Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Diminished Sox Drive

Current Choke Sign:

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Future Choke Sign?:

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While they have the best record in the AL, the Sox are in a freefall. The problem is that Cleveland is on fire and chewing up a once fat division lead. The Sox have a 2.5 game lead, but need to win this series to have a chance at maintaining the division championship. This could be one of the greatest chokes in baseball history.

As I listened to the game last night (another Sox loss) and contemplated this heartbreaking fall, I thought about Camus' treatise on Sisyphus*. Sox fans collectively are Sisyphus, while we may never get that rock over the hill, we have to be happy and find joy in this journey. The problem with this philosophy is that it doesn't make for a pithy comeback to a bitter Twins fan or an excited Cleveland fan. "Yeah, well one must imange Sox fans happy." Doesn't have the same zip as "your mother!!"

*I leave Sisyphus at the foot of the mountain! One always finds one's burden again. But Sisyphus teaches the higher fidelity that negates the gods and raises rocks. He too concludes that all is well. This universe henceforth without a master seems to him neither sterile nor futile. Each atom of that stone, each mineral flake of that night filled mountain, in itself forms a world. The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man's heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy.
- Albert Camus