Who's Your Daddy?

Watching the post-game discussion of game 7 on ESPN, you couldn't help but overhear the few hundred or so Red Sox fans chanting "Who's Your Daddy?" in an otherwise empty Yankee Stadium. Sweet relief! For the first time, Red Sox Nation had become a Conquering Nation. Yankee Stadium was ours, even if just for a few moments. It's hard to imagine anything as a sports fan being more satisifying.

That is until you realize that the World Series, The Final Hurdle, begins this weekend. For the next week, you're going to hear endless reminders on Fox and ESPN about our last World Series trip in 1986, with the over-under on Ball Going Through Buckner's Legs video set at 47. But I got to thinking, maybe this is the wrong 1986 analogy. How about the 1985-1986 New England Patriots?

In December of 1985, The New England Patriots beat long-time division rival the New York Jets for their first NFL playoff victory ever.

The 2004 Boston Red Sox had to beat long-time division series rival Oakland A's.

In January of 1986, The Patriots went into Miami and beat their long-time divisional nemesis the Dolphins, the first time they won in Miami in 18 years. Squish The Fish!

This year's Sox had to go into New York and beat long-time divisional nemesis the Yankees, the first time they'd ever done that in a playoff series, to go back to the World Series for the first time in 18 years. Who's Your Daddy?!

Of course, we expect this year to end differently, as it's very unlikely the Sox will have to endure the shellacking the Pats got from the 1986 Chicago Bears. Nor will the Sox be underdogs going in. But it's that Squish The Fish mentality that I think most closely resembles this feeling, so I thought it might be nice to look back at one of the prouder moments of pre-Tom Brady Patriot history.

Or maybe not. What the hell, Go Sox! Deal Those Cards! Kick Some Astros!