Sox and the city: Fair-weather fans ready for playoffs
By Beth Teitell
Tuesday, October 4, 2005

I was at a birthday party on Sunday, but so anxious about the Sox-Yankees game I could barely focus on sneaking a bite of my son's cake, when I noticed another parent holding a Walkman. ``Do we have a score?'' I asked, nervously.

``It's 7-0 in the bottom of the fifth,'' he said.

``We're almost there!'' I cheered.

We?

It was a small voice in my head. ``What do you mean, we? You don't even care about the team unless they're in the playoffs. Now all of a sudden it's `we?' ''

I ate another bite of cake to drown out my inner buzz-kill. But the seed of doubt had been planted. Why do we fair-weather fans care, I wondered. What's really in it for us?

``It's too embarrassing,'' one of my friends said. ``Just tell me,'' I cooed.

``There is a direct relationship between how good the Red Sox have gotten and how cute their accessories are,'' she said. ``I have a really adorable T-shirt with a cursive rhinestone ``B'' and also a pink hat. Now I want the charm bracelet (with little silver caps and mitts and balls) but I figure they need a big win before I can do that, right? I need an excuse to buy.''

``Definitely,'' I said, wondering whether a Sox win would also allow the purchase of designer boots and a blowout at a Newbury Street salon.

I called another friend to ask for a ruling, but she was more interested in her own fair-weatherhood. ``I crave the rush of post-season play,'' she said. ``I want that buzz of excitement midweek. An excuse to stay up late, to eat pizza and drink beer.''

Such communal highs are harder to get these days. The Oscars and the Emmys and whatever-ies have become too predictable. And yeah, I felt a frisson of excitement when I read that Paris Hilton called off her engagement, but you can't really party around that news. And Supreme Court hearings can be fun (oh, for the days when Clarence Thomas was in the hot seat) but you can't count on them. And television programming's so fragmented not everyone watches the same shows.

``I like when the Sox are in the playoffs because then I get into the games and then I feel normal,'' another sometime fan admitted. She and her husband aren't into sports and she worries they're raising their daughter as a ``sports moron.'' `I feel like a better mother when we watch the games,'' she said. ``I'm using the team to help me with my insecurities.''

Using the team for her own purposes? Hey, what's more American than that?

Go Sox!