2004 vs 2007 Red Sox

So, I've been catching up on work and I haven't read anything about the World Series and I missed the parade today. But here is just a thought:

Regardless of who had the better team, the 2004 Red Sox will always be number 1 as far as I'm concerned. No one ever had to overcome more and no one ever will.

75 percent of this region was convinced the Red Sox were cursed. I say 75% now, but in all honesty, it was 100%. I was on record as saying "I'm agnostic when it comes to the Curse of the Bambino," which is mostly because as a Christian I didn't believe Babe Ruth or any other mortal had the power to do that. But it was getting harder and harder every year to argue against it.

Aside from having every single fan in the ball park night after night debate on how the Red Sox would collapse, you had old players, managers and general managers whose careers had been ruined. Grady Little was on record as saying that throughout the playoffs he had players coming to him saying they were terrified of becoming the next Buckner. I believe that.

Then, on top of that, you have to play the Yankees. You don't even understand how much of an inferior complex Boston had to New York. It was horrible. Yankee fans were correct in stating the rivalry was the equivilant of the rivalry between the hammer and the nail. And on the rare occassions the nail won, we were all reminded how irrelevant it was "NINETEEN-EIGHTEEN." It's true the Celtics are historically better than the Knicks, the Patriots are better than the Jets, and hockey is irrelevant. But New Yorkers knew better than anyone that Boston is a baseball town. If you beat Boston in baseball, you've beaten Boston. The region would have traded Super Bowl XXXVI for a World Series in a heartbeat. It might have even traded Super Bowl XXXVI and Super Bowl XXXVIII for a World Series. And all of New York knew that.

(Random Aside- I never once before 2004 met a New Yorker who was a Jet fan. As soon as you'd try in chat rooms or message boards or real life to shield Boston sports from taking a beating by bringing the Patriots into it, you could never find a New Yorker who admitted to watching football. I've never once met a New Yorker who was a Jet fan since either. Do the Jets have any fans???? How do they still exist as a franchise?)

Then you go down 3 games to nothing and are losing in the 8th inning of game 4 with a man who had dominated the league for the last 8 seasons on the mound needing 5 defensive outs. You'd have to be, well, for lack of a better term, an idiot to not realize what was at stake and collapse and fold under the pressure. Cue Kevin Millar. That was amazing. It was a wild ride. The floor I lived on had predominantly people who were from New York. In fact, there was 1 other room besides mine with Red Sox fans. They looked pretty depressed before game 4, which was how I felt. I saw them though, wearing Red Sox gear, and I said "Hey, you gotta keep the faith. And what better way to break a curse then to come back and beat those... in 4 straight." I don't really think I believed what I was saying. I thought they were toast too.

Man, the excitement of that 2004 run will never be matched. Even if the Cubs come back from down 0-2 in the NLDS, go down 0-3 to St. Louis and come back and win the series, then go down 0-3 to the White Sox and come back and win a World Series, there is a precident.

Sure, 2007 had a better rotation than 2004. And it's true 2007 had a better closer. 2004 could hit the ball a lot better and their middle relief would get the edge. 2004 was an aging team which was on it's last legs, and 2007 is a young team on the way up. We'll really see that come 2008 when the Red Sox might win back to back World Series for the first time since 1915-1916. But in the grand scheme of things, 2004 opened the door for 2007 to accomplish what it did. I don't think 2007 could have otherwise.

After the Red Sox won the 2004 World Series, in the middle of the celebration, Schilling called them all together and offered a toast along the lines of "To the 2004 Red Sox, the greatest Red Sox team EVER."

I agree with that statement a lot more now then I did then.