The headline at the Boston Globe says it all:
AT LAST!
Archives for 2004
THREE MORE OUTS
Coming into the top of the ninth inning, Red Sox up 3-0.
THREE MORE OUTS.
I am so nervous and hyper I can hardly breathe.
GO SOX
For our Fathers
This week’s Time magazine has this quote from Sox Fan Tom Faria about the Red Sox’s 3-0 lead in the World Series:
If we win, people will be crying. Not just because they’re happy.
They’ll be crying for their fathers. Just for that bond.
If you understand this quote – if watching the Sox wrap up a 3-0 lead in the series last night in St. Louis brought tears to your eyes – if you were high-fiving a fellow Sox fan last night.. or, like me, sharing the game with a few hundred Red Sox faithful in Chicago (of all places), then you truly understand the heart and soul of Red Sox Nation.
I have only lived in the Boston area for six years – there will come a time when I pack up and depart for another city. But this team has sucked me in and captured my imagination like never before. I’ve seen the trials and tribulations – the ups and downs – of the last six seasons. I screamed in anger at Aaron Fucking Boone’s 11th inning home run last October – and I felt that deep pit of frustration when they Sox fell behind three games against the Yankees. But this team has come back again and again – and now they just need one more win.
There is no where I’d rather be tonight than watching this game with some fellow Sox fans – and I know when they wrap up this series – tonight, tomorrow, or this weekend, I’ll cry – and so will every true Red Sox fan that I know.
I BELIEVE. I HAVE KEPT THE FAITH.
Just. One. More. Win.
JUST ONE MORE WIN
Just one more win to go. I watched the first three innings from ESPNZone in downtown Chicago and had to watch the rest via my cell phone as I spent time with some co-workers in Chicago. Headed home to Boston in the morning. The great thing is that I hope to be in the city for a long overdue victory celebration – the downside, of course, is that this is bringing on some serious work responsibilities.
That’s what they pay me for though….
The Boston Globe as always, has the report:
Get ready, Boston. There’s no other outcome now: Pedro Martinez, Manny Ramirez and the Red Sox will either win the World Series or add another historic collapse to their legend.
They’ll either reverse The Curse that’s plagued the team since 1918 or they’ll fall apart, just as they did the last four times they got this close.
Martinez made his long-awaited Series debut a special one, bailed out when Ramirez and David Ortiz did as much damage with their arms as bats. Backed by the surprising show of defense, Boston cruised past St. Louis 4-1 Tuesday night for a 3-0 lead and left a crowd that loves its Cardinals booing the home team.
Until this October, it was considered almost impossible for any baseball team to recover from such a deficit in the postseason. No one had ever done it that is, until the Red Sox bounced back to stun New York in the AL championship series.
And now, after being only three outs away from getting swept last week, Boston is on the verge of sweeping the club that led the majors in wins this year and claiming the ultimate prize.
Pedro finally showed up in his first World Series with his “A” game:
While no team has ever come back from a three game deficit in the World Series – I will not rest until the third out is had in the bottom of the ninth inning and the Red Sox bring home the World Series.
It’s difficult to describe the depth of emotion tonight – even though we were in Chicago, there was a huge crowd at the ESPN zone cheering for the Red Sox.
As a respected leader in my company would say: “Life is Good” – and now we look towards game four!
TV on the Airplane
It’s interesting how technology changes our routines and what we do day to day.
Last night, during the Red Sox game, I recorded NBC’s American Dreams on my Mac G4 Desktop via EyeTV. It dumped the show into a 700mb mpeg file – which I then transferred over to my laptop.
Now I’m sitting in seat 24F of a United Flight to Chicago’s O’Hare Airport watching American Dreams while we cruise along – I’m also blogging and doing some other work while the show goes on.
What a way to travel!
Spam Statistics
Here’s some ridiculous statistics about spam coming into my two home email addresses – I’ve had them since 1994 – this represents email received since January 1st of this year. 168,365 spam messages – absolutely ridiculous.
Filtered Mail
9909 Good Messages
139734 Spam Messages (93%)
468 Spam Messages Per Day
SpamSieve Accuracy
307 False Positives
69 False Negatives (18%)
99.7% Correct
Corpus
16096 Good Messages
168365 Spam Messages (91%)
2396531 Total Words
Rules
93661 Blocklist Rules
2853 Whitelist Rules
Showing Statistics Since
1/1/04 12:00 PM
GAME TWO IS IN THE BAG
He did it again – undergoing surgery on his tendon in order to pitch this game – just as he had for game 7 of the ALCS in New York. And once again, he delivered – in the midst of pain, bleeding, and the risk of permanent injury to his ankle. Courage? You bet.
“I care so much about my teammates that I’ll do anything that I have to do to contribute – to help this team”
– Curt Schilling
The Boston Globe reports it as follows:
It might have been the last Fenway Park game of the magical 2004 season. And if it was, there’ll be a parade in Boston sometime before Election Day . . . perhaps the grandest celebration in 374 years of Hub history.
Curt Schilling, the gifted, gritty veteran who has given whole new meaning to red sock, hurled Boston’s Laughing Gas House Gang to a 6-2 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals in the second game of the World Series last night. The Red Sox lead the best-of-seven, 2-0, and if they can win twice in the next three days at Busch Stadium, the Sox will have their first World Series championship since 1918.
In other words, put pink champagne on ice, but keep it corked. The Cardinals were 53-28 at home this year and Red Sox Nation would do well to remember 1986, when the Sox won the first two games of the World Series at Shea Stadium only to lose four of the last five to the New York Mets. The Sox have not been in a World Series since that fateful event.
The 37-year-old Schilling, who said he came to Boston to win a World Series, pitched six innings of four-hit, one-run (unearned) ball, working again while blood seeped into the white sanitary hose that covers his sutured right ankle. The surgical procedure, designed to stabilize a dislocated tendon in Schilling’s ankle, worked for the second time in less than a week. It was a franchise-record, sixth consecutive postseason win for Boston.
The Red Sox won again, by the way, 6-2 at Fenway Park here in Boston. Tomorrow is an off day with three games up next in St. Louis.
I BELIEVE.