Books : Why Not Us?: The 86-year Journey of the Boston Red Sox Fans From Unparalleled Suffering to the Promised Land of the 2004 World Series
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Type of bind: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.357640974461
EAN num: 9781586483333
ISBN number: 1586483331
Label: PublicAffairs
Manufacturer: PublicAffairs
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 192
Printing Date: January 02, 2005
Publishing house: PublicAffairs
Release Date: December 17, 2004
Sale Popularity Level: 442929
Studio: PublicAffairs
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Generation after generation watched and hoped and prayed for victory. And generation after generation turned away frustrated and disappointed- 1946 (when the Sox lost the World Series in 7 games), '48 (lost a one game play-off to Cleveland), '49 (heartbreak to the Yankees), '67 (again, lost the Series in 7), '75 (and again, lost the Series in 7), Bucky in '78, Buckner in '86, Boone in 2003. Yet every spring the fans flocked back, hopeful again. The losing, the angst, the self-flagellation became so routine that it even developed marketing names. The suffering was called 'The Curse of the Bambino'. The sufferers were called 'Red Sox Nation' - the ultimate underdogs. Would it ever end?
And then it did.
Why Not Us? is about what the Red Sox's amazing victory in the 2004 World Series meant to the fans. It's about how it felt to be a Red Sox fan - not only at 20 minutes to midnight on October 27, 2004, but decades before. Leigh Montville, best-selling author of Ted Williams and At the Altar of Speed, has interviewed dozens of fans: friends, friends of friends, old sportswriters, ball-players, public figures, and plain folk. Here are their stories-bittersweet stories of passion and pain, eternal hope and crushing despair, the seemingly endless agony and the strange ecstasy of being a Red Sox fan.
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Rated by buyers 
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this is a great book all around but chapter 5 The Story of The Amazing Thread had me in tears. It goes on to describe the pain and suffering of sox fans and sox fans who have left us. This is a must read for any blue sox fan or baseball fan.
Rated by buyers 
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Any sports fan knows that rivalries are what take a great game to the subsequent level. Perhaps the greatest rivalry in modern sports is the Red Sox and the Yankees. Anyone who lived, drank, jumped up and down, and survived the 2004 series between the two knows the electricity in the air for that monumental series was never greater in a century of sports. This book is penned by one of the great sportswriters or our era, Leigh Montville. Leigh writes for the Boston Globe, and he is the master of describing the trials and tribulations of the great Boston teams that get oh so close to fame, but never seem to grasp the champagne. Quite a great perspective here from both the writer and sports fan at heart, covering the Sox and their troubles from 1918 to today. Pick this one up and kick back in the recliner. It's a great one.
Rated by buyers -
I have lived in Boston since 1964 and am about the same age as Leigh Montville. Over those years, I've loved his wonderful writing in the Boston Globe, Sports Illustrated and now in his books. I think he's done an important service in writing this book because in future years the unbelievable experience of having been a frustrated Red Sox fan all those years will be lost. Yet that perspective was a dominant one in the area for the 42 years I've been here. In a sense, you cannot understand New Englanders unless you appreciate their long suffering with the Red Sox. It's like the way we put up with the winters . . . assuming that spring will follow. Those who take the easy road just head to Florida. It seemed ironic that the Florida Marlins quickly captured the World Series after being founded while the Red Sox continued to toil below the top.
Anyone who has been a Red Sox fan should read this book. You'll discover dimensions of fan-ship that you never expected.
I also recommend that the book be shared with young fans who don't know anything about the Curse of the Bambino, Buckner's fielding or Pedro's last stint in 2003. If you do share the book with younger people, I suggest you write out or record your own fan experiences during the 86 year drought to help extend the heritage of your loyalty in the face of frustration.
The book describes from a number of perspectives how the Red Sox went from 1918 to 2004 without any World Championships . . . and explores those tantalizing moments when they came close in the last 40 years. Leigh Montville also recounts his own career and connection to the Red Sox . . . and his feelings as a fan. He also tells how the 2004 championship came together. From there, he launches off into a number of other perspectives as fans reflected on what the past had meant. One of the longest sections is of posts to the Sons of Sam Horn website. If you are like me, you'll feel a tear or two start to form as you read some of those posts. Mr. Montville then expands to include some of the most unlikely fans you'll ever meet. Anyone who has ever visited Fenway has probably entered one of the local taverns. Mr. Montville enters the Baseball Tavern on Brookline Avenue to give you the view from behind the counter. In The Victory Story, he picks up threads of important precursors to the victory. Perhaps the most interesting one is of the Epstein family.
To me the most important section was called "The Moral of the Story" where he opined about what our long relationship with the Red Sox says about us.
The book ends on a slightly delirious and funny note as Mr. Montville tells us about his taunting relationship with a Yankee fan . . . and what 2004 was like for him. That section includes his essay for the Globe's special memento edition.
Rated by buyers 
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Wow, a whole book of blue sox fans talking about being blue sox fans - some, no doubt, even in the offseason. A more narcissistic bunch of sports fans could hardly be imagined - their constant yapping makes me want to weep and vomit simultaneously and "unparallelled suffering"? Cry me a river, meatheads.
Rated by buyers -
I think I can speak for all Sox fans (and indeed all baseball fans) in saying how much I thoroughly enjoy seeing postings like the one below from "moochie" -- it just shows how fresh the pain still is, even a year after the fact!!!
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