Hope is the Last Thing to Die

As the light lessens, optimism continues its familiar seasonal fade in Boston. Following a 10-0 thrashing at the hands of the Texas Rangers last night the Red Sox Nation begins to adjust once again to the reality of another second place finish behind the heroic New York Yankees. The Steinbrenner family had considered sending black bunting to adorn the fences of Fenway but decided at the the last moment not to antagonize a team that has already defeated them 11 times this season. Apart from the Yankees, the Boston club seems incapable of regularly beating any of its rivals further alienating its fans from rational thought. Of course, in Boston, there is still much hope (and agony) in the expectation of Tim Wakefield winning his 200th career game. Even Sen. Kerry, great sportsman in his own right and great war hero, was excited and heard to exclaim in the constant of Boston breast-beating, "Those damn Yankees have Jeter and his 3,000 hits, ARod and all his HRs, Mariano the best reliever in baseball history, Texeria the guy we could not afford, all those glorious retired numbers of Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Mantle and others but hell we've got our Timmy!"