Go Sox!

[linlou43]

First let me say I am a life long Red Sox fan. I still get 
aggrevated that some of the best players in American baseball 
history, like Ted Williams and Carl Yaztremski(sp?) never were able 
to wear a championship ring. As a Sox fan (I live in central 
Massachusetts) let me get some of the facts straight for posperities 
sake.

JMC wrote:

> Well, as a Mets fan, I have to say that I look back at the 
infamous 
> Bill Buckner incident with glee.  Despite that, I am rooting for 
the 
> Sox this year, because if they win I will get to watch Pablo 
Martinez 
> pitch in the playoffs, and watching Pablo pitch is simply 
wonderful.
                 <snip>
> For the edification of Pip and others who have no idea what we are 
> talking about, I will say only that the Boston Red Sox, know 
> affectionately as the Sox, are the team that never quite wins the 
> World Series, because there is a curse on them.  You see, about 90 
> years ago, the owner of the team sold Babe Ruth, the greatest 
> baseball player of all time, to the New York Yankees, because he 
> needed money to put on a play because he had the hots for some 
> actress.  As a result, some wizard put a curse on the Sox.  

linlou:

      First off, the star pitcher for the Sox is Pedro Martinez, not 
Pablo, and he's not pitching today so the Sox have to win today in 
order for him to pitch the fifth game of the series.

      As far as "The Curse of the Bambino" is concerned, I'm afraid, 
Joy, that the story you relate is partly the legend of the events, 
not just the facts. It is true that Ruth was sold to the Yankees and 
the money was partly used by the New York based owner of the team to 
fund his new play (which was a flop by the way), but the play was 
probably not the overriding factor in his decision. Sports 
historians have noted that it was actually a sound business 
decision. At the time Ruth was a rookie pitcher who had not shown 
much promise throwing the ball or as a hitter as yet. The Yankees 
offered what was, at the time, an obcene amount of money to buy his 
contract and the offer was accepted. It was a matter of gauging 
Ruth's potential against more immediate prospects and the owner 
messed up in a major way, but it wasn't a deliberate attempt to get 
rid of one of the best players of all time, just a business decision 
that was proven in time to be catastophic for the Sox as Ruth 
fulfilled his potential.
    
linlou, just setting the record straight

(BTW the Sox are playing  at the same time as the New England 
Patriots (local American Football team) today and as much as I love 
the Pats and football in general, I will be watching the Sox.)