Sports Bigamy Pt. II

So, after years away from baseball, following pretty much all sports but baseball, I was assigned by my paper to cover summer baseball in terms of semi-pro and American Legion ball and really started to get back into it again.

This left me with a few problems in the "pick a team" sweepstakes, not the least of which was I'd been through 1984 and 1986 with each team and got on board just for the beginning of another roller coaster ride with the Sox.

Had it not been for Pedro's game in Cleveland, I might have been OK, but after being through so much with both teams, it became really hard to pick. You can't easily half-ass fan interests when you're a lunatic like me. And, now in my early 20s, I had a more realistic view of the baseball world. There was just no way that the Cubs and Red Sox would ever meet in the World Series. No way. And even if that ever happened, it would only be a few days until the earth careened into the sun, anyways. Then 2003 came along.

I was in the process of moving to the east coast while the 2003 playoff picture was shaking out. I lost track of the race as I drove halfway across the country and was settling in when I started getting calls from friends about the big news. Both the Cubs and Sox had at least made the post season. Without cable or the Internet hooked up, I'd missed all of this.

I spent the first part of the playoffs in bars watching the games until we got the TVs hooked up in the apartment and then watched every pitch as surprisingly, both teams advanced past the Braves and A's.

Now, any baseball fan can tell you what happened next and I won't get into too much detail on the advice of my therapist, internist and lawyer. This was the season of the Bartman game and the Boone home run one night later. At the end of that extra innings game, it was late, I was looking for work and I'd sucked in The Girl, who was watching the games over the MLB.com feed in Europe. It was a bad week all around.

The point of all of this is to set the stage for the stunning third part of the trilogy, where it all comes together. The big picture is that while I agree with those who frown upon dual fans who have their team and a rotating second squad, there are cases like these, too. I dare anyone to go through something like the 2003 season with both teams and think it's taking the easy way out.

To suffer through season-crushing losses within 72 hours of each other is something that I don't wish upon anyone. Even White Sox fans.