How the (pre-2004) Boston Red Sox Made Me a Better Leafs Fan

Right now, Kevin is on vacation in Atlantic City wasting countless sums of money at blackjack and poker tables. In the meantime, some of the best and brightest from the hockey blogosphere will keep things under control. Today, BMR is proud to introduce Loser Domi from The Wonderful World of Loser Domi as your linguistic overlord for the day, with a surprise guest to follow later.

When Kevin asked me to guest post here, I was stoked to say the least. Then I realized that I would have to actually write something more substantial than a picture of me holding a sign or YouTube videos.

Kevin mentioned in the email that he asked me because "The stuff on your blog is pretty neat, and it would be nice to get a pro-Leaf voice around here, if only for a day. lol" (thanks Kev, it means a bunch!) That line got me thinking about something that I've had in my back pocket for a while. Ahem:

How the (pre-2004) Boston Red Sox Made Me a Better Leafs Fan
By Loser Domi

Now I know what you're all thinking: "But baseball is slow and boring, Domi. What would that have to do with hockey?" I agree with you that baseball is slow, but bear with me—I work it all out. I'm not a baseball follower, but I consider myself a Red Sox fan simply out of respect for my grandfather, who died in 2006. He was a big fan of the Boston Red Sox, even though he slept through most of the games. He had an expression that went, "root for the Red Sox, but bet on the Yankees." After reflecting on that saying, I've come to a conclusion that it has a sense of healthy skepticism, humility and faith in it.

"Root for the Red Sox", that is to say that it would be great for the team to win and it would be a bright spot in a fan's day. However, "bet on the Yankees" suggests to me a self-realization that just because I support a team, it doesn't mean that team is the best right now. It's kind of like my post "The Realistic Fan"—just because I like the Leafs, it doesn't mean they are the best team. And, just because they aren't the best team, it doesn't mean that I don't like them.

I think that growing up in a region full of Red Sox fans pre-2004 helped steel me to be a Leafs fan. Hearing Habs and Senators fans taunt me about "1967! LEEFS SUCK LOLZ!!" doesn't faze me that much, mainly because I had to hear about eighty-six years between World Series for the Red Sox. Does it suck that the Cup hasn't come around in my life time? Hell yes. But that doesn't mean that it will never happen again.

I'm not sure if this is a Zen-type of thinking, mainly because my knowledge of Zen is skeletal at best. I suppose that if you wanted to, you could meticulously research any sports team and analyze their history, but it seems like a pointless exercise to me. Teams and players can change drastically in such a short matter of time as to make history a non-factor. A drastic change in your team can happen at any time—your star goalie could blow out his knee or a historically
under achiever can bloom into an unstoppable ass-kicking machine. Take, for example, Nik Antropov. At this time last season, I would have dismissed him as only good enough as a human speed bump. Now, he's one of the Leafs' better scorers (I'm too lazy right now to look
up the exact numbers.)

In a way, my grandpa's expression is kind of like the saying, "hope for the best, but prepare for the worst." It seems like a good plan for living in general and not just for sports. Yes, seeing the Leafs not win sucks like an Electrolux, but it isn't like I'm depending on them to put food on the table or anything like that. Then again when they win the Stanley Cup again—hopefully it doesn't take as long as the Red Sox did to win another World Series—I will be one happy Loser.

Whew! That was a long post! I feel like I should reward you guys for making it all the way through, like maybe with a picture of ice girls. Unfortunately, Toronto doesn't have ice girls. Instead, here's Inga Skaya, representing Canada in the Miss Universe pageant rockin' the Blue and White.