Baseball bridges families

Resslin' Around, by Casey Ressler

Sports are a funny thing, really. They have a unique way of getting off the sports pages and into the hearts of us all, despite all the news of this person getting arrested for marijuana or that star being charged with rape.

When you strip sports down to their core, the stories go beyond simple wins and losses and rap sheets. Teams represent generations of families' interests. I know because I married into the Red Sox Nation, and it's Christmas in October right now.

Watch a playoff game with a lifelong Red Sox fan (you better do it now because it could be another 90 years before it happens again) like my father-in-law, and you'll quickly find out what sports really mean to people.

He grew up in New England, going to Fenway Park and rooting for his beloved Red Sox as a kid. Bucky Dent is the antichrist, and I know not to even bring up Bill Buckner or the entire 1986 year for that matter when I'm around him. His dad was a Red Sox fan, and of course, his son is one as well. That's because there simply isn't another option. If you like baseball, you like the Sox. You love Nomar, you love Manny and Pedro is your savior. No last names needed, because those players become a part of your day-to-day life. Red Sox Baseball isn't just a passing fancy, it's a religion, a passion, a way of life.

Immediately following the game in which the Red Sox defeated the A's to get into the second round of the playoffs, my father-in-law's phone rang, and it was his son. They both were out of breath because they had been rooting so loud and so hard. A generation of Red Sox fans that has grown accustomed to losing and being on the wrong end of the joke was finally enjoying success.

Of course, the Red Sox are now playing the Evil Empire, better known as the New York Yankees, one of the best teams in baseball -- a team that happens to be the Red Sox' biggest rival. If the Sox should lose, I know it'll be a dark day for my father-in-law and the rest of the Red Sox Nation.

In the National League playoffs, the Cubs -- yes, the Cubs -- have actually won a series in the playoffs. They secured their series victory last Sunday, and when I arrived to work later that night, I had three voicemail messages from old college friends who are lifelong Cubs fans. "Cubs win, Cubs win, Cubs win," I heard in a voice that I still recognize. "Oh my God, did you see the Cubbies? Harry [Caray] is up there in heaven smiling today Ressler," said the voice of another friend I hadn't talked to in years.

Cubs fans, like Red Sox fans, are long-suffering. "Wait 'till next year," has become their rallying cry.

In the last decade or so, sports have gone beyond that "family" feeling and have turned into a large business, with enormous salaries and free agency making teams nothing more than a conglomerate that changes faces every year. There is no continuity, leaving fans wondering what city their favorite player will be playing in next year and which player will be suiting up for their club next year. I mean, Emmitt Smith is an Arizona Cardinal? What?

Thankfully, being surrounded by Cubs fans and Red Sox fans can soften even the most hardened cynic. You see that sports is still a release in life for many people. You see it's an innocent game, if only for three hours every night. In a perfect world, those two teams will meet in the World Series. But if this was a perfect world, their fans would have celebrated a championship at least once in their lifetimes already.

Casey Ressler (valleylife@frontiersman.com) is the Valley Life editor. He is a Phillies fan.