BOSOX BLO-OUT

[BULLO12]

Sun Nov 14, 4:19 AM ET   Sports - New York Post

By KEVIN KERNAN

FOR George Stein brenner's sake, it was a good thing the Boss didn't amble into the distinguished Yale Club on Friday night.

Here, in the heart of Yankee Country, hundreds of Red Sox fans celebrated their team's first World Series (news - web sites) victory in 86 years, and they did it in style, with the magnificent World Series trophy in their presence.

Imagine that: the Red Sox's World Series trophy standing tall over Manhattan.

These weren't just any Red Sox fans. These were BLOHARDS, which stands for the Benevolent Loyal Order of the Honorable Ancient Red Sox Die Hard Sufferers of New York. To reward them for their suffering, a small Red Sox contingent clandestinely brought the trophy down from Boston on the train.

"I don't know what we are going to do with ourselves now," said president and most beloved BLOHARD, Jim Powers, as he stood before the trophy, eyes aglow. "Being bitter is what we do best."

Powers then joked about "the agony of victory."

There was only joy on this night. For nearly three hours, each fan gleefully had a picture or two (or three) taken standing beside their baseball Holy Grail. Each wore a smile as big as Kenmore Square.

This was their first visit to Santa Claus, their first kiss, their first love, all rolled into one.

"I've cried twice in my life," said Jack Welsh, 64, a Vietnam veteran who followed in his father's footsteps and became a Red Sox fan. "I cried at the end of the Vietnam War and I cried when the Red Sox won the World Series, thinking of my Dad."

Welsh's father passed away several years ago at the age of 89. Seeing the trophy was an emotional moment for him and for so many fans. Ray Duffy's son was 4 years old when the Red Sox choked away the 1986 World Series to the Mets.

"For years, I was thinking to myself, what have I done to this kid, making him a Red Sox fan?" Duffy said.

Moments after the last out against the Cardinals, Duffy's phone rang. It was his son, screaming with joy from Busch Stadium, "They did it, Dad, they did it!"

There was story after story. Fans visiting gravesites of relatives long gone and leaving a memento of this ultimate victory: a Red Sox pennant, a newspaper clipping, any sign that the Curse had finally been reversed.

Frank McKittrick, 69, of Lawrenceville, N.J., said he was going to put his picture with the trophy over his bar at home.

"For years I've been tortured by Yankee fans; it's time for payback," he said with a smile.

Two of his sons, Mike and Brian, came to the Yale Club. The third son is a Yankee fan. "He didn't make the trip," McKittrick said, "but he's still in the will."

Frank Minishak got his picture taken with the trophy as he held an original printing of Douglas Wallop's book "The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant." From the book came the play "**** Yankees."

 

"It's ironic that this is the 50th anniversary of the book," Minishak said.

The Red Sox Victory Trophy Tour will go throughout New England. On Thursday the trophy visited the Rhode Island State House, a Veterans Hospital and a Veterans Home. The team wanted to make sure its New York-based fans, who are at the tip of the spear, were rewarded.

"We know there are many Red Sox fans in the New York area and that must have been a very lonely experience for decades, yet they all found each other through the BLOHARDS and they then found us," said Red Sox VP of public affairs Dr. Charles Steinberg, who brought the trophy to the Yale Club after a quick unannounced stop at The Riviera on West 4th, a Red Sox haven.

"This was the least we could do to thank them for their decades of faith, to let them see the trophy, touch it, take their pictures and finally have a moment where they have their day in the sun."

Behind him, as Steinberg spoke, the trophy glowed. For one brief shining moment, Red Sox Nation ruled New York.

[BullWriter]

Steinbrenner is Boston's ***** now.   ;D