Hey... been a Sox fan since even before my dad lost the tickets to Ted Williams' last Saturday game and took me to see football instead. And look, I'm always rooting for them, I'm hopeful they'll win, but I also know that you have to be dumber than a brick to predict they'll win the World Series. I was once young and foolish enough to make that prediction, in fact, I predicted it when they were with an out of winning it all. Then again, while they were still within an out. Then again when they were still one out away but had a little smaller lead.

You can root for the Sox, you can cheer for them, you can be optimistic. But NEVER, NEVER, EVER predict they'll win it all. THAT's the curse, not the silly Bambino thing. And what's really bad is that now, as the team is getting popular outside New England, we're getting more and more fans like you who simply don't know any better. And as much as we lifers go around trying to keep you all quiet, there's inevitably going to be some little dimwit somewhere in Montana who predicts that This Is The Year, and that's it, we're screwed.

I must admit though, with the advent of the Internet, it's getting much easier to police this stuff.

Knows Better,

Clearly, you didn't read my earlier post. I grew up and went to college in New England. I'm fully aware of the myriad theories of the curse.

You raise an interesting point about the growing national support for the Red Sox, Yankees, and other sports teams. There's an interesting item to be written about this -- I have to think that teams with national fan bases perform better on the road -- but I'll leave it to a true baseball blog.

Dan,

I admire your site, but you have lost your mind on this one. The Red Sox lack depth to support their position players, and their pitching is mediocre once you get past a few stars. As one who suffered through the 80's and cheered through the 90's, I say again: GO YANKS!

Sorry, actually I did read the bio. I guess I just ignored it when writing... perhaps I have a future as a speechwriter.

And at any rate, you should know enough not to predict The Big One.

And y'know something, it finally dawned on me that if we really did win the Series, it might spoil all the fun. I mean, it'd be like losing your virginity, nice to have it over with but nowhere near as good as the anticipation.

Oh, and we might end up being as obnoxious as Yankees fans. I'd rather be a loser.

At any rate, I think the Sox are more likely to run afoul of the Giants this year than the Yankees. They can beat Tampa Bay okay, but they're pretty lame against winning teams.

Not obnoxious, just confident -- which happens when winning becomes a habit.

As I said, obnoxious, at every possible opportunity. They go out of their way to be obnoxious.

Yet they have no idea how much fun we have watching the Sox almost make it. The Yankees win a Series and it's "yawn, ho hum". We'll lose one in the bottom of the 33rd inning of the seventh game and we'll have a whole decade of fun with it.

Dan,

Don't you have a superstitious bone in your body? WHat the bleeding heck are you doing *writing this prediction down,* instead of quietly nursing it in your heart?? You've gone and blown it all...

Interesting theory, but I'll join in an say that for fear of jinx I'd never even allow myself to think such thoughts to myself, let alone post them in public.

And, yeah, while I don't literally believe the ghost of Babe Ruth hangs about trying to gum up the works for the Red Sox, I am superstitious. (It's part of the fun.)

Uh, they haven't made the playoffs yet.

#4 : Abe Sapien is a fan ( See: Bones of Giants)

Hey, my Astros have been breaking hearts my entire life. That's long-suffering enough for me.

They've participated in probably the two greatest NLC series of all time. Lost both.

But I am warning all of you ... if Houston cannot hold off Chicago (and judging by the past three days, they can't), there is a strong possibility that we could see a Cubs-Red Sox series.

The amount of bad karma each could bring to October may very well result in what the astrophysicists call a "singularity".

Chicago Cubs.

The Yankees a problem if they meet the Red Sox in the playoffs - they can prevail, but they can't win.

No matter how crushingly we humiliate them, Sox fans will add it to their lore and come back for more.

OTOH, if the Sox win, you need to go long gallows and plastic bags, because Yankee fans will need a quick end to their misery, and an escape from a lifetime of goading.

That said, I am heartened by a question raised by a sports commentator upon hearing that the Red Sox had picked up Kim. "Let me get this straight", he wondered. "The Sox are trying to lift the curse of the Bambino, and they bring in a guy with his own private curse?"

The key is that Lowe, Kim and Wakefield have been pitching well lately. The postseason puts a premium on front-line pitching (ask the D-Backs), but you have to go a bit deeper than just a #1 starter. If you need a fourth starter, you go to Suppan, and you buy John Burkett a bleacher ticket. And you need Pedro to get off the pitch counts and air it out.

I'm a Yankees fan for many years, lived through their droughts (albeit small compared to others) and in once sense I've become a baseball fan. I'm slowly trying to see a game in every ballpark, at least in the majors. I flew to San Diego this summer, supposedly to help my daughter move apartments, but really to go see a game at the Murph because I never had. I sitll have a lot of parks to go, but my favorite park is by far and away Fenway. Wrigley would be a close second. The character, the fans, the view, the manual scoreboard, the screen until they put seats above the Green Monster, the sense of history and the neighborhood all make Fenway something not to miss.