Red Sox are no longer considered lovable losers

By Chris Carlson, Berkshire Eagle Staff

Richmond's Mitchell Messana said he expected the Boston Red Sox to win the American League title this season, although he acknowledged that the red-hot Colorado Rockies make him a little nervous for Game 1 of the World Series tonight.

Pittsfield resident Dave Scholz predicted a wild-card berth for the Sox at the start of the year and was pleasantly surprised with the league championship.

It used to be that Red Sox fans would peer over their shoulders in paranoia, waiting for the error or injury that would halt their World Series hopes. Playoff appearances were reason for excitement, not an annual expectation.

For many, this year's AL East title — Boston's first since 1995 — and baseball's best record (tied with Cleveland) serve as mere mile-markers along the road to baseball's biggest stage.

The Red Sox's World Series title in 2004 — the franchise's first championship in 86 years — shifted the mindset of many of their fans.

"It's a different atmosphere entirely," longtime Boston Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy said. "The good part is there's no more baggage, no more Curse of the Bambino. But now, the expectations are that
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they're the better team, that they'll sweep. There's a sense of arrogance and a sense of entitlement."

For many fans, the season is viewed as a yearlong celebration of Sox greatness, a parade to the postseason, where the Red Sox's destiny will be rightly fulfilled, Shaughnessy said.

"I knew from the start they'd be amazing," said Messana, 15. "Their lineup is great. They're always good."

"They'll never catch the Yankees in World Series or pennants, but with the nucleus they have together, they'll be good for a while," Scholz said. "I like the young talent."

Forgetting the combination of hard work and luck that it takes to be good is a concern for athletes at all levels, said Pittsfield High School baseball coach Bob Moynihan.

"I know I never take it for granted," he said. "I try not to let it get festered."

Moynihan has coached at Pittsfield for 25 years and has 24 winning seasons. He said one of his primary focuses each year is letting the team know that winning isn't easy, and that expectations don't mean automatic results.

Moynihan, a New York Yankees fan, said the Red Sox fan base has increased its volume since the title in 2004.

"Let's just say I try to stay away from the in-your-face fans," Moynihan said.

The Red Sox no longer are lovable losers or off-the-wall renegades with mottos like "Cowboy Up" and quaint notions of overcoming curses. They have transitioned into a team that spends reams of money in the off-season to compete with baseball's best, compiling a payroll of more than $143 million in 2007, the second highest in baseball.

Colorado is 25th in the majors, with a payroll of $54 million.

"The one thing I can't see is spending $103 million for Daisuke (Matsuzaka)," Scholz said. "But it's his first season, and here we are in a World Series."

Globe columnist Jackie MacMullan argues that the Sox's expanded payroll was what raised expectations, not unrealistic fans.

"People are into it — it's still the most rabid fan base in sports — but it's not life or death anymore," MacMullan said. "In the Cleveland series, there was no sense of resignation or doom. People wanted to see it in their lifetime, and they have. The expectations are always about the payroll. It's approaching the (New York Yankees'), so some of it is warranted."

Sox fans travel the country to see their beloved team. Many fans were set to jump all over manager Terry Francona if Boston had lost its American League Championship Series to Cleveland while bypassing its best pitcher — Josh Beckett — in a Game 4 start.

It sounds similar to another nearby team that parted ways with its manager primarily because of his inability to win the World Series during the past seven years.

That would be the rival Yankees.

"You can make a case that the dynamics are very similar," Shaughnessy said. "It's the fans primarily, and the media to some extent. I don't think it impacts the clubhouse at all. They're very realistic, and they know how hard this is."

Sports psychologist Dr. Richard Lustberg, who runs the Web site www.psychologyofsports.com, said the raised expectations are a natural reaction to success.

Everything in America seems primed toward being the best, so some of the benchmarks of success have lost meaning. After winning the World Series in 2004 and feeling the endorphin rush it supplied, some fans won't be satisfied with small successes, Lustberg said.

"Fans, and at times ownership, overlook the statistics and the chances of winning repeatedly with that many teams," said Lustberg, who practices in New York. "That's why, when teams do win, they're called a dynasty. They don't hand these things out like ice cream cones.

"In the life of a sports fan, winning is almost like a drug hit. It's a feeling that they've experienced, and they're addicted to it. Anything less isn't satisfying."

Messana and Scholz have done a good job keeping Boston's season in perspective.

Although disappointment with a World Series loss would be inevitable, both say they would consider the season a success even if the Rockies win the Series.

A Red Sox fan since he was young, Scholz grew up following the team on the radio, then on black-and-white television. He still swears that Ted Williams is the best hitter who ever lived. He lived through much of the Red Sox's 86-year drought without a World Series title and said he won't take the current success for granted.

"I don't think some of the younger fans understand the type of talent they had without winning the World Series," Scholz said. "I mean, Ted Williams not winning a World Series? That's unbelievable to me."