in the spirit of the sox

On Thursday, as we watched the Red Sox pull a win over Cleveland to bring the series back home to Boston, my sister reminded us of one of her "brighter" moments.

Here's the background: The World Series in 2004 was a big one for us (not to state the obvious). My fandom peaked that year - I watched the games religiously that season and attended at least 15 of them (not an inexpensive feat here in Boston). Laura became a fan of baseball in general and the Sox in particular, and Taice switched her allegiance from the dark side to the red side. Sara and I had been fortunate enough to get a last minute invite to the ALCS Game 4 against the Yankees where we ("we" like I was pitching that night instead of Derek Lowe) turned the series around. A picture of me from that game, being the screaming, adoring, out-of-my-mind fan that I was, was posted on the Red Sox MLB site.

Those couple of weeks were abnormally cosmic. Text messages, emails and calls buzzed for days. Old friends reconnected. Little to zero work was done. Sleep was fitful, adrenalin surged and this city, known for being cool in composure, smiled together. The night the Sox won the World Series we partied in town and hung out with Green Day. I shed a tear for my grandfather, whose love for the Sox lives on through me, because he missed seeing this in his lifetime. I was still glowing when I met Michael the night before the big parade. It stuns me that it has been three years, because it all feels like yesterday.

Anyway, the following spring, as our team took the field, Sara saw the big red "C" which freshly adorned Jason Varitek's shirt. Sara chirped, "Look at the C he has on his shirt! It must stand for 'Champion'! That's so nice!"

She had missed all the hype around Varitek being named 'Captain'. She still chuckles every time she sees that 'C'.

Go Sox!