Red Sox Lessons

Mine eyes have seen the glory.

A Divine Victory

OK, so I was going to write a "Everything I Ever Need to Know About Life I Learned from the Red Sox" post, but Eric Wilbur of Boston.com beat me to it.

Here's the heart of it:



If we learned anything this month, other than that “suture” will forevermore be part of our vocabulary, it is to never give up hope. Never. Even when the odds are slim, and everyone around you is telling you it can’t be done. Present company included. I apologize.

I was wrong. We were all wrong. Only the most fervent, faithful people out there even had the slightest dream this could happen, and 95 percent of them were certainly children, too young to know what we knew. Turns out they knew a heck of a lot more.

Kids can look at Mark Bellhorn and Derek Lowe, and know that whatever others are saying about them really doesn’t matter as long as they stick to their guns. They can look to Curt Schilling and know that sometimes when other people need a lift, they have to be strong and aid them in their time of need. They can look to Tim Wakefield and know that even in times of terrible despair, brighter days still lay ahead.



Wakefield really was the guy who made it possible for the Red Sox to make their comeback from being down 3-0 to the Yankees. He wa set to start game 4 of that series, but when the Sox were getting shellacked in game 3, he went up to manager Terry Francona and said, put me in coach.

Here's a piece on Wakefield's efforts:


in layman's terms, he took one for the team. He volunteered to try to stop what had the makings of a lost cause. Though Wakefield was in line to start Game 4 of the ALCS the very next night, he unselfishly threw that opportunity away and volunteered to pitch in relief.


"What he did, it makes you pretty proud," Francona said that night, then added, "I hope we get to play long enough where he gets to pitch again because when you're coaching and managing and you have players like that, even under the circumstances, it makes you very proud."



Somewhere I hope my grandfather is smiling at this. I know I'm smiling as I think about him.

I am going to buy Stephen King's book the minute it hits the shelf.