The Curse is Dead, Long Live the Kings

For the record, I have never believed in curses, much less curses applied to baseball. I've always felt that if there are grand cosmic forces in the universe, they would pay attention to more significant things than a game where grown men whack a ball with a stick.

Also for the record, you'll notice that I carefully avoided revealing these beliefs in my blog, or even uttering them to anyone, lest I jinx the Sox. :)

At long last, the superstitious wing of baseball's fanbase have few if any outs left. Sure, Chicago has had a longer draught of titles, but no one ever seemed to bring up their curse as often as Boston. I mean, why should we? Boston's is connected to the most famous player of all time, Babe Ruth. They disrespected Babe and sent him packing. Ergo, somehow, Boston has earned 86 years of misery. Never mind that the Yankees pretty much treated Babe like garbage at the end of his career, as well, and he finished his days with, if memory serves, the Braves. The curse of the Bambino made a good story, and we stuck with it. And hey, fans either pro or anti-Boston clung to it...Sox fans as a way of reassuring that the team's losses weren't really their fault, and for everyone else as a cornerstone of mockery and self-reassurance. "Well, we may have lost, but at least we ain't CURSED!"

Until now. The curse has gone the way of the dodo, and if baseball fans are a consistent lot, we'll never have to hear of it again. Down 3-0 to the Yankees, they come back to win four straight in the greatest series I've ever seen, and then beat the best team in baseball, the St. Louis Cardinals, in four straight to sweep their way to the title. Again, I say, if ever there has been a more effective exorcism in the history of sport, I've missed it.

Man, does King have a hell of a story to tell, or what?

Congratulations to the Sox, but also congratulations to every team and player who participated in this postseason - easily the best I've ever seen as a fan.

"We believe," indeed.