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The World Series Baseball Championship Came To Boston.Sport is a metaphor for life from the ecstasy of wining to the agony of defeat.  Duke Wellington of England famously said that “The battle of Waterloo was won on the playfield of Eton” emphasizing the importance of determination, persistence, team work, and sportsmanship that one learns in sports for carrying on in life.Sports are emphasized since very young in the US. In China, doing well on exams rather than sports are emphasized in schools. Thus the nature of a sports fan are different between the US and China. Baseball is the national sport in the US. Unless you live in this country it is difficult for others to imagine the hold of this sport on the population. So many metaphors, legends, use of language, movies, and Americana are built around this sport. No boy or youngster in America can forget his first introduction to major league baseball park as he walks into the bright sunshine of a perfectly manicured green baseball field through a darkening tunnel under the stadium seat (For those of you familiar with the baseball movie “The Rookie”, there is a scene towards the end of the movie that approximate but cannot equal the feeling). Mine came in the spring of 1951. I became a Red Sox (the Boston Baseball team) fan since then.

All my children are ardent Red sox fans even though no longer residing in Boston and as far away as California and Africa. My youngest daughter while stationed in Africa gets to watch or listen to every Red sox game through the US Arm force satellite network. But being a Red Sox fan, one must be somewhat  masochistic. Since 1918, when the Red Sox won the World Series championship, there was a break of 86 years before they did it again in the miracle year of 2004. If the team had been bad or mediocre since 1918, that is one thing. But the Sox since 1918 has always been a near great team with all kinds of talent but always find the last effort at championship wanting in 1946, 1967, 1975, and 1987 and many other last minute collapses that induce heartbreaks in the fans of the “Red Sox Nation” (as the special  diehard fan  group is known). In fact, my two secret wishes had been “live to see a Chinese American elected to the US Congress and the Red Sox won the World Series championship”Although the dry spell was broken in 2004 and 2007, both championships were won away from Boston and not in front of the home crowd. Also, in 2012 due to a lousy manager, the Sox ended the season in last place nationally. No one gave the Sox a chance even with a new manager this year. Thus to come from so far behind and to win the world series in front of a home crowd after 95 years is an epic event. In particular this series of games was nail biting. And because of time zone difference, the last three away from home games play well past midnight. Being retired, I did not have to worry about getting up early to go to work the next morning. But I am sure the work efficiency all over New England area suffered during this week. Even my wife who is not a sports fan worked up enough enthusiasm to watch these games with me till the end. Life is good for Red Sox fan these days!

Note added at 11:30 pm: Actually I posted this blog more than one hour before the Red Sox officially won. But I was so excited and so sure that the team will win the championship that I posted the blog before the real event. While I don't expect my Chinese reader to catch this little white lie, my north American reader are probably watching the game and have no time to check my blog. Thus I got away with it. Please forgive me.