The Red Sox are the perfect hair of the dog for a World Cup hangover
It was satisfying to watch Spain dispatch Argentina in the World Cup final.
Not because Argentina is run by some shameless Trump suck-up who has been the beneficiary of a $20 billion financial lifeline from US taxpayers.
Read more GOP boxed in on Iran war as Trump sidelines Congress
But because, despite FIFA’s best efforts to have Argentina’s Lionel Messi lift the gold trophy one last time—ignoring a blatant red card offense by Messi against Algeria, robbing Egypt of a goal that would have dispatched Argentina in the Round of 16, turning a blind eye to Argentina’s thuggish play against England in the semifinals, and adding an absurd five minutes to the second and last 15-minute extra time period in the final—Spain deservedly prevailed.
An unexpectedly nice coda to the World Cup was watching Spain’s players respectfully shake Trump’s hand as he joined FIFA godfather and Trump bum kisser Gianni Infantino to present the winners and runners-up their medals.
Earlier this year, Trump called Spain a bunch of “losers” because their prime minister refused to help Trump with his needless war against Iran. Apparently, the Spanish aren’t big on bombing schools and killing kids.
But the Spanish players were class personified after they won, while some Argentinian players acted like petulant sore losers.
As Spain’s players began to celebrate their victory, Argentina’s Nahuel Molina threw a punch at Rodri, Spain’s brilliant midfielder.
When Spain’s Eric Garcia intervened, Argentina’s Leandro Paredes, who plays the game like a bouncer clearing out stragglers at a dive bar, grabbed him by the throat and tossed him to the ground.
On social media, Thomas Hitzlsperger, a retired German international, spoke for many who love soccer by observing, “Messi is a genius on the ball, most of his teammates are thugs with no sense for the beautiful game — viva España.”
For all of Messi’s greatness, Argentina’s team is sprinkled with punks who disgrace themselves and the game. They didn’t manage a single shot on goal in the final.
And when Rodri was rightfully handed the Golden Ball as the tournament’s MVP, Argentina fans at MetLife Stadium booed and chanted that Messi deserved it instead.
Stay classy, Argentina.
And yet, for all of Argentina’s unseemly petulance, this World Cup will be remembered as a good one, especially in Boston, where Scotland’s Tartan Army started a party that outlasted their team’s exit in the group stage.
Read more Darline Graham says she will run for a full term in Lindsey Graham’s Senate seat
The Tartan Army apparently left some magic pixie dust behind in June when they descended on Fenway Park with their kilts, bagpipes and contagious joie de vivre.
Since the Tartan Army visited Fenway, the Red Sox are 21-9, the best in Major League Baseball during that stretch. Their current 13-game winning streak is only the third time in their history that they’ve put that unlucky number together. And the last time they did it, 78 years ago, the Red Sox had Ted Williams, Bobby Doerr, Johnny Pesky and Dom DiMaggio in the lineup.
The Red Sox surge is the best cure for a World Cup hangover, hair of the dog from a team that had been the lapdogs of the American League East for almost half of the season.
But that’s the thing about baseball: its ups and downs, its highs and lows so closely mirror life itself. It isn’t how you start, it’s how you finish.
(BTW, for those who believe I am using this column to curry favor with the owner of this newspaper, who also happens to own the Red Sox and Liverpool Football Club, be advised I openly support Manchester United instead of Liverpool, so I’m not craven so much as stupid.)
There is nothing that makes a great summer in the town, around the state, and in all of New England like a Red Sox team that is winning and, more important, fun to watch.
Granted, they are winning with a daily lineup card that looks more like the one filled out by the WooSox manager than Chad Tracy. But the Red Sox surge has been fueled by terrific, consistent starting pitching more than timely hitting, the former of which has more staying power than the latter.
Maybe all this wishful thinking is a sure way to jinx everything. Or maybe this team will, like so many in the past, break our hearts.
That 1948 team that put up 13 wins in a row went on to lose a playoff game to the Cleveland Indians, missing the World Series two years after losing the championship in the most painful fashion from Enos Slaughter’s Mad Dash. The Red Sox have won four World Series since 2004, but historically they break more hearts than records.
However, this has been a great July, and it’s looking like a great August.
And if the Red Sox are playing meaningful games in September, after experiencing the beautiful game of the World Cup, after watching Tall Ships unfurl their sails, after watching the Yankees fall away like scales from the eyes of Bronx loudmouths, you can put this in the category of a great, great summer.
Post Comment