Year of Atonement

Red Sox 2004

As the Sox have held first place most of the year with the Yankees in the rearview mirror, only to give up that lead to their arch rivals, it's been remarkable to see fans keeping their cool. I have yet to hear any suicide threats when Schilling blows a game, Manny calls in sick, or Francona puts in a rookie in the 8th inning. I don't see the masses sporting the B caps or hear random tales of agony on every corner the day after a big loss.

While it may be a bit insensitive to compare the plight of the pre-2004 Sox fans to that of those affected by the Great Depression, the analogy of the relief brought about by FDR's federal spending programs to that of a World Series to some fans who actually endured the better part of an 86 year drought might hold weight on the scales of total human agony.

I have to admit there was a part in the movie Seabiscuit that choked me up, sitting right there in the movie theather beside my younger brothers. As those who saw this, in my opinion, great starter and horrible finisher of a movie, remember the jockey is a character who parent's for all intents and purposes sold him off during the Depression for a small chunk of change, the hope that he might do better with the horsemen, and the knowledge that there was little better they could do for him. As the economic conditions deteriorate, the narrative builds up a light of hope for desperate Americans symbolized by Seabiscuit and embodied by FDR. Someone named Gary North summarized the way I observed it:

At one point, the narrator's voice returns and narrates a series of ... photographs of people employed by the New Deal's tax-funded make-work projects. McCullough identifies this as relief, and it came with many names, he says: CCC, WPA, etc. Relief, he says, demonstrated for the first time in a long time that "someone cared."

Realizing full well that getting folks back to work in the 30's was true Relief, and this something quite trivial, it has been amazing to see the effects of 2004. I'd spent years sitting with my father watching games and hoping he wouldn't have a heart attack or a stroke. There was really fury there. This year, I've hardly heard anything from him that resembles trauma.

In summary, it's been great to see what was once a rampent fever across New England become a healthy interest. I'd love to see them get back in the playoffs this year. Another World Series would be great. But if the Yanks or Indians shut the Sox out this year, grumbles instead of screams will be a welcome change from the three decades I've known.

That being said, Go Sox.