With the epic conclusion of the MLB season this past Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2011, may go down in the record books as one of the best nights in the history of professional baseball.
Unfortunately for many fans on the East Coast, this night will instead go down as a night that will forever live in infamy.
Fans in the Southeast were crushed by the Braves’ cold streak in the final weeks and Red Sox fans in the north were reliving the horrors felt by the pre-2004 Red Sox nation.
Then came the crushing feeling thrust upon me when I suddenly felt the pain of both of these fan bases invading my apartment’s living room. In the course of an hour, my two favorite MLB teams were eliminated from the playoffs.
Not only did Boston and Atlanta just miss the playoffs, but they both completed two of the biggest collapses in the history of professional sports with the Red Sox’s effort being slightly worse.
Morganton native Daniel Simpson aptly described watching the Braves in the final month being akin to Lucy pulling the football away from Charlie Brown where the fans currently lie on the ground … embarrassed and feeling like a failure after it all seemed like a sure thing. What both teams fell victim to was the harsh, streaky nature of baseball plus a mixture of bad luck on their side of the ball and hot streaks falling into the laps of the Rays and the Cardinals.
As much as fans want to shake their heads at the falls of these storied franchises, credit must also be given to the two squads who knocked them out of the wild card.
At this time, I view what happened to the Braves as a tragic collapse, while the toppling of the Red Sox more an issue of karma. Since the breaking of the curse in 2004, the Red Sox have changed. In the course of seven years, they went from being the lovable, home-grown, anti-Yankees to an organization that actually had a higher payroll than the “Bankees” in 2011.
The organization built on their hometown heroes such as Ortiz, Varitek and Youkilis with big-money mercenaries like Jon Lackey, Carl Crawford and Dice-K. The latter three all underperformed this past season and definitely did not earn their millions in 2011. With all the years I’ve spent in the dugout, I can tell that a situation like this can crush the chemistry of a baseball team. One of the most important intangibles a team can have.
Don’t get me wrong, I haven’t given up faith on the Sox. I am just looking at this result from a neutral perspective and from what I am seeing. I think this collapse will be good for the team in the long run.
To put it bluntly, the Red Sox nation needed to get knocked down a peg. In the years since 2004, the two championships won by the Sox transformed the fans and organization so much that they have actually made the Yankees seem like a more likeable team. With the achievements of Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera this season, the Yankees have shown the respect that they all have for the game of baseball. Some respect that Red Sox nation needs to get reacquainted with.
So for all the Braves fans, Red Sox fans, and the fans of both teams who chose not to jump off a bridge after Wednesday night, let me be the first to say that it’s all going to be OK.
We have a great slate of October baseball to look forward to where there is no doubt that the eight best teams in the sport will be fighting for a world championship. If that doesn’t offer you enough comfort, allow me to say the magical words that kept Red Sox nation ticking during their 86-year drought, “There’s always next year.”
Calling it now, your 2011 World Champions: The Tampa Bay Rays.
One Week Later...
Hey, remember last week when I said the Tampa Bay Rays were going to win the World Series?
Yeaaahhhhhh… about that. I have to say that at this point in my life I’m not too surprised that my postseason pick became the first team to be bumped out of contention because I have had a long history of putting a hex on the teams and players I support.
So all you Carolina Panthers fans, Duke Fans, Braves fans and Hurricanes fans out there now know who to blame when your team struggles.
Let me start by saying that I’m not trying to be a Debbie Downer here about my sports teams, as I have had many high points in the time I have been a fan, including the Hurricanes’ Stanley Cup runs in 2002 and 2006, the Panthers 2004 Super Bowl appearances and two Duke national basketball titles.
But during these down years I have noticed some disturbing trends when it comes to how I support my teams and the most evident one is owning team jerseys. Much like the SI or Madden curse, when I own a certain player’s replica jersey, things have rarely gone well.
The Panthers are my shining example for this theory in that I have owned four different jerseys for four different players ever since the team opened up for business.
The first jersey I got as a kid was a Kerry Collins jersey, who one year later was released by the team and even picked up a DUI charge that had him released by the next team that picked him up. Next was Kevin Greene, who’s career did not last much longer after I donned his number 91 and even resorted to a small stint in professional wrestling after his playing days were over.
Jersey number three was an 85 Wesley Walls jersey that actually didn’t turn out so bad for Walls, however the team wasn’t too good during those years and it wasn’t until Walls left that the Panthers made their Super Bowl run. Finally, number four was the great Jake Delhomme… and we know how that one ended.
My Chipper Jones, David Ortiz and my ancient Charlotte Hornets Larry Johnson jerseys are my exceptions to this rule, but my shining example of the Daw jersey curse came in 2003 when I got my first Carolina Hurricanes sweater. Because the jersey had no name on the back, I thought there would be no damage.
Turns out it just cursed the entire team. After a 2002 loss to the Detroit Red Wings, the Hurricanes finished next to last in their conference in 2003. It was because of this that when the team unveiled their new black alternate jersey in 2010, I got one with Daw – 21 on the back. Figured that would deflect the voodoo.
What is probably the most heartbreaking story I have on this subject happened two years ago when I was filling out my NCAA bracket. Every year before 2010, I had picked Duke to win in hopes that Coach K’s team would follow suit.
After years of coming near the back of the pack in my family bracket pool, I chose another squad in 2010 in hopes of taking home the title. Yada, yada, yada, the Blue Devils won the title. Sigh. Let’s just say that I picked the Blue Devils this past year.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think I’m actually cursed but when I look at the evidence I do get a good laugh out of how these scenarios play out. Being able to laugh about this sort of stuff is what makes it fun to be a sports fan. I can imagine there are fans that feel the same way as I do about being cursed but because they don’t see the humor in it, they are maybe one bad game away from a trip to the insane asylum.