Fear not Red Sox Nation

When the news of Manny Ramirez and his failed drug test started to come out there were two people I wanted to hear from - Bill Simmons and Chris Kindred.

Bill Simmons is better known as the Sports Guy, from ESPN.com, the Magazine and everything else the World Wide Leader wants to use him in. He's a Red Sox fan through and through and after reading his book following the '04 World Series, I was curious as to how he was taking the news. To be honest, even after reading his initial column, I'm still not sure how he is taking it. Chance are, he isn't either. The news of Manny Ramirez testing positive for a banned substance in 2009 makes you wonder what was going on in 2004. And when you start looking at the roster and the previous history of the players, coupled with what has transpired since, lets just say it makes you wonder. As an outsider looking in, I'm not sure how it feels to be a Red Sox fan today.

Which is where Chris Kindred comes in. Chris is my cousin by blood but he might as well be my brother and is a card-carrying curse-cursing member of Red Sox Nation. We spoke briefly as the news was coming out but it wasnt until much later that we had a chance to speak at length on the subject. I'm sure the thoughts were there of "was he?" and "do you think?" but it wasn't until he read Bill Simmons' column that it actually sunk in? Chris was 21 years old when the Sox won the title in 2004. While he could literally say that his beloved Sox had not won the World Series in his lifetime, he was well aware that his complaints did not hold the same weight as the grandfathers in Boston who had seen generations of players come through the gates of Fenway without a parade. But he felt it. He knew what it was all about and he knew what 2004 meant to every man, woman and child of Red Sox Nation. He knew what it meant to him. Less than five years later, he now questioned whether it meant anything at all.

I asked him how he felt when he saw Jason Varitek jump into the arms of Keith Foulke. He used terms like euphoric and amazing, knowing that he didn't wait a long time, but he felt he waited long enough. He thought back to the near misses. There was Grady Little leaving Pedro in a little too long and Aaron bleeping Boone sending one high and far and gone. All of that changed in one magical October ride. Gone were the chants of nineteen-eighteen. As Bill Simmons wrote, now he could die in peace. Five years and another World Championship later, does that all change?

My answer was simple - not at all. You may have doubts about the players and maybe you wont look back on certain teams the same way but it doesnt change how you felt that day and that month and that season. A 21-year-old kid was able to see something that hadn't happened in 86 years and it made his year. You can never take that away and you should never want to.

And think about it. The Red Sox had to get through the Yankees during the 2004 playoffs and as we know Jason Giambi, Alex Rodriguez and Andy Pettitte were all in pinstripes. Lets just say that even if Manny and the boys had a little help, it was quite possibly an even playing field anyway.

The Summer of '98 was a big part of my life as a baseball fan. Every chance I got to watch my hero chase a record that had stood for 37 years, I was glued to the TV. As Fox cut in to Cardinals games, so did I. When a loveable guy from Chicago joined the race it was must see TV as these two superheroes traded homers and hugs. Looking back on it, maybe superhero was the proper term as it appears these men, and countless others, were doing things that humans just shouldn't be able to do. I look back on that summer a little differently now, but I still look back in fondness. My love for baseball grew and I will never forget where I was when I heard Joe Buck's call - "Down the left field line. Is it enough? GONE!"

Maybe we look back on things a little differently these days. But baseball gives us wonderful moments and nothing can take those memories away. Nothing can take away the joy that I felt, that my cousin felt and that baseball fans all across the world have felt when watching the sport. My cousin loved baseball in October of 2004. I loved baseball in September of 1998 and I love baseball today. That doesnt change. Not now, and not ever.