October 27, 2004 - Wednesday
It occurs to me that I, like Harry is now, was almost five when the Impossible Dream Red Sox lost to the Cardinals in the 1967 World Series. I knew absolutely nothing about it at the time, much because my parents cared little for professional sports. My first memories of sports on TV are from the spring of 1970 at my cousins house, they slightly older and very interested in sports. I remember going there a couple of times over the span of the Stanley Cup playoffs and seeing the hockey games on TV. The Bruins were playing the Blackhawks, then the St. Louis Blues to win the Stanley Cup for the first time in 29 years. I didn't know anything about that either, although I remember thinking that the Blackhawks had a cooler name than the Bruins. Some time over the next two years I was hooked on the Bruins, the Red Sox, Wide World of Sports, and just about everything sports related. I knew the teams and the players and two years later when the Bruins won the Cup in 1972 I was watching. Two times in three years wasn't enough and I was devastated when they lost to the Canadiens and Ken Dryden in 1973. Somewhat surprisingly, to myself anyway, I held up better in 1975 when the Red Sox lost, perhaps because I took pride in pronouncements that it was the most exciting World Series ever.

So, today Harry knows very little about the Red Sox, save a couple of kids wearing "B" hats to school and me watching sports on TV from time to time. But, that's probably OK. He'd never be able to see this World Series the way I do and that's for the best. It won't be long before he's more aware, he's already fond of baseball, and then we'll watch baseball and the Red Sox together from a much more similar perspective.


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