Looping Back to a Merciful End

My daughter sent me a link yesterday to a great article by Charles Peirce reflecting on the debacle that was this year’s Red Sox season.  I was a little pissed because I had already drafted most of today’s blog with basically the same message and Pierce is a hell of a lot more eloquent than I could ever hope to be.  Such is life.

The Red Sox season died last night with a whimper which was appropriate given their performance this year.  The team on the field last night was only marginally of major league quality.  The team was really reminiscent of the Red Sox teams of my youth who were biblically awful and almost reveled in their ineptness.  The emergence following 1967 and the competitiveness of the teams for the past two decades have done a lot to mask just how historically bad these earlier Red Sox teams were.  Again Mr. Pierce says it most eloquently:

“This season was the throwback. To hell with all the "ghosts" and all the fanciful guff about curses, this year — actually, this season plus the final third of the 2011 campaign — was when, out of nowhere, all the old hell of being a Red Sox fan reasserted itself with a vengeance. The old "country club" days came back last season, with Josh Beckett and the bucketeers chowing down on fried chicken. And, when they weren't eating Popeyes, they were devouring managers whole. There were rumors of backstairs intrigue and backdoor dealings, just the way there used to be with Yaz and old Tom Yawkey. There was pointless spending leading to worse results. “

“This was the way it was in my childhood. These were the kind of days that brought me back to my youth, the way all the baseball propagandists say the game is supposed to do. These were my Red Sox — overpaid and underachieving backbiters who ended up as comic relief. This was the Fenway Park of my youth — a rancid snake pit of venomous egos, and not a theme park. This was how I became a Red Sox fan before Becoming A Red Sox Fan became a piece of performance art.”

This catastrophe of a season was kind of needed to wash away the air of supremacy and entitlement that has permeated Red Sox nation since that magical autumn of 2004.  These guys were no longer hungry and needed to earn more of our scorn than support.  That 2004 team tapped into the deep well of feeling most of New England (except Connecticut) has for the Sox.  The resulting explosion of popularity gave us what some people refer to as “pink hats” who were attracted more to the brand than to the game itself, Mr. Pierce’s “performance artists”.  Red Sox ownership went after these “fans” with a single-minded focus reminiscent of Chief Brody’s nemesis during the worst moments on the Orca.

They forgot that the reason the Red Sox were so popular is they were competitive on the field.  They forgot how they got there.  This season was so painful my wife refused to be in the room when the red Sox were on television.  She would get up from the couch and walk out of the room if I changed channels to check on a Red Sox game or score.  I don’t agree with her stance, I believe you support your team in both good times and bad, but can understand her anger.   

All is not lost with the Red Sox, if they truly understand that more than band aids need to be applied.  The mid season dump of some of the worst country clubbers was a good first step.  They have a core of young talent that will only get better and some prudent short term fixes through free agency that marked those teams of the early 2000s are needed.  I even think we could contend next year, what can I say; I’m a Red Sox fan.

Trying to escape the brutality of that last game yesterday my wife and I went to see the movie, Looper, which was that rarity – a smart, high concept science fiction film.  The three main actors, Bruce Willis, Emily Blunt, and Joseph Gordon Leavitt, really deliver.  Leavitt obviously altered his look to resemble Willis who plays an older version of Leavitt’s character and their work together on screen is memorable.  This has been a good year for Leavitt who certainly seems headed for bigger and bigger things.  Even though I predicted the outcome (it was still jarring) this was still a lot of fun to watch because it was about the story and the characters and not the special effects. 

 

Yesterday was also a very good day at lunch.  My friend from Keene was in town for an interview and we surprised my son at our weekly lunch with his presence.  My son and the M.E.G. moved in together this past weekend and he seemed really content -  a great sign.  She's even got him talking about climbing all of the major peaks of the Presidential Range of the White Mountains - extremely cool.  I had so much fun at lunch I was able to forget about the Sox for a little while. 

Good Flick