Winning Never Gets Old

I came across an article online from USA Today from some hack writer named Tim Dahlberg. It's another one of those pieces that seem to pop up at this time of year, when the Red Sox are going for another title.

It's another one of those "we liked the Red Sox and their fans better when their team was losing" crap.

He's another one who thinks that Red Sox Nation is "wearing thin" and we all feel "entitled" just like Yankee fans. So what are we suppose to do as fans Dahlberg, stop rooting for them?

I'm getting really tired of reading bullshit like this from hacks who only appear jealous of the Red Sox success. A lot of his vitriol seems to be directed at the fans because we support the team so well, and go to opposition parks in huge numbers. There seems to be this prevailing notion that this only began to happen when the Red Sox won their first World Series in 86 years in 2004. Red Sox fans have been supporting the team away from Fenway for years and years, going back to the 1970s when thousands of fans would head to Yankee Stadium, and thousands of New England transplants in California would go to Anaheim to see them play the Angels.

The numbers at opposition parks have been increasing in recent years, and that is more to do with the fact that Sox fans can't get into Fenway, so they make special trips to see them away from Boston. The loyalty to the team continues to grow, and while there have been plenty of "bandwagon jumpers" since 2004, there's nothing you can do about that. The "pink hat fans," the derisive term for those who claim to be long time fans but aren't, are there.

The Red Sox aren't "underdogs" any more, and I can only say: thank God for that. No, they aren't "the little engine that could" as they finally got a front office who knows how to build a winning team and sustain it. It's more damning to the previous regimes that ran the club who couldn't get them over the top that the Red Sox have become the Team of the 21st Century.

And I love how this jackass Dahlberg twists his facts:

There's nothing warm and fuzzy about this team, not even anything terribly interesting. Manny is gone, David Ortiz' home run totals are plummeting...

No, don't bother mentioning the fact Papi missed one-third of the season to injury, and the Red Sox got better when they divested themselves of Ramirez. (They had the second best record in baseball after August 1, better than Ramirez' new team.) So, the Red Sox are no longer interesting because they aren't "warm and fuzzy?" Since when does that make them uninteresting? They are a team of grinders, who fought through numerous injuries to key players to make it to the postseason. So I guess if the Sox don't have a circus clown like Ramirez that automatically makes them dull. I think they are more interesting without him, as it will take more for them to win now.

If you wish to read more of Dahlberg's hogwash, go here.

A lot of fans are pulling for the Cubs this October, and rightly so. They are a good story, a team that has now gone a century without a championship. Theirs are the only baseball fans in America that can compare to Red Sox fans in terms of loyalty and devotion (don't insult my intelligence by putting the Yankees fans in that discussion). But if you believe idiots like Dahlberg, we are in the same league with Yankee fans who believe it is their birthright that their team win the World Series every year. As a Red Sox fan who supported this team for over three decades, I am thoroughly enjoying these years where the Red Sox have put together a terrific team, and their so-called tortured past is where it belongs: in the past. The Sox are giving their loyal fans a treat this decade and are making up for a lot of lost years.

It is a time to savor what Theo and The Trio have put together, and never take winning for granted.

No matter what so-called writers like Dahlberg think.

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I also want to wish Joyce a Happy Birthday in Heaven today. It's hard to believe it's the eighth one you've celebrated there. I hope it's a great one.

We miss you.