Sox fans' hopes for postseason are getting batted around
By Beth Teitell
Tuesday, September 27, 2005 - Updated: 10:35 AM EST

I'm not saying the Red Sox are going to blow it. I'm just posing a hypothetical question: If the team doesn't win the World Series, how many years must fans wait before reclaiming their beloved ``long-suffering'' mantle? Another 86? Or can we all just pretend last year didn't happen, and continue to take pride in the one thing we know we do well: losing?

With all due respect to Theo Epstein, the guy's a kid. What does he know about the big picture, the long view? Sure, winning feels fun - at the time. I can understand how tempting it must have been for him to go for it last year, particularly when the St. Louis Cardinals made it so easy. But managers in years past knew that what Sox fans wanted was not an actual win, but a near-win. A nail-biter that ended in disappointment, not jubilation. In retrospect, one sees the genius of Grady Little.

Who knows what happened in 2004? Maybe Theo thought the Curse of the Bambino story had grown old, so he jumped the Green Monster. I would have thought that a mandatory loss was spelled out in his contract, but apparently not.

So here we are in our first post-World Series victory season, facing a gut-wrenching time of transition: If we win, it's time to start talking dynasty. Lose, and we're nobodies. Not Yankees, not Chicago Cubs. More like Kansas City Royals.

Not to rub it in, but imagine how deliciously bad it would feel to be back in the old martyr's comfort zone. We'd have that little frisson of excitement that comes with being a contender, but we wouldn't have to get really nervous because we'd know how it would turn out (we'd lose). Before last year, rooting for the Red Sox was like watching a thriller and knowing all along that the star wasn't really going to get killed. Only in reverse. You know that we are going to get killed. Painfully.

Meanwhile, as we head into the final week of regular season play, the people I truly pity are the fair-weather fans. Not only are they not used to staying up late to watch games, but they, and they alone, truly think we can win.

Not that we can't, of course.