El Guapo's Ghost Rambles on about the Red Sox

WHAT NOW? PART II

Everyone and their bro has an opinion on what happens to Red Sox Nation now that the Old Town Team has won a World Series Championship. (Note that I am watching Game 4 as I write this. I can't get enough of this.) Like all Nations, Red Sox Nation is a diverse group, but how you answer the following questions can give one a sense on how you will react as a member of the Nation.

• How long have your rooted for the Sox?
• When you describe the scene in 1946, 1967, 1975, 1986 and 1999, how vivid is your description?
• How many games did you miss watching or listening to last season?
• Have you ever missed work to watch a Sox game?
• Have you ever planned a vacation around the Sox schedule?
• What was your reaction to the hiring of Bill James?
• Do you read Dan Shaughnessy?
• Do you own a "Yankees Suck" or a similar t-shirt?
• What's your impression of WEEI?
• Before the postseason dingers, did you want Pokey or Bellhorn?
• And the biggest question: Did you believe in the Curse?

Unlike folks in the real media, I won't make specific generalizations about Red Sox Nation. Besides one: I think the Boston Red Sox World Series Championship brings closure for all members of the Nation. We have divorced ourselves from the past, but it will never be forgotten. The BIG difference is that the story now has a happy ending.

Red Sox history and our passion for the sport, as Bob Ryan eloquently describes...

...baseball has resided in the heart of Boston. While an entire nation has sold its soul to the violence and essential callousness of football, Boston has been a proud, stubborn holdout, preferring a more subtle, intricatesport appealing equally to the mind and the senses. If we are the only locale in America in which baseball is king, so be it.

is why a Red Sox fan will not become “Just Another Baseball Fan.”