Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Memory Lane

"Next year is right now. It's 12:30 am, I'm drunk, tears are dried on my cheeks, and I have a perma-grin on my face that's not likely to recede any time soon. To steal from the great Jack Buck, I cannot believe what I just saw." - Misery Loves Company, October 28, 2004

As I settle in to watch one of the most feel-good World Series of my lifetime, I find my mind drifting back twelve years. Thanks to the Chicago Cubs, the 2016 Fall Classic is an opportunity for me to vicariously re-experience one of the great fortnights of my life.

If you'll indulge me, we're off on a blatantly selfish tour of my memory banks.

Popular culture's long past it now, in a millenium when the Red Sox have won three World Series championships, but in 2004, the Boston nine were still losers. Lovable, if you were connected to the Hub, and enjoyably cursed if you weren't. And when they went down 3-0 to the Yankees in the ALCS, one short year removed from a gutting series loss to their greatest rivals, next year seemed impossibly far away.

The morning after the third loss of that ALCS, a mere 10 days before I wrote the quote that leads this post, I said this, "I simply am not smart enough, or talented enough to put adequate words to my utter disappointment with these Red Sox." The Yankees had just pasted the Sox, 19-8, in Fenway, leading to shot after shot of dejected Bostonians sitting in stunned silence in the stands.

Whitney and I started writing Misery Loves Company at the outset of the 2003 baseball season. It made me a better writer, and it made me a better baseball fan. It made me think about the game, and find new ways to talk about it. To be honest, we wrote some stuff over the six years that we did it that I'm quite proud of. (And a decent volume of crap, to be fair.) I really loved doing that blog, and it was made all the better because I got to do it with my best friend. And now, I'm extremely grateful that I wrote all that stuff down more than a decade ago.

I wasn't so grateful after Game 3.

Everyone knows the history (and some of you are Yankees fans), so I'll spare you the blow by blow. That ALCS was so cathartic that I literally fell to the ground after the final out of Game 7 in tears, pounding my living room floor, crying and yelling "they did it!" over and over again.

In all honesty, after the emotion of the ALCS, the World Series against the Cardinals was almost anti-climactic. It's easy to say this in retrospect, but there was no way that particular Red Sox team, that band of idiots, was going to lose. When they finally won, I wrote something that I saw echoed online just this last week:

"Somewhere, Charlie Brown is smoking a cigarette, the Little Red-Haired Girl's head nestled against his shoulder as they lay in the afterglow of beautiful cartoon lovemaking. Lucy's sitting outside wondering how the hell he kicked that ball so far."

That's one of the best paragraphs I'll ever write.

In the days and weeks after the Red Sox series-clinching win, I saw and heard a lot of people writing about how things would change for their fans. That the curse-busting championship would forever change the essential character of Sox fandom. Maybe they were right. I certainly don't follow the Red Sox with the same intensity, though that's a function of the way my life has changed more than any diminishing interest. My Dad's Sox fandom took on a different character as he got older, even though they never won one until he was 57.

But I wouldn't trade those 10 days in October 2004 for anything, even if it means I don't get to feel the same gut-twisting, will-it-ever-happen anxiety again. That time brought me a joy that I still find hard to express. Everyone should be so lucky.

And right now, Cubs fans are four games away from being just that. My own memories of 2004 are fresh enough that I know exactly how they feel. This was famed Cubbie backer Bill Murray after the Cubs toppled the Dodgers to win the National League pennant.



I know how you feel. Boy, do I.

FOX Sports opened its coverage of this World Series with a montage of elderly Cubs and Indians fans talking about their excitement to have a chance to see their teams win it all just one time. It reminded me of hearing about so many New Englanders in their 70s, 80s, and 90s experiencing the bliss of the Sox finally winning it all.

Sometime in the next week or so, another long-suffering group of fans will feel a joy they worried they'd never experience. And I'll be thrilled for them. Joy, after all, is worth celebrating.

36 comments:

Squeaky said...

Rob, sent an email about Leesburg. Looking for casual but good. Thanks, mr.kq.

Whitney said...

Ah, yes, I remember it well. I don't miss the self-imposed obligation of recapping or at least acknowledging every single Mets and Red Sox game for seven seasons, but I miss MLC. We got lucky in that our first two seasons were ideal ones to chronicle; the Red Sox gave their fans another prototypical heartbreak in 2003, and gave them it all the following year. Meanwhile, the Mets of those seasons were laughably atrocious, providing more than enough comedic fodder. We probably shoulda quit after that second season. That said, there were some memorable (to me) highlights from subsequent seasons. Just a fun thing to do. Two guys watch baseball.

zman said...

Should I be rooting for the Cubs or the Indians? I guess the Cubs given their longer drought and inoffensive logo?

TR said...

Cubs. Longer drought. Funner town.

Whitney said...

I think I was sort of rooting for the Indians last night. Handful of random rooting reasons but mainly that it seems like most people aren't, and 67 years is a big championship drought in its own right. Rob's post makes me not want the Cubs fans to lose what banded them together. But it will be pretty joyous either way.

Dave said...

people still care about baseball?

rob said...

i'm rooting for the cubs, but it wouldn't break my heart to see the indians fans get a title.

TR said...

On the topic of Cleveland, I have to bring up these old gems:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ysmLA5TqbIY

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=oZzgAjjuqZM

Clarence said...

This is your Cleveland clip:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_wc9JvTXGc

Clarence said...

Nobody steals from the great Joe Buck, do they?

rob said...

if they're jonesing for rogaine, they might

T.J. said...

danimal, forgot to tell you - we did some work with Sean Foley on a video. you know this dude? seems like a cool guy

Shlara said...

I'm heading to Cuba this afternooon on a education junket. No internet there. So I'm sitting in MIA airport consuming social media like a drug addict. Will post photos when I return.

Mark said...

Damn. I super jealous of Shlara.

rob said...

no shit. we'll be expecting a guest post upon your return.

Squeaky said...

That is awesome, Shlara. Safe travels.

Danimal said...

Teej....I do not know him but have heard the same. I look forward to seeing the vid.

3 am wake up for 5 am flight this a.m. Awesome stuff. Have fun Shlara. Bring back some ceegars! Or can we get them here now? What's the deal on that anyway?

TR said...

Matt Foley > Sean Foley

zman said...

Axel Foley > (Matt Foley + Sean Foley)

TR said...

Looks like I will be following Zman to Japan in January. I can't wait to defecate there.

zman said...

Unagi season!

rootsminer said...

So, did a little more come out of your roadside tryst the other day than you were letting on?

Dave said...

i'm trying to lose weight and off beer. i've been drinking tequila on the rocks, and i'm thinking of infusing the tequila with hot peppers. anyone ever do this?

Whitney said...

I want to hang out with you when you do. I miss Carlos.

zman said...

Jason Chaffetz is voting for Trump, which must mean that upon deep consideration he can look his daughter in the eye no matter what.

Mark said...

I'm a pretty strict non weekday drinker at this point in my life. Except this week. I've poured myself some form of drink damn near every night. I'm telling myself to not feel guilty. I will though.

rob said...

i drink a beer every weeknight. it's my constitutional.

Mark said...

Tha Jags. Are. Trash.

zman said...

60 yards of offense in the first half. 60. Yards.

TR said...

I drink 6/7 days. At least a couple. Commmute stress, job stress, dad stress. I no longer keep scotch in the house b/c I attack it.

In my 20's, I only drank a couple nights a week, and really went after it. Now, I drink about every night, but rarely get after it.

Tonight was white wine and sushi w/the missus. On to Lagunitas IPA now.

Mark said...

New/last Tribe album dropping in November. Hell. Fucking. Yeah.

Danimal said...

Gus gets fired tomorrow.

Whitney said...

I'm like TR. I drank all three nights here in CA but a fraction of the consumption of yesteryear. Last night I was asleep by 9:30 local.

Danimal said...

Jags are sabotaging. Players are done playing for him. That is what this is all about imo.

rob said...

politico is reporting that hillary is leaning towards uncle joe as secretary of state. fuck yeah.

zman said...

Would he be able to drive though?