Victory for the Northeastern region! But defeat on the narrative front.
Posted on:: October 28th, 2004
Apparently, athletes hired by the New England region were successful in their efforts to defeat similar athletes hired by the greater St. Louis area. I commend them all.
But, this leaves us with an incomplete narrative. The Boston team failed for 86 years because it was insufficiently grateful to a particular porcine athlete who went on to great success. This resulted in a curse. Now the curse has been lifted. But how? Did Manny Ramirez accomplish seven impossible tasks set for him by the wily Odin? Did David Ortiz slay a Minotaur? Did Johnny Damon pull a thorn from an enchanted Yankee’s paw? Without knowing how the curse was lifted, the story just doesn’t work, people!
David–Honest To God–FYI, to dispel your ignorance on the subject:
The curse was broken in August of this year, when Manny Ramirez’s foul ball knocked out the tooth of a kid sitting in the stands who–JUST COINCIDENTALLY, BY THE WAY–happened to be living in Babe Ruth’s old house, thusly spilling blood. If you don’t believe me, ask someone else. That’s why Ramizez received the Most Valuable Athelete From The Northeast Region last night.
I’ll just have to wait for the movie to find out how the curse was broken. Of course Hollywood will have to add the attractive female characted who either had a much smaller part, or didn’t even exist originally.
It was the eclipse that broke the curse. Whenever something unexpected occurs, a celestial bodies is responsible. Dur.
To me, the interesting story has to do with how ordinary people (most of whom aren’t athletes) come to feel connected with, and invested in, the actions of a professional sports team, such that a World Series win for the first time in 86 years can make people weep with joy the world over. (I count myself among that bunch, for the record; but that doesn’t mean I understand the phenomenon any better.)
Rachel, I’m with you. If teams could only draw on local talent, I’d understand it better.
Aren’t you being something of a local exclusivist, David? Who dwells on the fact that Alexander was Macedonian, Columbus Italian, Napoleon Corsican or Einstein German? Do you decry those inhabitants of the Caribbean or Asia who follow Manchester United? Yea, I understand that there are BoSox fans even in St. Louis!
It seems pretty clear to me that the curse was ended by the red socks.
The curse ended because the 2004 team simply never believed in it. Period.
Maybe the curse had a half-life and just got far enough down the curve to be outweighed by other factors.
Which doesn’t mean it’s dead, just weakened. If the counteracting factors aren’t as strong next year….
Or maybe the curse got blown away in a hurricane.
Or maybe Babe is in Florida getting ready to put the hex on a Bostonian in a different way… 82 more years of Republicans…
There was no curse. But if there had been…
As the commenter above aluded to… It’s a little known fact that the actual wording of the curse was:
“…until the moonlight shining on a World Series Game is darkened by the shadow of the Earth.”
This curse was cast back in the days when ballgames were only played in the daytime, so they thought it would last a little longer.