I'm not saying it was worthy of sitting at the same table as an entry from Shakespeare. But then, Shakespeare was never a Red Sox fan.
In college, I stumbled across a column on ESPN.com, written by The Sports Guy. It was pretty funny. I was entertained. I don't know if I've missed one since.
The Sports Guy (otherwise known as Bill Simmons) was born in the Boston sports culture, and thrived in it quite well. Of course, his teams reside in Boston, so I always found it funny that i liked reading his stuff so much.
I think it was his excellent blending of humor, sports, and pop culture that ultimately drew me in. Can't go wrong with that combination, I suppose.
Since I started reading his stuff, he's witnessed his Patriots win their first Super Bowl (and two more after that). He's seen the NHL drop off the face of the planet, he's seen the Celtics play mediocre basketball, and he's gotten married and had a kid. But, most importantly, he's seen the Red Sox win their first World Series in 86 years.
So what do you do when your favorite team breaks a supposed curse of nearly four score and seven years? Duh, you write a book.
Well, that's only a half-truth. What Bill ended up publishing was a collection of his old columns. It was his story of watching the Red Sox, from the little inklings of the beginnings to the championship, with some minor alterations of his stuff. Mostly putting the swear words he couldn't publish on ESPN.com back into the columns.
I am, by no stretch of the imagination, a Red Sox fan. But I felt a connection with Bill, and indeed Red Sox Nation. After all, my team currently has the fourth longest World Series drought in the majors (third if the White Sox win this year...go Sox!).
That's what I took away from the Red Sox victory last year: there's always hope. I know I've written about The Shawshank Redemption numerous times on my blog, and Bill has referenced it all the time in his columns. Hope isn't just a word for the movies. Hope is where you find it, and I find hope for the Giants in the Red Sox last year, thanks to a little help from The Sports Guy.
Tomorrow, just before Carl and I hit another Avs game, Bill will be in Denver, signing books. I hope to be near the front of the line, so I can shake the hand of my favorite sports columnist, and thank him for giving me hope.
