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Family
Loy-al-ty: the state or quality of being loyal; faithfulness to commitments or obligations.. I was 13 years old when i saw my first red sox game on TV. I remember watching Mo Vaughn step to the plate with that swagger that he knew that he was about to change the game in one swing of the bat. For my b-day i asked for a fitted Boston red sox hat which i wore ever where. I remember the sweat, the stains, and how it smelled every time i put it on. I was tormented and picked on and teased for being a red sox fan because they could never win the big game. Every year as a kid i said to myself,"This is going to be the year, i can feel it." But as any red sox fan out there can tell you. "Be careful kid, they'll only break ya heart."
Some of the greatest baseball players of all time have worn a red sox jersey. Bobby Denn #1 retired jersey in 1988. Joe Cronin #4 retired jersey in 1984, The Yaz #8 retired jersey in 1989. Teddy Ballgame Williams #9 retired jersey in 1984. Carlton Fisk #27 retired jersey 2000. And of course #42 dedicated to the late Jackie Robinson. These are players that you can still walk into any bar, coffee shop or subway station and people will argue with you whether or not if Fisk really helped that ball fair in the bottom of the 12Th inning in the 1975 world series against the big red machine. You can argue about who is the single most greatest player in red sox history: Ted Williams, Cy Young, Babe Ruth, Fred Lynn, johnny pesky, jimmy Foxx, Yaz, Mo Vaughn, The Rocket, Dwight "Dewey" Evans, David Ortiz. the list goes on and on and on. These players are still apart of red sox baseball and its 2008. Ask ten different red sox fans what their favorite season was and you will get ten different answers. But you'll likely hear these numbers read back to you: 1975, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1995, 1998, 1999, 2003*, 2004, 2005, or 2007 would be some of the most recent memorable red sox seasons. But for every great red sox season there is a season no one wants to talk about or wants to remember. Like Jimmy Fallon in Fever Pitch and the infamous Buckner tape. If you are reading this and are asking yourself this question "what is the Buckner tape?" than you really aren't a fan at all. Or ask any person how they feel about Bucky..F*cking Dent! and you'll get the same response.
As i sit here in my living room and reading this back to myself hoping i don't sound stupid, i get a feeling that only i can describe that only we as a red sox nation can share with each other. Case in point my first interleauge game was in June 7Th, 2003 Miller Park against the Boston Red Sox which the Red Sox ended up winning 11-10 in one of the greatest games I've ever seen. I remember the home run ball that Manny hit directly at me as i was sitting in the LF bleachers with my buddies only to have the ball hit off my palm and into the lap of an 82 yr old grandmother. But what i remember most that game was the loyalty after the game. Grown men in red sox jerseys, shirts, caps, high fiving each other and hugging each other like they were just reunited after their high school graduation. It was something that was so indescribable a feeling of connection between two people that have never meet before basking in the glory of a red sox victory. Fast forward to my trip to Chicago last summer for the Red Sox-White Sox series where red sox fans out numbered white sox fans 5-1. I remember high fiving grown men and women whom I've never meet before, little children high fiving me after every red sox hit. The friendships that were made in that section 4 rows from the top of US Cellular Field.
Being a red sox fan for me means loyalty of standing behind my team of ever pitch of ever game, every strike, home run, or double play, every win and every lose. I have a cat named Fenway and we are expecting our first child in January and we already have thought about Boston for a boy or a girl. My wife recently said to me. "you know what i notice about you when the red sox lose?" dumb founded i said, "no what?" she says, "when the red sox lose you referred to the lose as in WE LOST, NOT THEY LOST. I was floored, not floored because she doesn't understand because she does. She gets my passion, my love, and my loyalty that i have for the red sox. Look into my closet and half of my wardrobe are red sox shirts and jerseys, sweatshirts, and 7 different red sox caps. I eat sleep and breathe everything red sox. And that will never change. Through these veins flow red and blue. KEEP THE FAITH MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS!!
* we all know how the season ended that fateful night in NY!!
-BigPapi1978
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