Organizing October

October is a tricky month for Red Sox fans--Francesca has that right! Happily I don't have to worry about fitting my studies in--those days are behind me--and my family is pretty supportive of dinners scheduled around baseball games. But even for us self-employed types, there's a lot to navigate.

For me it's the social life in October. Yesterday I had to figure out what to do about having people to dinner tonight. The decision had to be made before Saturday's game, when we didn't know if there would even be a game 7. Appropriately superstitious baseball fan that I am, I hated to say we couldn't do it, because I didn't want to presume there would be a game 7. Appropriately faithful fan that I am, I didn't want to go ahead and plan the dinner, because I couldn't bear not watching game 7 (or only watching it out of the corner of my eye), which, happily, I can now say is happening tonight.

In the end, I went with the tried and true best way to deal with such dilemmas. I was honest. "We just can't commit to dinner Sunday, so let's plan another time." Why should game 7 be any less of an excuse than a business trip, theater tickets, or a school event?

I have put the remaining baseball games on my calendar, in parentheses, so I know to steer clear of potential scheduling problems. October baseball requires careful organization among its fans!

Sleepless in October

I seem to fail to remember what October really means for me. I focus on certain aspects of it, and somehow manage to forget about the rest. I have no trouble remembering celebrating the Red Sox winning the World Series, and I certainly never forget how blessed I am by the Red Sox to walk around with that smug look on my face that says, "86 years of losing no longer means anything, because guess who the only Major League team is who has won twice in the new millenium?"

But every October I rediscover my true life as a Red Sox fan.

When October begins, I usually have the comfort of the Red Sox going to the ALDS. And I usually have the comfort of the Red Sox creaming the Angels (they have a 9-1 record against them in the playoffs since 2004). And then I have the pleasure of going to school knowing I'm a Red Sox fan. The Yankees and Angels fans at my school know they can't say anything to me at this point, because "The Red Sox are turning into the Yankees and they aren't actually a good team, just a rich one!" argument doesn't really work on me.

And then they go to the ALCS, and manage to play the other best team in the American League, logically. The part that I always force out of my head, however, is how the first 4 games of this series goes. Although I do realize and appreciate how amazing it is for the Red Sox to come back from a 3-0 deficit in 2004 and then a 3-1 deficit in 2007, the beginning of this feat is never quite pleasurable for me. And yet, the Red Sox always manage to get themselves into that 3-1/3-0 hole.

Of course, most Red Sox fans know the effect this has on their school/work life, not to mention their social life. As I stay up later and later to watch the unnecessarily long games the Sox end up losing, I get up earlier and earlier to finish my homework. Yet no matter how early I get up, my grades all drop a few points in October. Some of my teachers award me with pity points for being a Red Sox fan, whereas the rest either mock me or know nothing whatsoever about baseball. My fellow students, however, never let me forget exactly how many times the Red Sox have won this year at Tropicana Field, or the Rays' young and Mohawk-ed lineup.

And so it goes for 4 long and tired days: go to school...come home...do homework...watch the game...do more homework...go to sleep...do more homework...shower and dress...study for my French test on the walk to school...study for my math test in French; sleep with my eyes open during chemistry (sorry Mr. W)...fight off endless comments in the hall...and try to recognize who are the pink hat fans I should ignore (although they're easy to spot: usually they wear the generic Red Sox shirts with no name on the back, and if you were to ask them who pitched the eighth inning of the game last night for the Sox, might reply, "Schilling?"), and who are the real fans I should sympathize with...and then go home and do it all over again.

Then, as I finally turn out the light and try to get at least a few hours of sleep, I realize to myself, "Oh. So this is what it's like being a Red Sox fan in October." Although I am used to it, it always seems to be a new experience for me. And as much as the people around me whine and complain about how easy my life is as a Red Sox fan, I am forced to sometimes disagree. Although it often turns out well for us (I'm not referring to this series just yet, I am much too superstitious for that), we first have to get through the rough spots. I mean, we haven't totally forgotten that 86-year hump just yet.

Don't take this the wrong way though, I'm not complaining. I don't think I would want it any other way. I like my hectic October life as a Red Sox fan, and at least it is not as quite as hectic as some others. For instance, Grace, who lives in the Netherlands, and my friend Joseph, in Germany, are forced with the unpleasant but perfectly logical task of waking up at 2 AM their time for the 8 PM Eastern time games (I thought you guys both deserved an honorable mention for this heroic act).

So even if the Red Sox seem to enjoy teasing us all and making our lives completely sleep deprived and awful for the first few games, Joseph puts it perfectly when he says "The Red Sox appear to have a strange attraction to game sevens." As strange as it may be, I wouldn't be satisfied with anything less. And so my response was simply "They rarely seem to disappoint, though, do they?"

And so far (not counting pre-2004), ain't that the truth?

Totally Banal Sportscasting

I was pretty thrilled about the Sox turning it around and coming back to win Game 5 of the ALCS for a lot of obvious reasons. But I was also pretty happy because it meant the announcers would have to change their repeating loop of commentary on how Papi is 0-for-682 or how the Red Sox have never lost three consecutive games in the playoffs at Fenway Park or how B.J. Upton is so friggin’ great.

Unfortunately, they've just switched tracks and are now playing a different repetitive loop: How Boston came from behind the Yankees 3-0, and last year they came back against the Indians 3-1, and how much Papi has done, and how great Drew was in June… these are repetitions that I very much prefer to the earlier variety, but you’d think they could come up with something a little more insightful.

I used to listen to the postseason games on the radio. I don’t like not being able to see the action – I didn’t see Jacoby Ellsbury run until last winter when I got to see clips of his playoff speed on playoff DVDs and the like. I don’t want to miss any more of that. I like seeing the managers send out signs and watching the movement of the pitches and reading the lips of the players in the clubhouse. But I miss the bias of the broadcasters and the more obscure stats that they share with the fans.

And I was pretty thrown off by one of their closing lines, "Do you believe in miracles... because the Red Sox believe tonight".

Because the Red Sox always believe.