Red Sox or Bust?

When I was a kid, I was a huge Houston Oilers fan. It was the era of Bum Phillips, Dan Pastorini, Billy “White Shoes” Johnson, and Earl Campbell. Every year for Christmas, I'd dream of getting a baby blue Ol' Riggy uniform to go along with my Nerf football. One year, I got an Oilers jacket, not the whole uniform, but still something pretty fantastic. They weren't the winningest team, but they had heart. Though I grew up in Louisiana, I was born in Houston and the New Orleans Saints sucked enough back then to be deemed the Ain'ts.

Me in my Oilers jacket Christmas morning.

Soon enough I switched passion sports and transferred my allegiance to the Los Angeles Lakers during the height of Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's reign. And once Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen took the Chicago Bulls by storm, I gravitated over that way.

I've never been very much of a baseball fan, though. Back in 1993, I went to a Los Angeles Dodgers' game and was bored out of my mind. Apparently, it was a rather exciting game, too. Oy. Nevertheless, peer pressure -- or perhaps hero worship -- has me considering a change of tune. I adore, admire, and respect Rachel Maddow to an almost embarrassing degree. And she's a fairly ardent Boston Red Sox fan. I'm also hoping to soon call Western Massachusetts home. Ergo... So, I'm studying up, contemplating whether or not I can get behind a Sox fandom with some sort of authenticity.

The TRMS team in their Sox-inspired jerseys.

The 2007 World Series sweep against the Colorado Rockies is crazy impressive. And I'm okay supporting an underdog, which the Sox seem to generally be when it comes to going head-to-head with the New York Yankees. (It's also politically correct considering New York just waved off their chance to pass marriage equality.)

But riddle me this... what owner in their right mind trades Babe Ruth after he broke the single-season home run record in 1919? Not even the original Broadway staging of CATS would make that make sense, let alone a delayed production of No, No, Nanette!

We'll see how we go with the Red Sox. No way I can get behind the Boston Celtics. Too much bad blood from my Lakers' days. But maybe I'll break myself into Massachusetts' athletics with the New England Patriots. I mean, I have a little time before Red Sox season starts anyway, and Tom Brady is rather awesome.