Scan barcode
A review by thexwalrus
Faithful: Two Diehard Boston Red Sox Fans Chronicle the Historic 2004 Season by Stewart O'Nan, Stephen King
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
5.0
if you are not a baseball fan, and more specifically a red sox fan, i do not think you'll enjoy this book. it's technical. o'nan's sections can get bogged down in play-by-plays. it's a book about a season of baseball that no one in new england will ever forget.
every winter, my seasonal depression kicks my ass and i'm miserable through march - until one day i feel a shift out of nowhere, and i check twitter, and yes, it's truck day, it's almost time to report to fort meyers for spring training. the return of baseball kicks my seasonal depression to the curb; baseball means springtime, means warm, lazy nights watching the boys play in the greatest ballpark in the nation. as a red sox fan since birth, there is magic in the pages of this book; this book is that feeling incarnate, and it remains one of my favorites even after all these years.
i was wearing sox shirts when i was 3 months old - my grandmother was a diehard sox fan, and since she was my primary babysitter, that meant i was a diehard sox fan, too. even as a child, i knew that the sox winning it all was unlikely, that the yankees were the evil empire, that if we won over the yankees that was enough for me to be thrilled with bc it was rare to get more than that from them. i was 10 in 2004, so i didn't remember a lot of the details of that season - but i do remember having total strangers who weren't even red sox fans cheering them on in the world series, in airports while my mom and i traveled back from a disney vacation. and i remember the way my mom woke me up the next morning to say "we did it. we won the world series." and how my elementary school let us watch the victory parade instead of doing classwork, because it was history happening in front of us!
this book is a wonderful time capsule to remind yourself of that 2004 season, especially because so much of what happened in the postseason changed opinions of people that were maligned in the regular season - francona's terrible decisions when it came to pitchers, lowe's lackluster performance as a starter, cabrera's difficult start making the garciaparra trade hurt even more. when it mattered most, they all kicked ass, but it doesn't change the fact that during the regular season they weren't anyone's favorites. (let's not mention martinez' struggles against the yankees, which was more on the bats and less on pedro because where was the run support?)
it was also wild to be reminded of youk's incredible performance as a rookie, knowing that in a little bit, he'd be on the team full-time and a world series champion in his own right. stephen king was right - he would go on to be a star for us.
the end almost feels scripted, and i can't get over that. a reverse sweep of the yankees? sweeping the cards in their own park? it's too good to be true, and yet it is true, and we reversed the curse. if this was fiction, i'd say it was almost too predictable. but it was real life.
i love the red sox. i love baseball. i love this book, because 20 years ago i got to be here for the most important and historic sports history moment i'll ever live through (and being in new england, i've lived through a lot) and when my memory gets spotty, i'll have this to go back to to bring back the smile and the thrill of it all.
every winter, my seasonal depression kicks my ass and i'm miserable through march - until one day i feel a shift out of nowhere, and i check twitter, and yes, it's truck day, it's almost time to report to fort meyers for spring training. the return of baseball kicks my seasonal depression to the curb; baseball means springtime, means warm, lazy nights watching the boys play in the greatest ballpark in the nation. as a red sox fan since birth, there is magic in the pages of this book; this book is that feeling incarnate, and it remains one of my favorites even after all these years.
i was wearing sox shirts when i was 3 months old - my grandmother was a diehard sox fan, and since she was my primary babysitter, that meant i was a diehard sox fan, too. even as a child, i knew that the sox winning it all was unlikely, that the yankees were the evil empire, that if we won over the yankees that was enough for me to be thrilled with bc it was rare to get more than that from them. i was 10 in 2004, so i didn't remember a lot of the details of that season - but i do remember having total strangers who weren't even red sox fans cheering them on in the world series, in airports while my mom and i traveled back from a disney vacation. and i remember the way my mom woke me up the next morning to say "we did it. we won the world series." and how my elementary school let us watch the victory parade instead of doing classwork, because it was history happening in front of us!
this book is a wonderful time capsule to remind yourself of that 2004 season, especially because so much of what happened in the postseason changed opinions of people that were maligned in the regular season - francona's terrible decisions when it came to pitchers, lowe's lackluster performance as a starter, cabrera's difficult start making the garciaparra trade hurt even more. when it mattered most, they all kicked ass, but it doesn't change the fact that during the regular season they weren't anyone's favorites. (let's not mention martinez' struggles against the yankees, which was more on the bats and less on pedro because where was the run support?)
it was also wild to be reminded of youk's incredible performance as a rookie, knowing that in a little bit, he'd be on the team full-time and a world series champion in his own right. stephen king was right - he would go on to be a star for us.
the end almost feels scripted, and i can't get over that. a reverse sweep of the yankees? sweeping the cards in their own park? it's too good to be true, and yet it is true, and we reversed the curse. if this was fiction, i'd say it was almost too predictable. but it was real life.
i love the red sox. i love baseball. i love this book, because 20 years ago i got to be here for the most important and historic sports history moment i'll ever live through (and being in new england, i've lived through a lot) and when my memory gets spotty, i'll have this to go back to to bring back the smile and the thrill of it all.