Okay, little break from Johan Santana talks, okay? (But feel free to gnash your teeth at the constant ‘it’s done — no it’s not done — actually wait ye — no — uh — arrrrrrgh!’ stuff in the comments.)
Is the Curse of the Bambino really dead … or did it just switch teams?
The story doesn’t need retelling. The Red Sox sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees, and didn’t win for 86 years.
Along the way were terrible teams and horrible heartbreaks… but the Curse was finally broken in 2004.
Was it broken … or was the Curse taken away by the Babe himself?
On October 16, 2004, the Yankees beat the Red Sox 19-8 in ALCS Game 3, on the verge of sweeping their rivals. At the same time, the Yankees were smackdab in finalizing the plans for the stadium.
The Red Sox took the next two at home, then went to New York and laid the smackdown in The House That Ruth Built. The day of Game Seven, reports leaked out that The Boss himself, George Steinbrenner, was considering paving over the current stadium, where Ruth played… for a parking lot.
What’s happened since? Plans for a new stadium have gone ahead. Superstars have come and gone (mostly gone). And since that fateful day, the Yankees haven’t made the ALCS or World Series, much less won it all.
Have the Yankees brought the Curse of the Bambino upon themselves?
The Babe, always known as an irascible character (except around children), certainly could have felt shafted and disrespected with the Red Sox’s selling of the Babe to New York.
He has had no reason since then to hate the Yankees — even if he wanted to oust Joe McCarthy as manager and become the skipper himself. Even he realized why the Yankees weren’t interested in dumping McCarthy, as much as the two disliked each other. Being sold to the Boston Braves, he quickly realized that the timing couldn’t have been better for the Yankees. Hitting only .181 in 71 at-bats, he retired and the Yankees continued on their winning ways.
All was smooth until… the Yankees slapped him in the face and announced a new stadium. To make it even worse, the Yankees broke ground on the new stadium on the 58th anniversary of Babe’s death. Breaking ground on the House That Babe Didn’t Built … on Babe’s anniversary? The nerve!
Note to the inevitable offended Yankee fans: All in good fun, all in good fun. Remember what Fire Brand’s first ever article was?
The best of the 2007 regular season
Earlier, there was a poll that asked what the best moment of the Red Sox’s 2007 regular season was. The results:
* The No-Hit Kid
38% of all votes
* Back-to-back-to-back-to-back
33% of all votes
* Mother’s Day Miracle
8% of all votes
* JACOBY! Scores from 2d on a wild pitch
6% of all votes
* Coco’s go-ahead triple against the Yankees
4% of all votes
* Lester’s Return
4% of all votes
* Schill’s perfect 8.2 IP
3% of all votes
* Papi finally walks off
2% of all votes
* Hinske’s face-plant catch
1% of all votes
* Dice-K v. Ichiro
1% of all votes
I’m actually a bit surprised that the best moment was voted to be Clay Buchholz’s no-hitter. It was a thing of beauty, to be sure… but in terms of pure, unadulterated fan joy, only two things stood out to me: the four homeruns in a row to the Yankees and the bedlam that almost brought Fenway down when J.D. Drew hit a grand slam to pace the Red Sox in ALCS game 6.
How about the most recent poll? Let’s check out the results.
Who would you prefer to be on the Red Sox next year?
* Johan Santana
52% of all votes
* Dan Haren
13% of all votes
* A new back-up catcher
10% of all votes
* Miguel Cabrera
8% of all votes
* Miguel Tejada
5% of all votes
* Matt Kemp
5% of all votes
* Erik Bedard
3% of all votes
* Jose Guillen (!?!?!?)
2% of all votes
* me (har har har)
2% of all votes
Johan in a landslide. New poll up, make sure you vote!
Fire Brand contest
First, let’s talk a little Boston sports.
- Still upset the New England Revolution lost the MLS Cup. They lost to Houston for the second straight year and lost overall in the finals for the fourth time in five years. You’ve got to be kidding me, right? We had a chance for four (okay, so the Bruins aren’t out of it yet — five—) championships and… nada? (Hey, if you’re a Bruins fan, we’re looking for writers!)
- Boy, the New England Patriots really squeaked one out against the Baltimore Ravens. Honestly, I’m okay with them losing — because it doesn’t change the fact we’re still the favorites to win the Super Bowl. But boy, that undefeated season would be nice. A lot of lucky breaks went our way: the timeout, the false start … but you know what they say: luck is the residue of design. I’m braving the elements to watch the Patriots steamroll the Steelers and their little charmed quarterback, “Big Ben” (do announcers realize he has a last name?) this Sunday. Oh yeah, and watch out for winless Miami in two weeks. They scare the crap out of me and would provide the ultimate spoiler. We all know the trouble the Pats have had with the Fins.
- Those Boston Celtics. Looking pretty good, don’t you think? Still a bit worried about them, though… they lost to the Orlando Magic and the Cleveland LeBrons. No shame in losing to those teams for sure, but… don’t you have to win those games to be taken seriously as a Finals contender? The season is young, but the problem is that the Big 3 is decidedly not young. Still, great to have the Celts relevant again.
Sorry, but I’m not a hockey fan, so no bullet about the Bruins. I know they’re doing better than anyone thought they would, though. So there you go Bruin fans (if there are any of you)… I gave the Bruins a sentence.
I digress…
I got offered a chance to either receive a $100 NFL gift card or an autographed football by Howie Long. While that gift card would come in handy for me to purchase my first ever Patriots apparel… (I would buy a Tom Brady jersey, for what it’s worth. Put that on your Hannukah and Christmas list to buy me. And no copping out by saying you’re not sure what holiday I celebrate — I celebrate both. So there!)
I’ve decided to give my readers this opportunity instead. But first, we need to do the State Farm a favor, and it’s a pretty sweet favor. I know that this is a baseball site, but most of us watch football too. Did you know that the State Farm is giving away tickets to the 2008 Pro Bowl? And more importantly, FREE TRIP TO HAWAII! Let me say that again: FREE TRIP TO HAWAII! Margaritas, beach, sun, pretty ladies. This is important for you fellas out there to understand. (And to our wonderful Red Sox female base: I hear there are some hot guys out there as well.)
There are five grand prizes, which include:
Round trip air transportation for four to Honolulu Hawaii
Four tickets to the 2008 NFL Pro Bowl presented by State Farm
First class hotel accommodations in Honolulu (five days/four nights)
Meet-and-greet with NFL Hall of Famer Howie Long
A $1,000 State Farm VISA gift card
Other winners (or semi-losers, as they should probably be called) will get either a Howie Long football and/or gift card from NFL.com.
NFL fans are some of the best and most loyal in sports today, and State Farm wants to give them the chance to hang with the best in Hawaii,” said Mark Gibson, assistant vice president — advertising for State Farm.