Sports Monday

One of my interests that I am obsessed in is sports. It all started with watching the Red Sox in late 1998-early 1999. I have been going to Red Sox games since 1993, when Roger Clemens' time was waning with the Red Sox. I started watching baseball because I felt it was one of the best ways to have a connection with my Papou (Greek word for grandfather) because he has been a die-hard Red Sox fan for over 60 years at the time. Then it led to watching the Patriots, then the Bruins and then the Celtics. Eventually, it led me to watching all different teams in different sports. The two players on the Red Sox that caught my attention was Pedro Martinez and Nomar Garciaparra. As badly as things ended for Martinez and Garciaparra, they were both enigmatic players for Boston baseball for seven-eight years. Sure the Red Sox were never perennial contenders, they were still fun to watch.
The more I watched the Red Sox games with Papou, the closer we got. Whenever we would watch a Red Sox game together, whenever the other team would make a pivotal play or the Red Sox make a boneheaded play, Papou would punch the couch and say "Jesus Christ." Even if the Red Sox won a game, he would say they got lucky. A lot of people thought he was a grouch no matter how the Red Sox did. He was that way for such a long time because he was use to failure. He saw it when they lost the World Series in 1946, 1967, 1975, 1986 and the American League Championship series in 2003. Each of those series were seven games, the Red Sox were always 3-4 in those series. Who could blame Papou for being pessimistic? He always told me that the Red Sox would keep you interested throughout the summer, and then stink up the joint in the fall. When they swept their way to victory in 2004, the first person I called was Papou because I knew this was a big deal for him. Imagine watching a team continue to fail when it counted for 60 years? I can't even imagine it. When I called him, he said that he did not think they would win until Keith Foulke tossed the ball underhand to Doug Mientkiewicz. He was jubilant he did not know what to do. I told him that at least you saw them win before you died.
To this day whenever we talk to each other on the phone, we would first talk about current events, how everyone around him is and then the status of the Red Sox. We would argue about how the signing of Manny Ramirez for eight years, $160 million contract was idiotic to the odds in Las Vegas for the Red Sox winning the World Series that year. Papou is more of an introvert, but has a heart of gold. He has been married to my Yiayia (Greek word for grandmother) for 60 years now and they cannot be happier. Her role is to be the conversationalist and his role is to look cute and be quiet. To me, it is a great trade-off. Everyone does get along with Papou very well. Him and my dad talk about financial expenses because Papou is an accountant. Papou and my brother Pete don't talk a lot, but their love toward each other is mutual. But Papou and I have a strong connection that no one else who is close to him has, baseball, and no one can ever take that away from me.