12/18/24
October 16, 2002
Give Bill Buckner a break!: I've always maintained that Mookie would have beaten him to the bag anyway. Finally, someone agrees!
The thing with Buckner is just one more reason to dislike so many Boston fans. The guy played his heart out, and contributed more than anyone ever could've expected. And he gets paid back by being harassed on the street and getting phone calls from journalists who ask him if he contemplated committing suicide after that play. Oh, yeah, it's another reason to dislike some journalists, too.
posted by ajax at 05:39 PM on October 16, 2002
... doe-eyed closer Calvin Schiraldi I love it! (But then I'm a Mets fan, so I can read about all this in equanimity.)
posted by languagehat at 03:22 PM on October 17, 2002
let the record show that at the time that the 'scarlet E' occured, the game was tied. at that time of my life, that game was the latest i had ever stayed up in my entire life. a second grader, who knew every single thing about those mets, awake sometime past midnight only to do the same 2 nights later for the last world series the mets won. since that time i can relate to what it feels like to be a boston fan. and i guess what it feels like to despise the yankees. but y'all boston fans are still crazy, guess it's been all those generations of just straight-up choking. no disrespect or anything, but i was was at a phish show* at great woods a few years back. on the way out of the show the crunchies were chanting "yankeeeees suuuuuuck." y'all can have that crazy fan label, you've earned it. i guess i don't know what it feels like to be a red sox fan. *yes, a happy-friendly hippie love fest, crunchy jam fest, a phish show.
posted by oliver_crunk at 07:20 PM on October 17, 2002
The thing with Buckner is just one more reason to dislike so many Boston fans. Through all the disappointments, the curse, the cramped and dated confines of fenway park, red sox fans continue to support their team as well as any fans in the country, not to mention that any poll among players and coaches will show boston fans to be among the most knowledgeable anywhere. Buckners mistake, although unfairly singled out as the cause of the loss, would be magnified in any city, but because of circumstances, even more so in boston. Passion is not in short supply in boston, and the fans will continue to support their team over the next 100 years even if a world series escapes their grasps. I'll take passion over apathy any day.
posted by justgary at 11:52 AM on October 21, 2002
How 'bout a spoiler alert rather than putting his name right on the front page? I don't blame Buckner, but I don't know that Mookie would have beat him to first. He sure as hell wouldn't have beat Dave Stapleton.