Sports can be full of ironies, just like life. And like life, it can also be full of
those things that aren’t really ironies, but we like to say they are. Like interesting coincidences, or
sometimes not-so-interesting, depending on the time of day or the general mood
of the person reading. But in my
opinion, playing itself out on baseball’s greatest stage this week, is something of an irony; or at least a
mildly interesting coincidence. Which
brings us back to Toronto! Did you
see that coming?
A die-hard Underdogs reader may remember a post from two
years ago, in that swell city north of the border, where a couple of friends
and I shamefully
committed a baseball atrocity.
With about a month left in the season
and the visiting Red Sox up about ten games in the standings, and leading the
Blue Jays by 4 runs that night, we decided to leave the game at the end of the
seventh inning.
The dome roof was
open that night and it was getting chilly and starting to rain a little bit, so
we made the call.
But what
happened next changed baseball history forever.
My Bostonian pal and Red Sox lifer, Eve, who was well
imbibed at this point, proclaimed the game over
as we left, in demonstrative fashion (as she had been proclaiming things all
night.) She was filled with
confidence after a moment earlier in the game, when she called a Big Papi homerun two seconds before he hit a monster
shot. I have it on video. It was amazing at the time, but would eventually
prove to be disastrous for the Red Sox’ season.
Surely a less confident Bo-Sox fan wouldn’t have dared utter
such infamous last words as, “this game is over, we got this,” and, “we are
definitely in the playoffs anyway.”
It was a violation of a century-long ingrained baseball
superstition.
The baseball gods
simply do not smile upon this kind of behavior, not with a game so
unpredictable.
So what happened
next?
The Blue Jays came back to
force extra innings that night, and won the game in the 11
th.
Then from there, the Red Sox went on an
abysmal losing streak for the remainder of the season and it turned into a
historic slide.
No team had ever
been up so many games that close to the end of the season, and then
not made the playoffs!
It was absolutely shocking!
And it all traced back to that crisp
September night in Toronto; a cataclysmic disturbance in the Red Sox space-time
continuum.
I could never forgive
myself.
Of course I’m not a Boston Red Sox fan, but I have enough
friends who are Saux fans, that I felt a great guilt about the events that occurred
that night. And since that time a
once mighty Red Sox team hadn’t been back to the playoffs. So given the opportunity I had no
choice, it was time to act. It was
time to excorcise the demons.
I found myself back in Toronto, this time at the beginning
of the season, and when the Red Sox came to town, I knew it was my civil duty
to get out there and repent for our horrendous actions on that fateful night.
And for all my die-hards, hopefully
reverse the curse.
So I went out with a couple of cast
mates Dana and Kyle to check out the game.
The Rogers Centre was horribly empty that night, because it
coincided with the Maple Leafs playoff game against the Boston Bruins, and well,
every Blue Jays fan is a Maple Leafs fan
first.
There was a strange symmetry to
everything.
The Hockey game was
playing on TV’s around the stadium and the baseball game was more like
background music, as the Red Sox predictably rang up an early lead.
The Rogers Centre announced the Hockey score only once,
early when the Leaf’s scored and the crowd erupted, but then it was never
mentioned again.
We found out why
later, because the Bruins went on to score four goals in a row taking the game
easily, and eventually the series,
crushing the Torontonians.
And as for the baseball game, aw man,
it wasn’t even close.
Maybe it was
the odd
mall-like feeling at an
indoor baseball game with fake grass and controlled temperature, (the roof was
not open that night) or the enormous
space being so sparsely populated, but it felt like there should have been a
mercy rule enforced.
Like a t-ball
game!
The Blue Jays were
completely out-matched and the Red Sox won handily.
Yes!
We had
done it.
Of course, we had done
nothing, except drink a beer and eat a hot dog, but we had done it!
We had reversed the curse!
I don’t want to take all of the credit
for the incredible 2013 Red Sox season of course, and I won’t, after all Dana
and Kyle were there too.
But our
heroic actions that night at least made it possible.
And here’s that irony, or slightly interesting coincidence,
that I mentioned earlier.
Kyle is
from St Louis!
Where the Red Sox
have just won 2 out of 3 to take control of the World Series; a fantastic
matchup between two historically storied franchises, and the perfect end to the
Major League Season.
Kyle is a
Cardinal through and through, and undoubtedly completely loyal to his team, but
I don’t think he regrets reversing the Red Sox Curse.
That pivotal night in Toronto, he was just in the wrong
place at the wrong time; a part of a minimal footnote in the annals of baseball’s
great lore.
Not cruel, but
apt.
Not tragic, but perfectly
appropriate.
This was the way it
was supposed to be, and it all comes down to this.
Tonight we find out if it comes to fruition.
We will find out if the Red Sox rejuvenation
will be completed and all of the demons exercised in their entirety.
And if not, it’s game seven on Thursday
night.
And Kyle gets to smile that
St Louis Cardinal smile for one day longer.
It’ll be a tall order and if any team can do it, it’s the
Cards, but fate, as they say, is working against them. Boston vs St Louis tonight!
Thanks for reading,
Underdogs out!
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