This Old Hat

This Old Hat
The Red Sox win. Those may be the greatest words ever spoken. I couldn't wait to get up this morning and write about the World Series sweep. Myself and 4,961 other writers. I've started, backspaced, started again, deleted. All to no avail. I can't stop thinking about my hat long enough to concentrate on "the win". Yes, my hat. My dirty, filthy, sweaty, mangled Boston Red Sox hat. In celebration of this momentous ocassion I decided to treat myself to a new hat. I walked into the hat store at the mall and was greeted by no less than 5 people looking for Boston caps. Surprisingly the store has a great selection, considering I'm in Texas and you can't even find a Patriots hat, not that they've won the last 2 Superbowls or anything, but I digress. Back to the hats. Pushing through the throngs of hat hunters, I thought to myself, "this is awesome, Sox fans I can celebrate with". I should have known better. I had walked smack into the middle of a bandwagon. How do I know this you ask? My first clue was the woman who said "I love Mark Bellhorn, he's definately the cutest guy". I physically had to stop myself from screaming Get out, get away, don't you DARE touch that hat!!!! I caught sight of myself in the mirror with my nasty beaten hat on and realized a few things. People are going to jump aboard this crazy train. They will profess themselves to be huge fans and will buy every jersey, every hat and yes, even a bobblehead or two. A few of them may even become real fans. Eventually. For the majority of the new born fans though, they will never become citizens of the nation. They'll cheer for their new favorite team until we lose again. Yes, we will lose again. We will drop balls, throw to the wrong base, run into outs. We will say ridiculous things to the media, we will scream at the manager, the pitcher, the batter. They'll let us down in the bottom of the 9th. They'll lose to teams that are subpar, and they'll spank teams no one can beat. During it all, RSN will continue to believe, will continue to have faith. When Manny falls asleep in left field, we'll laugh and say "That's just Manny being Manny". Even if the 2005 Sox dominate all season, win the division with a 12 game lead over the Yankees and do it without ever throwing a ball into the stands when there's only one out and not two, these baby fans still won't be an integral part of the greatest fan base in all of organized sports. Buying a hat doesn't grant you admission into the nation. Until you have laid on your floor racked with sobs, yelling "Why, why did Pedro come back out, WHY??" it is impossible to understand the depth of devotion and heart it takes to be a Sox fan. Being a fan isn't something you proclaim, it's something deep inside of you that refuses to give up, a way of life, a mentality, a willingness to lay your heart out year after year, only to get it stepped on each time. This year was special, this team is special. This doesn't happen every year, as a matter of fact it didn't happen for 86. Are you, with your shiny new hat willing to wait that long again? I didn't buy a new hat. I saw my old one through different eyes. I realized that my ugly hat is everything that is the RSN. My hat has been to wins in Fenway and losses in Arlington. My cap's been used to dry my tears, and turned inside out to rally for my team. It has been ripped off my head and thrown across the room. This poor cap has been kissed, rubbed for luck, sweated in, and turned around so it wouldn't be in the way when I laid my head on the floor begging Lowe for just one more strike.I wore this hat when we lost 3 to the Yankees, but I refused to take it off, I kept it on through 8 of the greatest baseball games of my life. I sat next to my husband and my daughters in the ballpark and this very hat kept the sun out of my eyes so I could see the ball Johnny Damon tossed to me. The boys won that game too. Through the seasons this hat has been burdened with heartache and hope, tragedy and triumph. Amazingly it's come through it all in pretty good shape. Just like the Red Sox Nation. I'm proud of this hat, I'm proud of the stains and the sweat rings, I'm proud of that fact that you only have to look at it to know I bought it long before we had a chance of winning the World Series. To all the fans who climbed aboard last night, welcome to The Nation, I hope you enjoy your visit. As far as my hat, I'm putting it in my will, it's an heirloom now.