March to the Sea: A nightmare series

Red Sox vs. Cubs. It’s a dream World Series. Two hard luck franchises finally meeting on the grand stage. One team will “reverse the curse” that has plagued both Boston and Chicago for many decades. You couldn’t write a better script—for me to poop on.

There’d only be one good thing about a Sox-Cubs series—one team would lose.

Chicago and Boston have some of the best fans in baseball. Why are they so passionate? Because they are desperate to see their respective teams win. Their “this is the year” attitude is truly a phenomenon. It’s something Yankees fans certainly don’t have, and honestly, I think it makes Red Sox fans more rabid and fervent than their New York counterparts.

Everything would stop if the Sox or Cubs won. There would be celebrations in the streets, yes. It would be historic, yes. It’s the ultimate goal of lifelong fans, yes.

But what then? Where would Boston be without its beloved Curse of the Bambino? And it is beloved. Boston loves losing, and losing loves Boston.

And in Chicago, what are the Cubbies without their nearly century-long losing streak? The last time the Cubs won was 1908, and the last time they were in the Series was 1945. A win in 2003 would send the Windy City into hysterics, but in 2004, fans would realize that rooting for a victory was just not the same.

A victory for Boston would be even more devastating to its baseball culture than a win for Chicago. At least for the Cubs, this year is an anomaly, and thus something to cherish. Usually, the Cubs stink. So, a World Series drive should be celebrated.

But Boston has World Series caliber teams nearly every year. Why are the Red Sox special? Because they disappoint, year after year, season after season. And it infuriates players. And it enrages fans. But no one in Boston gives up. Boston always comes back the following year, with more passion, with more determination and with new additions that convince the masses that THIS IS THE YEAR.

The Red Sox have been in four World Series since the Cubs last made it. They’ve found ways to lose all four, one more dramatic and heartbreaking than the next. I don’t need to go into detail. But the Sox have created a Nation. The Sox are Boston. This would change with a World Series victory. Ten years from now, the passion wouldn’t be there. Nothing would ever be the same, and that’s a shame.

A World Series victory would end the biggest subplot in professional sports, for both teams. The moral of this column is analogous to the moral of every graduation speech I’ve ever heard: the prize is the journey, not the destination.

A Red Sox or Cubs victory would erase meaning from the dates 1908 or 1918. Probably sounds great to Sox and Cubs fans. But right now, you’re special. You can say, with pride, I am a long-suffering Sox/Cubs fan! And right away, you gain respectability as a true fan. A real diehard.

A World Series victory would change all that. You’d just become one of the rest.

—Staff writer Alex M. Sherman can be reached at sherman@fas.harvard.edu.