|
|
FROM 1977 TO 2008 LIKE A FREIGHT TRAIN
April 30, 2008
I distinctly remember the summer of 1977. The Red Sox had a great team that year. To win 97 games and not make the playoffs was hard for my brain to process. I remember that summer for one thing other than the Red Sox, and that was fear. This was the summer of the infamous Son of Sam serial killings. Every kid from Maine to Maryland was stricken with irrational fear of childhood, but real nonetheless. I recall every kid in New England that I knew was scared that summer because as the headlines read, a serial killer was on the loose. We used to camp out in a tent in my backyard. We called it Camp Balmoral, but it was just my yard. When I would sleep in a tent in the yard, I would always be awake when I heard the Boston Globe thump on our walkway. One of the best things about "camping out" was that I got to christian the Sunday Sports Section of the Globe..My father traditionally had this duty, but on the summer nights of camping out, I held the honor of seeing if Yaz had homered...Did Lynn make a game saving catch?.Did Strongboy hit into a rally-ending 6-4-3 double play?...sorry, Jim ED, ya should've signed my ball!.....I used to rush to the paper every morning and rip it open to the SPORTS...just to see what my RED SOX had done after I had been forced to bed the previous evenings..
The particular morning in 77 I most recall involves the headline of a Son of Sam murder....It was horrendous..I was 9 years old...I knew these killings were up in NY, but was concerned for my safety nonetheless..when youre a kid , you have a slightly different outlook on the dangers that may or may not be real.
I remember 1977 like it was just a few years back. Its odd how we remember the days of youth so much more vividly than we can recall much more recent events.
I seriously used to openly brag about how Jim Rice was going to break Maris season record of 61 hrs and Aaron's career record for most homeruns. I was convinced in 77, 78 and 79 that Jim Rice would make history and go down as the best-evah homerun hitter. George Foster of the Reds and Jim Ed went neck and neck all season long....Foster hit 50 that year...RICE ended up with 46....He also hit .315 and 139 RBIs good enough to earn him the AL MVP AWARD...the next year in 1979 he hit .325 with 39 HRs and 130 RBIs....I remember each morning running out to the front walkway of our house on Balmoral to retrieve the Boston Globe..I wouldnt even make it back inside thehouse before I had the Sports section open and was reviewing the RED SOX box score...I just knew RICE was going to do it!!! Life was great, and full of meaning. I was young.
In 1978 President Jimmy Carter wanted marijuana legalized, gasoline was just 62 cents a gallon, Dallas beat Denver in the Superbowl, the Canadiens beat the Bruins for the Stanley Cup much to the disatisfaction of Terry Oreilly and Peter McNab....The Deer Hunter and Midnight Express were box office sensations but Annie Hall won the Oscar. The Hated Yanks beat the LA Dodgers in the World Series after the dreaded one-game tragedy at Fenway on Oct. 2nd 1978....1978 record of the year was HOTEL CALIFORNIA by The Eagles, a fitting song for the historic 2nd half collapse of our beloved BOSOX that year. Our ill-fated demise watched a mid-July 14 game lead vanish, and we ended the season in a first-place tie with New York....Bucky F*&king Dent.....
I remember when Yaz was headed for 3,000 hits and it seemed like an eternity but same as before...I would be out to the curb to get that Boston Globe Sports page and see if the Mighty Yastrzemski had inched closer to his historical rendevous with destiny....his 3,000 hit was a slow groundball that barely sqeaked out of the infield. Literally, for these weeks I recall the first thoughts in my head when I woke up were "Did the Sox win? Did YAZ get a hit"....It was great to have something to look forward to like every day was Christmas morning.
In 1978, I was honestly convinced that I would one day start at third base for the great BOSTON RED SOX!!!..I figured I was a good combination of solid offense and fundamental defense, and if I stuck to my program that my fate was predestined. I actually used to sketch drawings of myself in a Red Sox uniform..living the dream. Needless to say, this dream never came to fruiton.
I did enjoy great success in Little League, Pony League, High School and Senior Majors. I played in a few summer leagues in California with the likes of Daryl Strawberry, Kurt Stillwell, Matt Franco, Ed Hall, & Scott Radinsky to name a few. I once went 3 for 4 hitting off Scott Radinsky and this is how I knew I could hit a big league fastball...he threw like 95 mph...but the big league curves and sliders were another story....just throw me the heat!! ...I attended an open tryout for the Philadelphia Phillies in summer of 1986. The thing I remember most about that day isnt how well I hit the ball, it isnt how well I fielded at shortstop and centerfield. What stands out 22 years later is how god-awfully slow I ran to first base. It was like a bad dream when youre stuck in REM sleep and ya cant run away.....I saw the guy with the stopwatch smack the thing to make sure it was accurate..ahhaaa...It was.....needless to say, they didnt call me back....This was the year I graduated from high school. The Sox were off to a great start in 86....Clemens was still the Rocket....Boggs was eating lots of chicken...Ric hGedman was solid behind the plate...Buckner hit over 100 RBIs.....we were destined to prevail in 1986....it seemed like it was in the cards...
1986 was a stellar year for our beloved SOX...Read the history....I will not revisit it again right now out of RESPECT for Mr. Billy Buckner, a certifiable RED SOX HERO & LEGEND...Thanks again for your heart & soul, Billy B...you will always have a place at my supper table.....BEING A TRUE SOX FAN COMES DOWN TO ONE THING IN MY MIND...and one thing alone.....HOW DO YA FEEL ABOUT BUCKNER?.....
The real world is nothing like the computer world. I have to honestly say that Rice, Lynn, Fisk, Yaz, Williams & Buckner would ALL scoff and hearty guffaw/ laugh at this website. There are hundreds of thousands of real Red Sox die-hards that never once have been on this website. I guarantee TED WILLIAMS wouldnt condone this sort of watering down of the meaning of the team....Williams was a hero...REAL HEROS DO MORE THAN HIT HOMERUNS...he missed some of his best years to serve his country, because he had honor,,,,if alive today Teddy Ballgame would bust Scott Boras right on his upper lip in the name of baseball,,,,Seriously, fans and friends alike, there is a whole lot more to loving, living & dying with this team than voting on some lame blog about kissy faces or donkey dancing or whatever....TO BE HONEST THIS PLACE IS KIND OF A JOKE.....THERE WAS NO INTERNET IN 1978.....Thank GOD!!!!......real memories and real dreams are made in the real world....I am not taking anything away from anyone else, but get over yourselves already.....BABE RUTH was once ejected for punching an umpire in the face over a poorly called pitch...Imagine for one second that Babe Ruth was on SAWXHEADS.COM....how many of the drooling bandwagoneers would "block" the BABE or down vote his blogs because he was "violent".......see the difference?....Ruth was the real deal, Yaz, and #9 too....these legends would tell ya to "log out", grab yer glove, a ball and a bat, head up the street to the ball field and thats where to learn about baseball and the history...not on the computer....
LONG LIVE THE WORLD CHAMPION BOSTON RED SOX.....LONG LIVE ALL THE REALEST OF REAL FANS WHO REMEMBER WHAT IT WAS LIKE BEFORE WE REVERSED THE CURSE....GOD BLESS MY TEAM...GOD BLESS OUR TROOPS.....GOD BLESS MY NATION AND FAMILY,,,,,,NEVER FORGET WHAT IT TOOK TO GET HERE....LETS GO RED SOX!!!!..THE BEST OF THE BEST....THE ONLY ONLY ONLY......
THIS IS A STORY FROM MY YOUTH FROM MY HEART TO EXPLAIN TO Y'ALL WHERE I'M COMING FROM......I APPRECIATE THE RED SOX CULTURE AND AM PROUD TO BE A PART OF THE RED SOX COMMUNITY.....RED SOX GLORY IS WHAT ITS ALL ABOUT.......LETS GO RED SOX.....EVERYBODY'S GOTTA HAVE A DREAM.......SOME THINGS NEVER GO AWAY.....
At some point in life, we all arrive at a point of clarity...This is mine....Nice knowing ya.....Keep it real... God bless the Red Sox & their fans, the best evah evah!!!
-JESTER~RSM
|
