the baseball playoffs this year have been spectacular.... particularly the american league championship series between the boston red sox and the evil empire..a rematch of last years epic 7 game rumble.... there is not much i can say that has not been said.. given that i watched the yankees dismantle the sox in games 1 and 3 (game in which the red sox did not only lose but put in one of the most embarassing and disgraceful performances i have seen) and did not watch games 4 and 5 which the red sox won i fear i will not be able to watch game 6... or dare i say it an eventual game 7....what can i say? this is a cruel fate but i do not want to take any chances here... forces beyond our understanding may be at play!
for those that don't follow baseball the "rivalry" between the bosox and the bronx bombers is one of the more storied in all of sports with one key ingredient missing: some boston wins!.. as the story goes the owner of the red sox, at that time more succesful than the neighboring yankees, decided in 1920 or therein, after a night of binging on crack cocaine, to sell george herman ruth to the yankees in exchange for $150,000 he needed to stage a production on broadway... in pinstripes "babe" ruth became the greatest baseball player in history (yes barry even greater than your ego) all the while creating the yankee mystique..over the next 80+ years the yankees won 26 world series while the red sox have yet to win one.. ergo the curse of the bambino....the bosox have found unusually cruel ways to lose such as the 1986 world series when they lost to the mets in a sure thing that unraveled in game 6 when there were but a few outs standing in their way and a grounder slipped by bill buckner's legs....
to this "historical mix" you have to add a couple spicy condiments:..the current red sox and yankee organizations behave like bitter ex lovers..from red sox brass calling the yankees "the evil empire" to steinbrenner telling to red sox so shut their yap to catcher varitek mauling arod with his glove to last year's 10 rounder between pedro and octagonerian don zimmer and on and on.. these two teams really do not seem to care for each other and their fans like each other far less..boston fans copiously breathe green bile whenever they think of the yankees... and speaking of yankees their fans are not particularly known for their appreciation of high art and fine manners...
this year people were particularly high on the red sox primarily due to their vaunted 1-2 pitching punch of curt schilling and pedro martinez.. but curt is hurting and pedro has been ineffectual in this series... somehow, primarily due to the exploits of david "PAPI" ortiz the red sox have eked out wins in games 4 and 5 (both came deep into extra innings in as dramatic as they come fashion: game 4 was the longest american league championship series game in history at over 5 hours.. the next night's game was the longest championship series in history at about 6!!!) and the series is now yankees 3- red sox 2 with the action returning to the house that ruth built: yankee stadium...tonight curt schilling will attempt to take the mound, seek redemption for his game one let down, and even the series sending it to what would be one of the greatest game sevens of all time but lets not get ahead of ourselves....if the gods of baseball so deem it the skies may open tonight giving schilling an extra day to rest his ailing ankle but also giving the yankees some time to recover from the wallop they just received in boston....the yankees led both of the last two games only to borrow a page from red sox history and find ways to lose...one thing is for certain: if the boston red sox are to finally bury the curse its going to take something mega dramatic...something along the lines of games 4 and 5? perhaps....
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