Just Another Team, Thankfully

Congratulations to my beloved Boston Red Sox on their second World Series victory in four years!

As a Massachusetts native, I have been a Sox fan my whole life, and it's honestly still hard to get used to the idea that the Curse of the Bambino has been broken. It's difficult to explain to outsiders the weight that was lifted from the collective shoulders of Red Sox Nation - a weight to which I think we had all become too accustomed - when the team won the Series in 2004. I literally wept tears of joy. (It's true - ask my wife!) While this victory was not nearly as historic, it is sweet in its own way, fully confirming that the Curse is no more.

One of my biggest hopes is that 2007 will purge the last of the wailing and gnashing of teeth - not to mention the resultant "fragile psyche" news stories - that still accompany any flat spot in otherwise strong Red Sox seasons. Today, happily, the Sox are just another team, fully capable of winning or losing based solely on ability, rather than one waiting for the hands of a long-dead ballplayer to reach out from the grave and stifle the dreams of its home town.

So enjoy the victory, Sox fans! Revel in the success, and let that success inform the pleasure you take in supporting our team. After all, while none of us will ever back the Yankees, it's much more fun to be rooting for the success of the Red Sox than to occupy ourselves hoping only for the downfall of our bitter rivals.