FAIL

I hate to let you down, but I checked. I did it all four games in New York. In truth, I've been sort of cheating for much of the regular season. It was hard enough back when the Patriots were playing just once a week, but now here I am, keenly aware that the Sox are playing basically every single day. I thought the Olympics or the World Cup, or even the upcoming Boston Marathon might be the biggest challenge of The OffSeason, but I was clearly wrong. As it turns out, it's the very team that sent me off so happy that's proving to be the hardest thing to ignore.

In some ways it's not surprising at all. The Red Sox were the first team to teach me about the relationship this city has with sports. Growing up in the New York area on the 80's, I always felt the people of Boston were spoiled. They had the Celtics, and just about the time I was becoming sports-aware, the Red Sox were in the Series and the Patriots were in the Super Bowl. Boston even had the best show on TV back then. It seemed to me this city had it all.

Of course, once I came here for college and started to get a feel for the city, I understood that there was actually something special going on. The Sox weren't particularly good at the time, but it was still a part of daily life here. The Sox are simply a piece of the sound of this city, and I love it. Dearly.

So its time to recommit myself to the ideals of The OffSeason and stop paying attention. It's not that I have been actually watching anything, but I have been going to boston.com to see what the headlines say about the game. It stops now, but I had to come clean to you all. I hope you'll forgive this little slip up. It was Sox Yanks, after all.