Just Another Team (And It's OK)

There are those who will say now that the Boston Red Sox have finally won the World Series that Red Sox Nation will not know what to do with themselves because they will no longer have a cause to whine about. In my opinion, anyone who believes that line of thinking is foolish. Red Sox Nation will never lose its identity as baseball's most loyal fan base just because they can no longer be fatalists.

One of the great bonuses of ending this so-called curse is the fact that the Red Sox will now be just another baseball team fighting year in and year out to win a World Series title. No longer will Red Sox Nation have to hear "1918" and talk about the Curse of the Bambino. Just like when the New York Rangers won the 1994 Stanley Cup, their first since 1940, the Red Sox can now experience watching a certain number (1918) disappear from the sports vernacular forever. If you are a Red Sox fan today, you will gladly trade both the stigma and sympathy of the Curse for the chance to be on equal footing with all the other major league teams and just go out and compete. (Except the Cubs and that's a whole other curse story).

Anyone who knows anything about Red Sox fans knows that this World Series win will not negatively affect the passion the Nation has for the Sox. If anything, the fan base should be even more rabid because they finally know the franchise can indeed bring home a title. The team can now look the Yankees and everyone else in the eye and those opponents will know there is no more curse to go against Boston and that they will have to go out and execute in order to beat them. So when someone says to me that the Sox are just another team and that they have lost their identity, I say fine with me. Just keep bringing on the championships and you can lump the Sox in with any group of teams you want. Any true Sox diehard would have to agree after experiencing that championship feeling.