Holly and the Sox

This comes from a small page I've assembled for the World Series:

The Holly Robertson Red Sox Page
This is not a page written by Holly. Nor is it written by the Red Sox. The closest relationship this page has is that Holly loves the Red Sox. And that Holly occasionally wears red socks.

This may be a banner year for Holly. In the past several years, we have seen her marry a great man and have two wonderful children. These are truly blessed gifts that she has and appreciates every day. No more does she need to worry about zero-sibling children of zero-sibling parents. No more does she need to worry about Peter's late night drinking and carousing. Yet something gnaws at her every day. It gnaws at her when she overhears coworkers. It gnaws at her when she reads the newspaper. It gnaws at her even when she is sits in front of the fireplace on a cold Christmas eve. And that is that the Red Sox have not won a World Series in so long, that, let's face it: she really doesn't even have the capacity to understand just how long that is. To be brutally honest, you're more likely to read a brand-new book by the oldest surviving Civil War bride than you are about someone who has seen a championship Red Sox team.

This may change.

This year, the Red Sox seem destined to put a cap to this less-than-admirable quality about themselves. Some say this is the year they will win. Some of them even say it with a little whistle in their voice, on account of having no front teeth. Some say (and I'm quoting here) "this is just going be another year where the Red Sox do what they always do: tempt us with the possibility of setting us free from our binding shackles of embarrasment, yet once again humiliate themselves, and us in the process, leaving us with nothing more than misery and the cold familiarity of being the pariah of Major League Baseball."*

* ok, I made that up.

But none of that matters to Holly. She has managed to watch every Red Sox playoff game, take care of a newborn baby and 2 1/2 year old girl, and get a reasonable night's sleep. And if you think managing two little ones like that is tough, try doing it during the playoffs. (I should note here that not too long ago, this was much easier, with only four teams in the playoffs, and no more than five games for the league title. Yet more proof that baseball is not kind to mothers.)

Where does this leave us? During the Americal League series, Holly managed to take advantage of maternaty leave by having the ball games taped, and, with no car radio, no newspapers in the streets and no thoughtless co-worker chatter, watching each game the following morning.

At this point, I must posit that this is what Congress considered a fundamental underlying reason for maternity leave. This is also the underlying reason for Tivo. But I digress.

Holly did not want to stay up late, find out the Red Sox managed to lose the series and then have to deal with two children. It was much easier for her to handle the inevitable loss by late morning, when the children could take a predictable nap. Yes, the ALCS is one thing. But the World Series is something else altogether. I have been told by Holly that she intends to watch these games live. At this point, Boston has won their first World Series game; a dramatic victory against the St. Louis Cardinals where the Cardinals consistently would catch up but, fortunately for the Red Sox, never surpass them.

I was tempted during this first game to call Holly and say, "Hey!" "Woah!" "Whoops!" and so on. However, it's important to let this woman have her privacy. Let's face it. I've been her friend for 8 years, but Red Sox are thicker than ... friendsocks. You get my point. So here's a web page I have put up to enter my comments, and for you to enter your comments to Holly as well. In that way, Holly gets to rest and have her privacy, we got to emote with her, and, most importantly, hope with her, and hope for ourselves that she'll stop complaining about the Red Sox once and for all.

24 October 2004