Why are you a Red Sox Fan?

[kastie]

Well i think all the people that is reading this are red sox fans..

So i wanna know...
Why are you a Boston Red Sox fan?

[Love The Game]

I am a Mets first, then Red Sox fan. Although it's so close it's almost indistinguishable. The reason is because I first became obsessed with baseball during the '86 World Series when I was 8 years old fell in love with both teams. It was a good time to discover the greatest game.

[hellborn]

Even as a kid, when I didn't know much about the team, I was fascinated by Lynn and Rice, and some legend named Williams. The '75 WS made some impression on me...'78 went by without me noticing. Then, Fisk came to the ChiSox, and I learned a little more about Boston.
As I started reading about baseball late in my teens, the great players and numerous close calls caught my attention...how could that team have so many incredible players and have not won it since '18?
Then, I met a rabid Bosox fan at college, and he really sucked me in...we had similar interests in Bill James and the budding field of sabermetrics, and his enthusiasm for his team really impressed me. He became one of my best friends, and we still go to games together. This was just before '86, and we got our hearts stomped flat...we had some REALLY obnoxious NY/NJ people in our dorm that year, and their gloating just about killed me. They stayed up all night after the Mets won to make a huge poster that covered the doors to my dorm room and my friend's (we were neighbors), read something like "F You Bosox Fans, Your Team Sucks, Mets Win"...can you imagine??
I kept following the Bosox, but also liked the Orioles because of Ripken. Then, I moved to NH for work...well, there was no looking back then, it was Bosox and nothing else. Maybe still a little love for my boyhood Cubbies, but there's no comparison.

[Boston Boxer]

i was born a Red Sox fan.

[Mike D.]

I have been a Red Sox fan as long as I've been a baseball fan. My parents weren't into sports, so I discovered baseball later than a lot of kids...at about age 11. I feel in love with the game quickly, and growing up in MA, it was natural to become a Red Sox fan. The great run to the division title in 1988 helped cement it for me. Been a Red Sox fan ever since.

[Evangelion]

i was born a Red Sox fan.

Same here.

[MadHatter]

I was born and raised in New England and spent my summers listening to the Red Sox on the radio as a kid. Yaz was king back then. The Yankees were hated, but not as diabolically as they are today. In fact, I liked the Twins less when I was a kid because they always seemed to get the best of us somehow.

As I got older I went to more and more games even living a stone's throw from Fenway - you could see the third base line from the roof of the apartment building I lived in.

Now - "the Nation" has grown - and I don't admit as readily as I used to that I'm a Sox fan. Too many band-wagoners. Yes, I still love the Sox (always will)... and I'm glad we won two World Series (and that I lived to see it) but I still sort of miss the old days.

[sharrock]

Born and raised in Vermont.

Grandfather was a rabid fan. He went to spring training every year for about 25 years until he got sick.

My uncles took me to games occasionally and helped get me hooked.

Before I knew it... I was on board every spring to fall. It seems second nature, as if it always was.

[Nutriaitch]

was a Braves fan as a kid. Growing up in South Louisiana, the only ball games telvised were the Braves on TBS. I lLOVED baseball more tha anything else as a kid.

Gave up on Baseball for YEARS after the strike.

Cal's streak kept me looking at box scores
the HR chase in '98 got me watching a few games again.
the '01 postseason reeled me in enough to tune in every night.
the '02 World Series hooked me completely again.

So, in '03 I ordered the Extra Innings package from DirecTv. I now could choose which team to watch and follow for a season.
I found out Todd Walker (former LSU superstar) was with the BoSox. So that's who I started watching.


I found this group of scrappy (and scruffy) guys that didn't care about image. They weren't afraid of the Yankees, and didn't give 2 chits about the curse, or a history of falling short. All they cared about was playing baseball. And they played like they were still kids (the way it should be played).
The '03 postseason was a thrill ride. Even though it ended in heartbreak, I fell in love with this team.

So, I'm new to Red Sox Nation, and probably have nowhere near the appreciation of the 86 years of heartbreak that the ones born into have. But I'm here now, and thanks to this team, I have never looked back, and continue to subscribe to the Extra Innings package every year just to follow them.

[kastie]

my reason

i'm a bosox fan because i didn't use to watch MLB .. i used to watch LVBP (Liga Venezolana de Beisbol Profesional).. that's from Venezuela, where i come from.. so when i started into watching mlb like 3 yrs ago, the only team that really called my attention was boston red sox... it was the only team that i really wanted to see playing.. and i have being even more interested on MLB and Boston Red Sox. I didn't care about the curse and i don't even hate the yankees.. i just started feeling something for this team.

Oh and do you remember Alejandro Machado and "Tony Roma's" Armas?? They were great players from this team .. They're Venezuelan like me... Machado is from Caracas like me and Armas is from Puerto Píritu like the rest of my family.. i'm proud and i'm a big fan of them.
And also there was another great Venezuelan players in the history of Boston Red Sox.. like Carlos Aponte, Bo Díaz, Carlos Quintana, Alex Delgado, José Malavé, etc... it's a big list.

sorry if i had a mistake.. i have to practice my english a little bit more

[yeszir]

I'm a Red Sox fan because I was born in Boston and never looked back.

Mo Vaugh had me hooked when I was growing up.

[sharrock]

Kastie, nice to hear how you came to be a Sox fan.

I am curious how many people in Venezuela follow MLB. Do you still live there?

[bakes781]

Lived in the Boston area all my life. Suffering loserville felt comfortable to me & now having a winning franchise makes it all worth it.

[tmorss9]

I had to think about that one. The analogy I ended up with was like a girl you had a crush on all through school, but didn't ask out until you were both out of college, then got married 2 years later. Although I grew up in Detroit, I always followed the Red Sox because they offered my Dad a contract in the early 70's. He didn't sign because he was still 17 years old, and my grandfather wouldn't allow him to sign (My grandfather died last July, and I'm not sure Dad forgives him for that to this day). On top of that, I always loved Fenway. It just fascinated me. When I'd see Dad's friends who were MLB players, I always asked them about playing there as visitors, regardless of who they played for.

It also seemed that wherever I played as a kid, there was always a barrier that was a short distance but tall height, from backyard wiffleball with my garage in left, to playing in the schoolyard with the 20' tall fence. The image of Fisk waving the ball fair was always something I wanted to do in those games, even though my inside out swing took everything to right-center. Without satellite, though it was tough to be a Sox fan, so I just admired them from afar- watching what I could on ESPN or when the Tigers were in Boston.

In 2002, we got Directv and the baseball package, and I watched Remy, McDonough and Bob Rodgers every night, and being a Sox fan just felt right. I figured I wasn't a bandwagoner, since I did cry when they lost in 86 (although I was 8 years old) and always owned a Sox jersey. Then 2003 happened. I was out of work thanks to the horrific Michigan economy, and watching the Sox was about the only good thing I had going on. I just liked the group. It was the first time I didn't, as Jerry Seinfeld said, "cheer for laundry". I had just become a Christian, and was really encouraged that a group like Varitek, Mueller and Trot shared my faith, and played the game like it should be. We all know what happened in the next two years on the field, which always gets me to the simplest reason I will always be a Sox fan....

Because they showed me that there is no impossible.

[Dogdaze]

Boston Boxer: i was born a Red Sox fan.

Ditto.

I live in Arizona and root for the Dbacks as well, but the Sox are my first love.

kastie, tmorss9, Nutriaitch, hellborn and Love The Game, welcome to Red Sox Nation, glad your with us.