Well, Look Who Decided to Become their Sworn Enemy...

So let me preface this all by saying, yes, I am indeed still bitter about the outcome of the 2004 World Series. I figured 2006 would of made up for it, but I still feel like a little bit of me died that former series. And we all know, once something dies, it never comes back. There, I hope I've brought you down a notch to my world of dwellery and feel as angry as I not-so-secretly feel now that the Red Sox have won it all, again. Those bastards.

I feel cheated at having had to waste so much time consoling myself by saying, "well, they never win, that was their first in an eternity, how historic...I guess". Let's not lie to ourselves. That was all crap, because they won it all 3 years later.

I know, I know. Many of you are thinking that if I weren't biased, then I would realize it really was a historic moment and that it was better to have lost to a team like that, than say, another Yankees team part of some dynasty that won it the year before. Well, no. I don't see it that way. I am a baseball fan. But above all, I am a loyal Cardinals' fan. I love them more than I love any other team. I love them more than I love some people. I'm sorry you had to hear that, but, well, it's true. And if that scares you, then you should go entertain yourself with something that is fake and cheesy, maybe High School Musical. But before you do that, I should have you know that the main chic, that Vanessa Hudgens girl who plays some virginal sweet nerd? She takes naked pictures of herself and sends them to guys. There. Now run along and sing with Zac Effron you delusional...

I'm sorry. I didn't mean it. Come back to me baby. Sometimes when I get mad, I say things and do things that I... let's just put it all behind us. You just make me so mad sometimes, but it's because I love you so much. All better? Good.

Now let's get down to business. What this really has done is ruined the days of when we all rooted for the Red Sox. We all knew the system, it was us against them. The simpler times, when it was the Yankees fans versus everyone else. Now, I root for the Yankees to beat the Boston Red Sox. So who are the biggest losers here? The Red Sox. Now, their fan base may not see it that way, because they've won 2 championship titles in 4 years, but let's not lose sight of the bigger picture here. Their fandom before the '04 title was made up of decades of tears, heart ache, loyalty beyond imagination and patience. It was a careful mixture of ingredients filled with passion that went beyond just winning and love more complete than a classic novel, and there it simmered for generation after generation until that pot boiled over in '04. Suddenly that pure recipe was being devoured by moochers galore, who dropped to the lowly floor where bandwagoners licked the remnants of what the Red Sox used to represent right off until they were nothing but a shadow of their former self. Yes, a prose fit for a love sick and self loathing poet, I know.

Maybe I'm just hungry (I realize the cooking analogy went too far) or maybe I'm stating the obvious. But we all know now that now the Red Sox have won, twice in four years, and now the fan base has been polluted with cocky bastards who shuffle between Red Sox games and New England Patriot games, they've lost the most essential part of their Red Sox-ness. Their identity.

I realize they've always had an east coast mentality. They were always deluded into thinking they were the most important game on TV if it was a game featuring them against the Yankees. Yes, they even overlooked the fact that a city even larger than theirs, Chicago, had two teams, one with a longer drought without a WS appearance or win and one almost as long as theirs. Despite that, they carried themselves with self pity as if they were the poster child of what a loyal fan truely looks like. But I could look beyond all that because they consisted mainly of a large portion of humble New Englanders who were just sick of losing to the Yankees the way they did year after year.

Then they won. With Curt "A-hole" Schilling, no less. And we noticed their payroll rivalled you know who's. And they began to buy players left and right, like you know who. They overpaid for Japanese phenoms, like you know who. They even rolled their eyes and told the rest of us we were jealous when we complained about their over-saturated media coverage, just like you...know...who...

And the sad thing is, once the dust settles and the Boston Red Sox start to come back down to earth and once they start to miss post season appearances, they'll not only have lost all of those shufflers and bandwagon fans, they'll have lost the respect and underdog quality that always made them rootable. Their story is a boring one now. They're another Yankees team. Some are even starting to whisper dynasty. Except they'll never rival the Yankees success, until they manage to rack up the 26 championships the Yankees have.

You may believe I'm overthinking this, but the story of the Red Sox is less fruitful. They've become just one more evil empire to root against on a coast of evil empires. They have become their enemy, the very thing they hated for so long. This might not mean much to them at this point because they're probably watching SportsCenter to see if anything pops up about the upcoming Patriots vs. Colts game, but I want them to consider this; How did you feel about the Yankees when Aaron Boone hit that walk off ALCS homer against you? That's how I think of you now. Yeah, I went there. Oh snap.