2007 was a banner year in many ways - we all got to celebrate as the Sox won it all, the Mother's Day MIracle, Clay's no-hitter, the Sox also picked up a whole host of individual awards, and the front office managed to re-sign the key components of championship team. Back in September, I wrote this (pardon the egotastic move of quoting myself):
What an amazing, unbelievable season.This 2007 Red Sox team is magic.I know the 2004 team is the benchmark by which everyone measures this year's group, and all other groups that will likely come after, but I'm telling you... this team is magic.
It's no coincidence that we've witnessed so much special awesomeness surrounding the club all year: the Dice-K hoopla, the Mother's Day Miracle, the Lester comeback, Beckett establishing himself as the #1 ace, the Coco outfield gymnastics, the rookie surge from Pedroia and Ellsbury, the Papelbon mastery, the out-of-nowhere Okey, the Papi clutchness in spite of injuries, the Lowell slugging, the Youk defense, the Clay no-hitter, and now these back-to-back from-behind victories. These things are not just happening all at the same time, in the same season, to the same team at random.
I'm telling you- this is BIG STUFF. 40 years later... maybe it's the scales righting themselves.
I'll say it again: this 2007 Red Sox team is magic.
On a more personal note, I somehow had the good fortune to go to 78 baseball games (!!), spending practically the entire summer and fall traveling to ballparks around the country, watching a ton of baseball and spending time with friends-- an experience I'll probably never have the chance to do again. Lucky for me, my grand adventure just happened to coincide with the Sox, Cubs and Phils all making it into the playoffs.
But now, for better or for worse, it's time to put 2007 permanently into the history books -- and move on to 2008. Baseball is as much about change as it is about nostalgia- and at the turn of the year, with spring training around the corner, nothing is a more apt passage than this from A. Bartlett Giamatti's A Great and Glorious Game:
So here's to 2008 - may it bring as much success on the diamond as 2007, and even more happiness everywhere else.Baseball is about homecoming. It is a journey by theft and strength, guile and speed, out around first to the far island of second, where foes lurk in the reefs and the green sea suddenly grows deeper, then to turn sharply, skimming the shallows, making for a shore that will show a friendly face, a color, a familiar language and, at third, to proceed, no longer by paths indirect but straight, to home.Baseball is about going home, and how hard it is to get there and how driven is our need. It tells us how good home is. Its wisdom says you can go home again but that you cannot stay. The journey must always start once more, the bat an oar over the shoulder, until there is an end to all journeying.
Big hat tip to reader Lisa for the Giamatti quote- can't ever have too much Giamatti. And my own personal Top 10 for 2007...
Top 10 Sporting Events I Attended in 2007
1. World Series, Game 4 - Denver, CO
2. AFC Championship, Colts vs. Patriots - Indianapolis, IN
3. Mother's Day Miracle, Red Sox vs. Orioles - Boston, MA
4. Spring Training, Phillies - Clearwater, FL
5. World Series, Game 1 - Boston, MA
6. ALDS Game 2, Red Sox vs. Angels - Boston, MA
7. U.S. Open, golf - Pittsburgh, PA
8. Red Sox vs. Yankees, Beckett vs. Clemens - New York, NY
9. Phillies Week, vs. Cubs and Brewers - Chicago, IL & Milwaukee, WI
10. AFC Playoffs, Colts vs. Chiefs - Indianapolis, IN
I'd love to hear what your favorite sporting events you attended in '07 were! And any grand plans for sports in the year ahead? Who's headed to spring training? Who's going to the NFL playoffs? Anyone going to brave New York to hit up the All-Star Game in July?
on December 31, 2007 11:45 PM
happy new year, Tex.
I celebrated with my dog and some sparkling grape juice.
woo.