October 21, 2004, Curses!
Kudos to the Boston Red Sox, who overcome their reputation as the worst chokers in the history of sport and ably handed that mantle over to the former home of Mickey Mantle (on the late slugger's birthday no less) in an inconceivable 10-3 win capping the only comeback from being down 3 games to none in a playoff series. We'll let Sox fans themselves (such as our own Unseen Editor) decide if this lifts-- finally-- over 80 years after the "Babe Ruth curse"... the curse. Some say the BoSox must win the World Series. After the Inconceivable Comeback against the Bronx BOMBers, I'm not so sure. Of course, they may well go on to take the Fall Classic too... Nothing like night games. In Boston. At the end of October.
Let's just say that the baseball prognostication (re: the success fo the Houston Astros, who play their own Game 7 against the favored Cardinals tonight) that I attributed to SecDef Don Rumsfeld may be a better bet than how other things are going, like, say the unit commander of the 343rd Quartermasters (as you will recall, her troops decided not to go on a suicide mission with inadequately armored vehicles) being mysteriously "relieved of her command and reassigned" Or how about Britain agreeing to shift over 800 of its troops from reasonably calm Southern Iraq (where, by and large, the British have things in hand) to insanely dangerous Central Iraq (where the Americans, as usual, have things in a hash.)
(Yes-- you correctly surmise-- no matter what the subject, it always DOES come right back to Bush and Iraq!)
To be fair to Don, a lot of Iraq was indeed taken away from him and handed to Reichsfuhrer Incompetentaleeza Rice around the June 28th sovereignty transfer fraud date. The purpose of moving Bremer out of Iraq before the July 4th holiday, aside from letting him move into his Vermont summer house on time, was, of course, to maintain tight White House control over the coverage of the Iraq debacle. You see-- it's about what the Bought-and-Paid-for-Press sees as "the story". If we have "an occupation", then American troops dying and being maimed for no reason is "bad".
Ah, but if we transfer "sovereignty", and largely run the operation for political, rather than military objectives (result, of course, is substantially increased casualties, and as Kerry and Edwards constantly note, casualties seem to increase every single month since the sovereignty transfer fraud), it's "the Iraqis' problem". In other words, even though the fighting and dying is still being done by Americans, and at a faster pace, because we are no longer occuping Iraq (you see), no one is dying at all: it's not happening. Sure, bad things are happening in Iraq, but it's "not our problem" (just as bad things happen in Darfur, and Russia and other places that are "not our problem").
Understand? Me neither... but then, I like to think my head isn't up my ass. Our press seems to buy this shit, as do around the necessary critical mass of enough of the American people (around half).
Whatever. Here's hoping for a huge fall for teams hailing from the Bay State.
Comments
The New England Patriots, UCONN basketball (men and women), and (please God) now the Red Sox...
For New England sports fans life has been very good in 2004.
I'm a lifelong Sox fan and I know all too well how fortunes can change at the drop of a hat but I will savor last night's win until I meet St. Peter.
Posted by Steve at October 21, 2004 11:29 AM
Steve, it looks like you're in for a fatal heart attack this weekend when the Jets, J-E-T-S, beat the Patriots. So you'll be meeting St. Peter a lot sooner than you planned. And after all, it's only courtesy, Red Sox beat Yankees at home, so Jets beat Patriots at home. But, as a caution, you are starting to sound like a windbag Yankee fan.
Posted by Jeremy at October 21, 2004 11:57 AM
Jeremy, yes, I want to sound like a Yankee fan. I've put up with their smug arrogance all my life.
If there's any group of people (well, they may be human) who deserves a huge helping of humble pie, it's New York Yankees fans.
Posted by Steve at October 21, 2004 12:36 PM
The curse stays until they win a World Series. Kicking Yankee ass last night was gravy. What can I tell ya, I'm a Mets fan.
Posted by The Fixer at October 21, 2004 2:35 PM
Yes, Steve, that's the best Humble Pie since Peter Frampton played with them.
By the way, if you ever want to see a copy of my ticket stub from Game 6 of the 1986 Series, let me know.
Posted by They Call Me Mr. Crabcake at October 21, 2004 2:41 PM
I'll see your stub, and raise you MY ticket stub and program from Game 6 of the 1996 World Series.
Honestly, we'll see: I would have to say that if the BoSox go down in the Fall Classic via another Buckner like incident, or even just blow a late lead, and then as a result, blow the series, I'd have to concur with the
Curse still being on.
But I don't think its on. I think-- either a prompt sweep by the NL team, or an ordinarily respectful performance, will show the curse is gone-- even without a BoSox World Series win.
Just sayin'...
Posted by the talking dog at October 21, 2004 3:06 PM
There'll probably still be some Curse talk if the Red Sox lose the Series, particularly if it's in some crazy way, like TD says (Clemens winning Game 7 in Fenway would be an obvious example). After all, Buckner in '86, and blowing a late 3-0 lead in Game 7 of the '75 Series against the Reds (that actually also happened to the Sox in '86) had nothing to do with the Yankees.
But, beating the Yankees, a year removed from a Curse-tastic 11th inning/late lead blown/7th game loss in Yankee Stadium, and doing it by coming back from 0-3 no less, is so amazingly monumental that most of the sting of the Curse has unquestionably been lifted, no matter happens with Houston or St. Louis.
Posted by Haggai at October 21, 2004 4:13 PM
Yes. Yes, Haggai. Hang your hat on that.
And Dog:
What does the 1996 Series have to do with the Boston ignominy?
Why don't you stick to good dog sports like ass sniffing and fetch.
Can the Yankees blame Bush for this?
Yeah, sure---Homer Bush.
You're all fired.
Posted by They Call Me Mr. Crabcake at October 21, 2004 5:41 PM
...her troops decided not to go on a suicide mission with inadequately armored vehicles.
Suicide mission? The mission was completed by other soldiers without any problem, so it wouldn't appear so.
It looks like the Cards-Red Sox in the WS. There is no curse. Go Red Sox!
Posted by Lawrence at October 21, 2004 11:12 PM
The reservists involved perceived it as ungodly dangerous-- rightly or wrongly. Given that 30% of reservists on some calls are defying coming up, we may not have seen the last mutiny associated with the Iraq adventure.
Posted by the talking dog at October 22, 2004 11:56 AM
Steve,
I disagree with you
Posted by kim at October 23, 2004 7:50 PM