From: "Ron Dranetz" (rdranetz@earthlink.net)
To: webmaster@blohards.com; "Jim Shea"; john@theremyreport.com
Sent: Tuesday, June 29, 2004 10:45 AM
Subject: A Loyal Citizen of Red Sox Nation


Thank God I found you!

Actually I have known of "BLOHARDS" for quite a while but did not know it was specifically geared for Sox fans in NYC or the NYC Metro area.
I'll be sending my dues shortly.

I am a 45-year old life-long Sox fan. Well "fan" isn't a strong enough word, perhaps Sox obsessive is more like it. I grew up on a New Jersey suburb named Scotch Plains, which is about a 30-minute drive from the Lincoln Tunnel, the son of a native New Englander (My Dad was born in Brockton, raised on the Cape but moved to NJ for work after the Army and college). His influence on me was great and I have followed in his footsteps (and taken his fandom a few steps further) since the '67 Impossible Dream.

Of course you know growing up a Sox fan in this area is not easy, most of my best "friends" growing up were Yankee fans and the few that weren't, rooted for the Mets. This is still the case today as I continue to live in NJ. The arrogant sense of championship entitlement that all Yankee fans display is maddening, whether face-to-face with co-workers or friends, or from talk-show hosts and callers on the radio. It's easy to root for a team that has no budget, which can afford to make a $17 million mistake (see Drew Henson) or simply throw more money mid-season at a perceived hole, such as the lack of an All-Star 5th starter or back-up Right-Fielder. I find that, in general, Yankee fans are so self-centered, that they really have no concept of the baseball world outside of the Bronx. Outside of knowing who's on the trading block that the Bronx Bummers can buy mid-season or occasionally taking some glee over Red Sox or Mets misfortunes their baseball world ends at the corner of 161st Street and River Avenue in the Bronx. They're not very baseball knowledgeable or savvy those Yankee fans.

I love all things Fenway and have probably been there 100 times. Since marriage, kids and budgets, I don't get up there as much as I'd like but I do make sure of at least 1 pilgrimage a year.

I've lived through it all since '67

- Aparicio's slip and fall in Detroit '72
- Fisk's HR in Game 6 and then the sickening Game 7 that followed. What could have been had Rice not broken his hand in Sept, Yaz could have played 1st and Cooper wouldn't have gone 1 - 22.
- '78. I'm sorry but I had no sympathy for Zimmer after the Pedro throw-down last October. In '78 He let his petty hatred of Spaceman Lee get in the way of his obligation to do what was best for the team and lost a pennant. I mean, he BURIED Lee, who was always a Yankee-killer. C'mon BOBBY SPROUL??!!!. And now the gutless gerbil sits on the bench next to Joe Torre since '96 and acts as if he's some sort of contributor to all those championships and picks up all that championship hardware. He's the charter member and president of the LSOB (Lucky Son of a Bitch club - founder Ed McMahon - these are the people in the world who have no discernable talent but who have somehow attached themselves to a successful entity, person or organization to have some of the glow shine on them...I'm sure you can think of many other members.) After Zim did his damage Bucky Dent was just a formality. No heroic winning streak to close the regular season was going to save them.
- '86. This was not all Buckner's fault. Remember the game was tied on a Bob Stanley wild pitch, which Rich Gedman didn't block, when, in that situation he should have blocked anything in the dirt at all costs. After that, I'm sure they would have lost in a subsequent extra inning even if Buckner got the Mookie Wilson out. So I had some sympathy for Billy Buck....until years later in a baseball memorabilia store where I saw a framed photo of the ground ball autographed by HIM and Mookie. For him to capitalize monetarily that way on a moment that he should have been, at least, embarrassed at if not outright ashamed of, was something I found appalling and tainted all of his other accomplishments. It was slap in the face for me from a guy who I thought had always played hard and tried to win at all costs. No there was a little seed of doubt in mind about his integrity.
- And of course 2003. The only question I have, which everyone has, is how could Grady leave Pedro in that long when, with only 2 exceptions, they hadn't asked him to that long all season. Little deserved to lose his job over that.
- and many others

I do NOT believe in the "Curse of the Bambino", however, I DO believe in a "curse" of another sort, the "curse" of being the last MLB team to integrate and even then they were dragged kicking and screaming. Can you imagine what might have been had they actually signed Jackie Robinson and/or Willie Mays and who knows who else as allegedly, they had the first chance to do. They missed the boat through the late 40's, 50's and 60's and they may still be paying for it today with their reputation as a minority-unfriendly organization. I applaud the ownership's efforts to set and organized development program in the Dominican Republic as well the new ownerships efforts at greater fan friendliness.

Anyway, thanks for being here for us. My dues are on the way and I look forward to meeting you guys at some BLOHARDS function or game or something.

Please help us bring home 3 wins this week.

GO SOX!

Ron Dranetz