Maybe It's Me
Okay, so the Pats win the Superbowl in one of the greatest upsets in sports history. [This feat was topped yesterday by Belarus in a truly astonishing upset the likes of which the world has not seen in 20 years. However, I will give no quarter to one who speaks of that victory being a greater upset than the Miracle on Ice. Belarus shocked the world in much the way the Pats did. It was an upset. It was not a Miracle. There's a huge difference. Perhaps more on this later.] I have officially turned in my membership card for the Fellowship of the Miserable. I will later post my official resignation from the fellowship, but I informally left on Sunday, February 3, 2002. 16 years of misery are over and I have turned the page. [For a great retrospective on the misery, see Bill Simmons's tremendous account of the game.]
It seems, however, that the Boston sports media just can't get out of the funk. They're down in spring training to cover the Sox. The Sox finished abysmally last season in terms of teamwork and dedication; the two virtues that most led the Pats to being World Champions. Pitchers and catchers reported as expected and Pedro showed up on time (which he usually doesn't do) looking healthy and happy. The rest of the team was supposed (though it's not reported who sent down this directive) to be there yesterday. Manny Ramirez wasn't. Everyone else was there. "Oh," you say. Me too. No fewer than SIX count 'em, six stories in Boston's two papers on Manny's "absence." [Here's one.] It turns out that he doesn't contractually have to be there until Feb. 26. He has not missed a formal workout, nor is he outside his contractual obligation. Team manager Kerrigan said as much and no one reports anyone being all that concerned. Doesn't this seem more like a footnote on some beat-writer's "Notes" section? New team president Luchino astutely pointed out that the media is "making a tempest in a teapot here." Good point Larry. Get used to it, because the media in Boston are the hardest nuts to crack and like nothing more than to rake any muck there is, and even much that isn't. I hope the new owners do well, and I think they will, but clearly at this date, their optimism is in no way matched by the people who write about them for us.
- posted by levinson @ 2/21/2002 07:25:00 AM