Last year, the Boston Red Sox overcame the Curse of the Bambino by beating their archrivals, the New York Yankees, en route to a sweeping victory in the World Series.
This year, I watched the final pitch and tag-out at first base as the Chicago White Sox overcame their 88-year Curse of “Shoeless” Joe Jackson (also known as the Curse of the Black Sox), and won the World Series in a sweep of the Houston Astros.
Next stop: The Chicago Cubs for an attempt to break their nearly century-long curse. The Cubs have not won the World Series since 1908, a drought so long that they’ve even had time to build up another curse inside, the Curse of the Billy Goat.
PS – The Astros were understandably disappointed. It was their first ever trip to the World Series since they were created 44 years ago (the longest any major league baseball team had taken to get to the World Series), and they had overcome a 15-30 start to this season. Their time will come.
PPS – Former President George H. W. Bush, a Texan, was understanbly disappointed when they showed his face in a replay. It looks like he’s gained some weight. I guess he’s been spending too much time with Bill Clinton!
[Cross-posted at Between Worlds]
Actually, I like the goat curse better as an excuse. Besides, can you imagine the traffic around Wrigley during a world series?
But any way, don’t pick on the Cubs, any team can have a bad century.
Are you from the North or South Side? Why drag the Cubs into a post that’s ostensibly about the White Sox? This is a moment to celebrate the Sox, one that they shouldn’t have to share with those bums from Addison Avenue.
Don’t say it ain’t so! Congratulations from a long-suffering Red Sox fan. I predicted early in the season that it was your time to shine. I was mocked for that near the end of the season, but your guys caught their breath and finished strong.
How about the improbability of the 1917 W-Sox/1918 R-Sox 2004 R-Sox/2005W-Sox World Series back-to-back bookends? That is astounding.
AS a native Texan (transplanted to Chicagoland) I take issue with George H W Bush being labelled a ‘Texan’.. perhaps its his residence, but he is still 100% Yankee patrician. George W Bush is a different story.
http://www.postmodernspectator.com
As a Texan also displaced to Chicago I must agree with David. HW is still a yankee, although I wouldn’t say 100%.
Curses? Silly superstition.
For 86 years the Boston Red Sox were not good enough to win the World Series. In 2004 they were.
For 88 years the White Sox were not good enough to win the World Series. In 2005 they were.
When the Cubs are good enough they will win – not before.
I would have thought that any team good enough to go to 7 games in the Series was good enough to win it, give or take one strike. You can make an argument that a team that gets blown out did not deserve to be there, but not one that makes an exciting series.
Mitch,
Any team that gets there is good enough to belong there.
If they don’t win they simply weren’t good enough to win – it is baseball not horseshoes or hand grenades. “Almost” or “give or take a strike” produces an “L” rather than a “W”. The winning team won because they were the better of the two teams. The losing team lost because they weren’t good enough to beat the winning team.
If a team gets blown out that doesn’t mean they didn’t deserve to be there it just means the other team, which also clearly deserved to be there, was markedly better.
The best team wins whether it happens in 4 games or 7, by a pile of runs or by one run. The best team from each league reaches the world series. The best of those two wins the world series.
If the cubs want to win in 2006 they must recognize that things happen in 3’s and make an immediate name change:
2004 redsox
2005 whitesox
2006 bluesox
patriotic too!
I like the Blue Sox idea! :)