Zombies from Night of the Living Dead

I was walking home with my roommates from Rite Aid when I checked the score of the Rays-Red Sox game. They had just taken a 5-0 lead, and I was telling them that it was nice that the Red Sox were finally dethroned as World Champions, and now maybe the world will turn back to normal. In the 7th inning, B.J. Upton hit a double off of Jonathan Papelbon to extend the lead to 7-0, and I was confident enough to write up a "R.I.P. 2008 Red Sox" post on this blog that I would post once the game was over. My long, national nightmare was finally coming to an end.

About an hour and a half and two innings later, Coco Crisp hit a single to tie up the game. He was thrown out at second to end the inning, but I immediately turned off the TV and went to bed.

I don't know what it was like being a Yankee-hater from 1996-2000, when they won 4 out of 5 World Series and came within 1 inning of winning a fifth. I never cared to find out, mostly because I was busy celebrating and buying clothing and posters with the words "World Champions" in big, bold letters. When they were down, you never counted them out, and when they lost, it was a big shock. Things like that just didn't happen to the Yankees. The most memorable thing about the 2001 World Series loss for me was that the Yankee fans I was watching the game with stared at the TV in shock when Gonzales blooped Rivera's cutter just past the infield, and that Yankee haters who weren't even Diamondbacks fans were celebrating like they won the lottery and an evening with Halle Berry.

The 2004-2008 Red Sox aren't nearly as good as the Dynasty Yankees. They only have 2 World Series at this point, they've only won 1 division title during that span, and they missed the playoffs in 2006. But every time they're on the brink of elimination in the ALCS, they seem to pull themselves out of the ditch and fight their way to the win. Just when you think they're dead, they come back like zombies from Night of the Living Dead.

As soon as Crisp hit the game-tying single, I didn't have to watch to know what was going to happen next. I probably don't have to watch Games 6 and 7 to know what happens next. And I don't have to watch the World Series to finally understand how Yankee haters felt in 1996-2000.