Now a Citizen of Red Sox Nation

ROCKLAND (Oct 15, 07): The Red Sox had me up until 1:30 in the morning last weekend and it was an unsatisfying conclusion to my new interest in baseball. Seven runs scored in the tenth inning ended my delusion of a four game series.

As an adult, I have never been much of a fan for the game until I made my move to New England. I would watch bits and pieces of the last games of the World Series, regardless of who was playing. But that was about it.

Six years ago I started to take interest in the Sox. (It’s hard not to be a fan since the Nation is so much a part of life here). So when I made the decision to be a fan, it was wonderful for my team to win the World Series right off the bat. That must be frustrating to those who have been waiting a lifetime for such an occurrence. It’s a distinct advantage of being a fair-weather fan.

My lost interest in baseball came as a result of childhood trauma. As a little kid I was a huge Milwaukee Braves fan. I think I could still tick off the whole Milwaukee lineup: Mathews, Spahn, Crandall, Torre, Schoendienst, Covington, Bruton, Adcock and of course Aaron. I wore my Braves cap every day to the point that my teacher would yell at me to remove it in class. I fastened a Braves baseball card to the spokes of my bike with a clothes pin to make a motorcycle noise. (Jeez I wish I had that card back. I would make a fortune selling it). I listened to every game on the radio and thrilled to their World Series win.

Then came the news - they were moving to Atlanta. My world came crashing down. I couldn’t believe you could move a team and was too young to remember that Milwaukee stole the team from Boston only a decade or so prior. That was it. The next season I threw away my ball cap and pledged never to watch a game the rest of my life. I almost made it.

I attended a few Brewer games over the years, always on the invite of Brewer owner, Bud Selig, now commissioner of baseball. He would invite Chamber directors from around the state to join him for lunch and a game. It was quite a rush, but I still never developed a love for the game. Then I moved to Maine.

So now I’ll glue myself to my really big leather chair and watch all the games of the championship series, even to the early morning hours. And I’m prepared to suffer if the outcome isn’t what is expected. I pledge not to go negative though, always assuming that the Sox will pluck defeat from the jaws of victory. I spew enough negativity as it is dealing with Maine politics and that’s quite enough. –H-