the clincher for the Red Sox. Why is it dark in here? Because my wife and I caved in to my 8 year-old son’s begging to stay up to watch the first three innings. He’s lying on the couch, under a blanket with his head on his favorite pillow. It’s a school night, so this really isn’t model parenting. But the kid has rooted for the team every day since spring training, and they way he said this evening, "Mommy, it isn’t just a baseball game, it’s the World Series!" made us realize that, while he’s only in third grade, he’s as big a Red Sox fan as any grown-up we know. Of all the Sox fans out there tonight, this kid deserves a chance to see some of this game.

Earlier today, my son made me promise to wake him up in the ninth inning if the Red Sox have a chance to win the game, so he could witness the final moments and see the celebration on the field. "Wake me up if they’re down by ten runs or less in the last inning," he said, implying that even a deficit that large is not too big for this baseball club to overcome. No, I told him, I’ll wake you up in the ninth inning if the Red Sox are leading, or tied, or if the tying run comes to the plate.

He’s been loquacious all night, asking me his customary impossible baseball questions, such as: "Daddy, if a game is suspended and they schedule it to be continued at a later date, but then one of the players who was in the lineup for one of the teams gets traded to another team before the game can be resumed, can that team substitute any player for the traded player?" I don’t even know where to find the answer to that question. All of a sudden, he’s quiet. He has fallen asleep before the end of the third inning. I’ll get him up later if necessary…

If this were a day game, or if it started earlier in the night, my son would be able to see every moment live. And he wouldn’t be lying under a blanket on the couch, struggling to stay awake – he’d be watching the way he normally does: bounding around the room, playing his own baseball game in his head, making diving, game-saving, ESPN-highlight plays on the couch over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. It really is a sight to see. When he’s watching a game, our living room becomes a gymnasium and the whole house shakes. He actually becomes a participant in the drama that’s unfolding on the TV, burning hundreds of calories while I sit there eating nachos.

My brother just called me from his home outside of D.C. He is the most rabid, passionate, loyal Red Sox fan I know. He drove to Cleveland for game 5 of the ALCS and drove all the way back to D.C. immediately following the game, to get to work. That’s right, he drove something like 450 miles through the wee hours of the morning on an adrenaline high. He’s 37 years old, but the Red Sox make him (and all of us) behave like a college kid…

When he called, I asked him how his feelings about this Series are different from 2004. "I’m not as elated as I was then. And I just feel more confident about our chances. Even in the 9th inning of game 4 vs. the Cardinals in 2004 (with the Sox up, 3-0), I thought they could come back. But even if we lose tonight, we have Josh Beckett as insurance."

We need to finish these guys off tonight. The Rockies have magic in their back pockets, as we saw over the last month. And this is baseball, after all. Anything CAN happen and anything DOES happen in this game. You can have a commanding 3-0 lead in a series, and a 3-0 lead in the 7th inning of game 4 (as the Sox do now), then one poor defensive play later (or one walk and stolen base later, as in game 4 of the 2004 ALCS), it can all start to slip away.

Off to focus on the conclusion of this one…

On the Wednesday afternoon before game 1, at the end of lunch period, I was asked to say a few words to the middle school students at the school where I work. Half of them were wearing Sox shirts and I’m sure the World Series was a hot topic of conversation between their bites of American chop suey. Fascinating, given that at least half of them would be asleep before the first pitch, and none would last past the third inning. Here’s what I said:

"I know you’re all really excited about the game tonight, and about the Sox being in the World Series, and you’re sure the Sox are going to win it all. And I agree. But think about all those kids in Denver who are also at school today, and are also excited about this World Series, and are as certain about a Rockies victory as we are about a Sox victory. Those poor kids. They don’t know what kind of team their Rockies are about to face. Can we have a moment of silence to reflect on the sadness these innocent kids will feel when they get thrashed by Beckett, Papi, Manny, and Papelbon? (cheers ensued…. )

And I want all of you to know how lucky you are to be a kid-Sox-fan in the year 2007. Your teachers and I spent our entire childhood and adulthood dealing with Red Sox agony year after year. Sometimes we wondered if the Red Sox would ever win another World Series. Your childhood has already included one World Series victory, and you’re about to witness the second World Series win in four years! (more cheers….. I was on a roll)

And finally, I have some advice for all of you. I know that most of you will be sent to bed by your parents before the second inning. So when you get home from school today, find a radio in your house, put new batteries in it, and hide it under your pillow. The World Series only comes once a year, and you never know when the Sox will make it this far again. This is only the fifth time the Sox have played in the World Series in the last 60 years! Make sure you are prepared to follow the game late into the night – you want to be paying attention when the Sox win! (more cheers…. then, they went out to recess)

But seriously, we don’t hear much about the Rockies fans, and we assume they’re in a different (lower) class that die hard Red Sox fans (the height of audacity), but crazy Rockies fans do exist, and their endless World Series drought is about to be extended…. mm hmm, we know how they feel. And yes, I am being overly optimistic. That is my job as Vice President of Red Sox Nation….

So, tonight the World Series begins, and the excitement I feel about it reflects my supreme confidence that the Sox will prevail. In my last blog entry, you saw that I used the crystal ball Rem Dawg gave me to predict the exact outcome of the last three games. Well, I’m looking into the crystal ball again and I see the Sox taking the Series in 4 or 5 games. Part of me is a little sad that they’ll be celebrating once again on the opposing team’s home field, but that part of me is quite small, actually…..

The real issue in my house isn’t who will win the World Series, it’s who will be able to stay awake to WATCH the World Series, and how do we fit our kids’ school schedule into the World Series schedule?

Since becoming Vice President of Red Sox Nation, I have received about 15 emails – some from friends and acquaintances and some from total strangers – asking me to try to do something (in the future) about the late start of these games. These people are not only advocating for their rabid-fan-kids whose experience of the playoffs is the pre-game show and the highlights on TV the next morning, they’re advocating for THEMSELVES. It’s hard for grown-ups to stay up for the end of these games, let alone kids!

Well, I certainly plan to use whatever clout I have to affect change in the start-times of playoff games. But since Fox and TBS and every other network have determined that they can make the most money (now) by starting the games late, they’ll probably never change their minds (because, sadly, they are right… though they are being short-sighted by ignoring the fans of the future). Therefore, I offer the following advice to all parents of young Red Sox fans out there:

Rather than complain about the late start of these games, ADAPT to them. Being a die-hard Red Sox fan, I know you agree that it’s very important for our children to witness these critical moments in Red Sox history that only come once every few years, or decades, or for some people, once in a lifetime. So LET THEM WATCH, and prepare them for extended evenings of TV watching.

During the weeks leading up to the playoffs, start putting your kids to bed later and later so they get acclimated to the brutal baseball schedule they’ll be enduring soon. Once the playoffs start, take your kids out of school after lunch for a two-hour nap, and pump them full of caffeine about an hour before the games start. (Diet Coke and Diet Mountain Dew work well for this purpose.) Around 10:00pm, feed your kids a big bowl of ice cream. The sugar high will keep them going a while longer.

What about school the next day? You can try the Diet Coke and Diet Mountain Dew technique again and hope they can survive the day, but since there’s bound to be another game that night, it would be better to let them sleep in and miss the first few hours of school. Hey, you have to make a choice: will it be the three R’s, or the most important R of all? (the Red Sox) The World Series lasts one short week. In Red Sox Nation, it’s the most important week of our entire lives. The choice is obvious. Fox won’t bend, so we have to. Let the kids stay up to watch!

(No, this message has not been approved by my wife….but I’m working on it…)