Viewpoint

Changing the Curse of History

By ALYSON SENA Palisadian-Post Staff Writer ‘Well, you picked a helluva year to become a Red Sox fan,’ a friend called to tell me late in the evening on October 27, after the Red Sox completed a sweep of the Cardinals with a 3-0 victory in the fourth game of the World Series. Having made history just a week earlier by becoming the first team in major league baseball to overcome a three-game deficit in the American League championship series, the Sox had finally broken a long World Series drought. They were on their way home to Boston and I was right there with them’3,000 miles away in Los Angeles. As a native Angeleno, I really have no reason (or should I say excuse?) for becoming a Red Sox fan. I don’t follow baseball regularly, and attended only about four Dodgers games this season. But I do have quite a few Boston people in my life, and during a trip this past summer to visit my college girlfriends, I finally made it to Fenway Park. Somehow I had managed to spend four years at Brown University in Providence without once going to see the Green Monster. The excitement was worth the wait, as I packed into one of the T cars with dozens of Sox fans dressed in red and blue hats and shirts. Couples and families squeezed together as the train scooted towards the stadium, where we filed off the T, now a pack of hundreds. The intimacy of Fenway appealed to my love for small communities, town fairs and block parties. The difference between Fenway Park and Dodger Stadium felt like the contrast between the Palisades and Santa Monica. Sitting behind third base, watching the Green Monster mascot run the field, hearing the crack of the bat to the ball and cheering as David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez hit, I felt like I was watching my first baseball game. Granted, the Sox lost that game to the Twins, but that’s not important now, is it? Before I knew it, I was part of the West Coast Red Sox Nation, checking the official Web site for news and scores, and rallying with friends to watch the games. I fell in love with Johnny Damon’s intense batter’s stare and Ortiz’s modest heroism. Long-haired, greasy-looking men who can play baseball became more appealing than ‘going out’ on Friday night. Even while participating in a recent breast cancer three-day walk, I sat hunched over a radio with the kitchen staff at our campsite, listening to the crowd cheer as Ortiz hit a 10th-inning, two-run homer in the third game of the American League division series to beat the Angels, 8-6. Still, while most loyal Red Sox fans may have harbored a secret faith that their team would go all the way this year, many of them also expressed hesitation about winning a World Series. After all, old curses die hard. Plus, the Sox faced the rival New York Yankees in the ALCS. And even most non-baseball fans are familiar with that story. ‘Ask your Boston friend about the Curse of the Bambino,’ the Palisadian-Post’s Sports Editor, Steve Galluzzo, told me with a mischievous grin on his face. Being from New York, Steve is a dedicated Yankees fan and enjoys a bit of competitive camaraderie. My friend’s face dropped when I asked him about the details of the curse and he cleared his throat to get it out. It had been 86 years since the Sox were the champions of baseball, when they beat the Cubs in 1918. That was before vitamin C, penicillin and the polio vaccine were discovered. Before women had the right to vote and before baseball games were broadcast on the radio. Of course, whether or not my friends believed in the curse (imposed by Sox owner Harry Frazee when he sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees), many of them swore by their various Red Sox good luck charms. One friend had a candle she burned each time the Sox were playing, and during the Yankee-Red Sox playoffs, she woke up one morning to find it mysteriously in the trash. Could it have been her boyfriend, a Yankees fan, who put it there? Another friend wore his Red Sox cap during the first three games of the ALCS, decided it was bad luck when they lost all three, and switched to his UCLA cap, which he believed led to the Red Sox comeback. Others had shirts or phone calls to certain people that helped the Sox shed their losing streak. But this year, maybe the Red Sox winning was written in the stars. That’s how it appeared, at least, after a lunar eclipse turned the moon red during the final game of the World Series. And just as people all over the country were able to see that moon, so did the Sox victory momentarily unite so many of us during a time when the nation was terribly divisive. Both Kerry and Bush cheered for the team. Newspapers nationwide ran the good news on their front pages. And the Sox were red all over. Editor’s Note: Sports Editor Steve Galluzzo, still smarting from his team’s unprecedented meltdown, is quick to remind the author that since the Bambino trade, the Yanks have won 26 championships. So keep the faith, Boston fans… only 25 to go ’til you catch ’em.