Now what?

The Boston Red Sox... my Red Sox... are the WorldChampions once again. The Curse of the Final Out lasted, um, 83 years less than the one the Babe laid down on us.

This win is different than 2004, both for the team and for myself. For Red Sox Nation, 2004 will never be topped... we hadn't won in almost nine decades, we were coming off of arguably the most awful moment in my life (Aaron F-ing Boone's shot in 2003) and our last appearance was 1986 (Has anyone seen that Buckner video less than 18 trillion times?). But the topper was that we came back 3-0, against the New York Yankees, which turned out to be both the greatest comeback in sports history as well as its greatest choke job.

That championship healed more than a lifetime's worth of wounds for a city, a Nation and a team that had suffered through more down times than any other. Every pitch was life-or-death, every
single swing in the late innings made me want to throw up. The bloody sock was our battle flag, the Idiots were our heroes, the curse was broken.

This time around, it isn't the same. I'm not saying that this win isn't as sweet... it's just different. We have three years of wounds to heal, which doesn't compare at all; Damon signing with the Dark Side was probably the biggest hurt, but does anyone really care about that anymore? We're just happy to be able to run on his noodle 19 games a year now.

I think, for many reasons, this win will take longer to sink in. 2007 doesn't offer the same salvation that 2004 did. But, as each day passes, I start to get a little happier... the parade yesterday rocked, writing about it this morning gives my face a huge grin, watching the Papelbon Shuffle over and over will not get old and hearing those little whispers of "dynasty" sends my Sox heart a'leaping.

The Boston Red Sox - 2007 World Series Champions.

Thank you boys, thank you.


-----------

Here's the real problem, though. I've watched more games this year than any other, since this is the first full season I've lived in Boston. That means, for 7 months, I'm seeing about 6 games a week, reading www.redsox.com daily, checking ESPN every 15 minutes and buying tickets whenever I can to see them at Fenway.

But now, the season's over. We're the champs. Free agency won't kick into high gear for a little while. What the heck am I supposed to do?

I've compiled a little list of things I'd now like to spend my free time on. Comment back - what will you guys be doing? Do you even care? Did you even read this far down? Ha...

1) Writing
- here, in my personal journal and hopefully doing some freelance stuff, too
2) Getting into the NFL season
- my favorite team is the Buffalo Bills. If we're lucky, they get 2 games aired out here, so it's tough to follow. But, now that I have some more time and we don't completely suck this year, I can devote more attention to the Bills.
3) Cleaning my room
- I didn't wash my game t-shirt for the last 7 games, plus the parade. What state do you think my room is in? Heck, I still have my AC unit in the window and it was 42 degrees this morning.
4) Planning a trip
- I need to get out of here. Maybe London for a long weekend?
5) Sitting, staring at the wall, thinking of more things to do...
- Yeah, I guess I didn't put too much thought into this list.


Final note - my grandmother passed away 10 days ago, so that's why I had the long layoff between posts. I do want to write about her (she was an incredible woman who deeply affected everyone she met), but right now, I haven't collected my thoughts yet.