Opening Day 2012 posted by Greg Cunningham
Exactly one year ago this week, I wrote the line, “…and if all is well in September, a slow start to the season will be laughed at as the playoffs begin.” Oh the humanity (and the irony).
It is possible no other team in the history of the Boston Red Sox caused as much heartbreak as did the 2011 team. A season that began like the Titanic righted itself and sailed along with great promise during a summer that listened to talk of World Series games being played once again at Fenway Park. But when T.S. Elliot wrote "April is the cruelest month," Red Sox fans would have eagerly agreed, until September brought cruelty that even Elliot could not have envisioned; Fenway Park became a modern day "Wasteland” and lay dormant and barren during the month of October.
As the Fall continued, things didn't get much better in Red Sox nation. Instead of talk of MVP's and free agent signings, Sox fans spent much of the off season talking about fried chicken and beer; as comfort food may have been the intended scapegoat of 2011, Red Sox Nation watched yet another casualty fall, and bid goodbye to once beloved (and still beloved by many) manager Terry Francona.
Writer and inspirational speaker William Arthur Ward wrote, “Adversity causes some men to break; others to break records.” We can only hope the men that make up the 2012 Boston Red Sox are more prone to breaking records and not prone to just breaking down.
An unfortunate end to a season might be forgiven, as winning often cures all. But with a lackluster start to 2012, the maelstrom of issues from last season continue to swirl around Fenway like gusts of wind on a cool April afternoon.
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