This is an interesting World Series for Red Sox fans. On one side, you’ve got the always lovable Terry Francona managing the likes of Mike Napoli, Coco Crisp and Andrew Miller. On the other side, you’ve got Theo Epstein, David Ross, John Lackey, and the great Jon Lester. In the midst of it all, there are two long-suffering franchises and, of course, the curse.
The choice is easy for me: Indians. Francona was the best and the Red Sox gave him the bum’s rush out of town. I wish nothing but the best for him and would root for his team over any other…except the Red Sox.
Now, if the Cubs were playing Toronto or Baltimore, I’d be on the Cubs’ bandwagon. I always like Jon Lester and wish he were still pitching for the Sox. Especially every fifth day when Price takes the ball. And I wouldn’t mind seeing Theo win another championship, just not this year.
All that being said, there is something oddly comforting about keeping the Cubs’ drought continue. As long as it’s been for them, they haven’t reached the level of suffering Red Sox fans endured by coming so close over the years. They’ve made it back to the World Series seven times since their last championship (1908), but have only lost one game seven. That was in 1945, coincidentally the last time they made it to the Series.
The Indians are no strangers to losing; their last championship was 1948. And they even have a movie on their resume of failure in 1989’s Wild Thing.
In fact, this was actually discussed:
At first, fans pushed for actor Charlie Sheen to dress as his “Wild Thing” character from the 1989 movie “Major League” for the ceremonial first pitch. While Sheen said he was willing, that idea was shut down.
That would have been an instant classic.
So, Red Sox fans: who do you love?