What Curse? Part 2

For those of you who don't know, I'm a schoolteacher by trade. Kind of a trippy concept, I know. You should see the reaction of people that I run into from high school when I tell them what I do. Anyway, I go in there every day, and have to hear about this freakin Curse. I don't know whether it's from their parents or from their tv, but some of these kids really believe this garbage. I have a few standard responses:

It's not a curse, it's lack of pitching.
It's not a curse, it's the media.
It's not a curse, it's Tom Yawkey.
It's not a curse, it's a lack of African-Americans.

Anyway, as you might have guessed, I'm getting pretty damn defensive about it. The Sox I know have not been chokers, or losers, or anything like that. OK, 1986 sucked bad, I'll admit, but everybody forgets how over-their-head the Sox were playing that series. And I bet there are fans in a whole lot of cities that would trade experiences with us in a heartbeat.

Here's the Red Sox entire playoff history since divisional play began. You tell me if this a loser franchise or not.

1975
The Sox, at 95-65, take on 3-time Champ Oakland, at 98-64, and sweep them in three games. They then take on The Big Red Machine, Cincinnati, with 108 wins. The Sox take them seven games before losing, and are the only team to take even one playoff game from them in either the 1975 or 1976 seasons.

1978
Tied with the Yankees for the best record in baseball, the Sox lose a one-game playoff.

1986
At 95-65, the Sox come back from a 3-1 series deficit against the 92-70 Angels to win the American League Pennant. Then, they take the 108-win Mets to seven games before losing.

1990
The 88-win Sox lose four straight to the 103-win defending champion Oakland A's.

1995
The 86-58 Sox lose three straight to the 100-44 AL Champ Indians.

1998
At 92-70, the Sox lose 3-1 to 89-73 Cleveland, their only season since 1975 that they are eliminated by a team with a worse record.

1999
At 94-69, the Sox come back from a 2-0 series deficit to beat 97-65 Cleveland, 3 games to 2. They then lose 4-1 to the defending Champion 98-win Yankees, the only team to take a game from New York that post-season.

And then there's this year, coming from two down to beat the Oakland A's, and forcing a game 7 tonight with the Yankees. Now you tell me, what is there to be ashamed of?

Not a damn thing. I'm sick of this 1918 B.S. I'm sick of that damn Fox chart that shows 0 Championships for the Sox since 1920. We've won 5 Championships, Man! How many teams have done that?

Bring it on Baby! Give me the Yankees! We're ready!

Dave's Email