Red Sox Nation

This "Red Sox Nation" thing is getting out of hand. When I was in college I used to hop the trolley down to Kenmore Square and pay my $2.00 to get into the Fenway bleachers to watch a pretty good team play in a pretty bad park (the parts you couldn't see on TV, that is) to a half capacity crowd. But 2004 was the year for the ages for the long suffering Fellowship of the Miserable. Now pinkhats fill the much-improved park (Monster seats, waitresses, salads and even an executive chef!), which is always sold out though nobody can afford to go (A couple of kids and mediocre seats costs you $300 for the evening). I understand the "bandwagon effect," (not so much Wally, though), but what is all the swagger from these come-latelies? Nevertheless, for many of us the Red Sox are a religion and in our blood and something that those who refer to Boston as "Beantown" (never uttered by a local) will never understand. These are the good old days for New England sports, even better than the mid-Eighties, with the Pats dynasty, formidable Sox, and recent rescusitation of the Celts (and even strong entrants in the minor markets of college football, professional soccer, etc. Who knows, maybe even the moribund Bruins will come around). I can't help thinking as the Nation goes into the ALCS round, "Do you realize that there are three year olds who have never seen this team win a world championship?"