19 runs

[Velcro]

you won't see me jumping ship... if the redsox get eliminated from playoff contention, i'll root for any team that isn't the yankees (Yes smazz, even the giants, but i'll still root for bonds to walk every time).

[___ Eats It]

I'd love to see the Devil Rays keep it up.  Just not at Boston's expense.   ;D

[Guest wildrover]

Velcro and UEI, do either of you live in Tampa and if so are either of you Buc fans over the Pats? If you guys live in Boston then so be it, I hate the Yankees more than I hate Boston but if you live in New York then it makes sense to root for them as well.  If your gonna hold some sort of loyalty to a town that you don't even live in I'm curious if you do it across the board and if not why?

[Velcro]

I grew up in New england and am a fan of all 4 major sports team from boston/new england.

I live in Tampa (valrico) now, came down for college in 96 and stayed.  I like the bucs, but Pats are my team... i like the lightning, but Bruins are my team... i don't like the Rays, but root for them when it either helps the Sox or is meaningless (interleague).   I like the Magic, but Celtics fan for life.

[___ Eats It]

Velcro and UEI, do either of you live in Tampa and if so are either of you Buc fans over the Pats? If you guys live in Boston then so be it, I hate the Yankees more than I hate Boston but if you live in New York then it makes sense to root for them as well.  If your gonna hold some sort of loyalty to a town that you don't even live in I'm curious if you do it across the board and if not why?

I live in Tampa, and I've given up all the Boston teams EXCEPT the Red Sox.  Why, you ask?

Well, I grew up about 10 miles south of Fenway.  While my family followed the other local sports, the Red Sox were a religion in my household.  My grandfather (RIP) used to take me to games at Fenway all the time, and those were some of the best memories I have.  

Since I've moved to Tampa, the Bucs and Lightning have become my "home" teams.  I stopped following the Bruins and Pats (even though I root for them when they're not playing Tampa), and with free agency and what not, I stopped even really knowing who was on those teams.

The Red Sox, though, it's different.  I still care.  A lot.  It's like a drug, and I can't give it up just yet.  

Maybe it's because my grandfather lived 72 years and never saw them win it all.  

Maybe it's because they were a major part of my childhood.  

Maybe it's because I still get goosebumps every time I get up to Fenway and walk up that tunnel and see the glint of the sun off the greenest grass God ever saw fit to put in a baseball stadium.  

Maybe it's beacuse I can eat a hot dog, look out into the bleachers, and feel like I'm 6 years old again.  

Or, maybe, it's because I can watch Manny smash one over the Green Monster onto Landsdowne street, have flashbacks of Pudge Fisk in 75, and feel that rush of foolish hope that only a loyal Red Sox fan can feel.

Whatever it is, the Red Sox are as much a part of my life now as they were then.  The other teams aren't.  And, as much as I want to cheer for the Devil Rays, I can't.  I just don't have that lifelong love that I have (and always will) with the Sox.

That's the best I can explain it.  If you're not part of RSN, you probably don't get it.

[Velcro]

that almost brought a tear to my eye

My grandfather is 80 years old and was a pitching prospect of the sox in the 1940's, during ted's years, and Ted was his hero.  

He never played a big league game as he needed to help out his mom and dad on their farm, family came first.

He too has never seen a Red Sox championship, as he was born 6 years later.

I'm hoping he gets his chance.

I was going to purchase some tix for him last christmas to a early summer game and fly up and take him there, but **** it, everything was sold out to all the games we could make that were reasonable price, and that was in december/january.   So i had to settle with getting him an Authentic Red Sox Jersey, but had his name put on the back.  

UEI put it best... Red Sox baseball is a religion.  Sox fans breath the game.  It is something most other fans can't quite understand, never will.  It is also the reason Fenway has remained as is...  an old rustic ballpark, with more history behind it than any stadium, more mystique than any other park... Red Sox fans are more than happy to keep this old run down stadium and just keep finding ways to seat some more people, we don't need a state-of-the-art facility, because it wouldn't be Fenway.

[TripleB]

Both those previous posts are best read using James Earl Jones' voice...........

[Velcro]

lol... good point  

Field of Dreams... my favorite sports movie of all time... followed by Hoosiers, then Rudy.

I love Jones' character in that movie... and his "Baseball, Ray, Baseball..." speech.

[Velcro]

Mann: Ray, people will come, Ray. They'll come to Iowa for reasons they can't even fathom. They'll turn into the driveway, not knowing for sure why they're doing it. They'll arrive at your door as innocent as children, longing for the past. "Of course we won't mind if you have a look around," you'll say. "It's only twenty dollars per person." They'll pass over the money without even thinking about it; for it is money they have and peace they lack.

Mann: And they'll like walk out to the bleachers, sit in shirt-sleeves on a perfect afternoon. They'll find they have reserved seats somewhere along one of the baselines, where they sat when they were children and cheered their heroes. And they'll watch the game, and it'll be as if they had dipped themselves in magic waters. The memories will be so thick they'll have to brush them away from their faces.

Mann: People will come, Ray.

Mann: The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers; it has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt, and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game, is a part of our past, Ray. It reminds us of all that once was good, and it could be again. Ohhhh, people will come, Ray. People will most definitely come.

[Velcro]

http://www.uttyler.edu/meidenmuller/mp3clips/MovieSpeeches/moviespeechfieldofdreams.mp3