It Was A Very Good Year

Most of the time, you lose. Even the Canadians, the Yankees, the Celtics and the Steelers, have not won the majority of championships in their respective sports. And those are the real title hounds, too. The teams that have own it more often than any others. But they don't come close to winning championships more often than not. So, it's not an optimistic thing, to start rooting for a team to win. In doing so, you have to understand that you will usually be disappointed.

But each year, the possibility seems to be there. A key player is acquired, someone come in to training in better shape than they were. A new coach, or GM is hired. Some kid comes out of nowhere to impress people and fill a glaring need for the team. You start to think, "If things break our way just a little, we could really do something this year." 

The twists and turns a season takes, between injuries, mistakes, and the day to day of reality setting in, can be maddening. You look back to the supposed promise of the pre-season and try to reconcile it with what's been going on. Injuries are the worst, because you start to feel as if your team isn't representing what it could have been. That it Isn't being given the chance to be what it was constructed to be. Injuries can change the whole league around.

But if you are very lucky, you get the chance to watch a team that manages to pull together as opposed to falling apart. You get to watch a team that rises to each and every challenge, all year long, and is stronger for the effort. You can be lucky enough, every once in a while, to watch a team that wears the name of your city on their uniforms, and goes out each game, and makes you proud of where you live.

It doesn't make sense, of course. The city of Boston has strengths and weaknesses like any other, and they don't change based on what the Red Sox do on the field. But when the world around us feels harsh and angry, we need to remind ourselves that wonder still abounds. October in Massachusetts is already filled with wonder. You see it everywhere you look. And, lucky for us, the Red Sox are wonderful too. And for a few more games, they've still got a shot.
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