In 2004 the Red Sox and the Yankees met in the ALCS final- The yankees had the best record in the AL that year while the Sox had come through the wild card route.
The Sox, who had not won the World Series since 1918, some 86 years, had become renowned for choking and heroic defeats, which, in American sports folklore, was put down to the curse of the Bambino- The Bambino being Babe Ruth, who left the Sox for the Yankees in 1919- The Sox only knew hearbreak after this and in many ways the Yankes as a great sporing institution was born, and the curse became a metaphorical stick with which the Yankee fans regularly beat the Sox nation with over the head.
Back to 2004 and it looked like the curse was to continue as the Yankees easily wrapped up the first 3 games to take a 3-0 lead with two more games left in Boston for what many deemed as the final game or two as no team had ever comeback from a 3-0 deficit to win the series. Well, they were wrong.
That same year I was lucky enough to travel around the globe. I had actually spent June to December 2003 in Nova Scotia, Canada and while there all I picked up sports wise was Fox Rodchester who only showed Red Sox, Patriots and Celtics games, thus, I had no choice in where my allegiances would later lay… September 2004 I am in Chicago, one of my oldest friends convinced me to come over and work for a few months before going onto further travels after Christmas later that year. We were evicted from our place after a month or so (nothing to do with us ) and my mate called in a favour from a mate of his to ask could we crash in his attic- His 78 year old Mexican mother also resided in the house. She was in Mexico for the summer and he said we could stay no problem as long as we helped him raise $1500 to help pay his debt to the gas people befoer his mother returned. We had to take cold showers in the mean time and after working all day on a site in October in Chicago, that wasn’t pleasant. Long story short, the guy was involved in the Chicago film festival and we rigged it so we paid one dollar in for a movie and we both got a couple of hunderd change back. The Film festival clashed with the palyoffs however, the last four games particularl, yand every night just as the games were starting we both had to cycle 20 mins in to carryout the transaction and boot it back to get the end of the game.
We got the money for the hot water and a bit more, but the cycle home each night as the Sox started to win game after game was brilliant. We were like two cowboys laughing our heads off with the cash in our pockets from a heist full of anticipation with the prospect of the Sox at least taking it to the final night. The games and atmosphere were immense- I’ll never forget a full Yankee stadium taunting Pedro Matinez with ‘Who’s your daddy’ chants after he studpidly let slip in an interview that the Yankees seemed to have his number and were his daddy… The pitcher situation that year was a story of it’s own but Curt Schilling’s heroics and his injury was just another twist in the story.
Anyway I could go on and on… But the Sox made history that year and went on to break the curse by winning the World Series against the Cardinals…
That last two games and starts from about 26mins on.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZNujnIojMw
Wrigley Field
