The Darning of a Brand

This NPR story about the business aspects of having a team that's moved (having grown up in Boston) from desperate, serial losers to "wicked awesome" got me to thinking.

Thanks to their win again this year, the Red Sox brand is hot, popular, successful...something to really stand by. But I don't know- with all this success crap, I'm not sure they're really my team anymore. It's not the brand I can be loyal to- it's changed.


Without the element of underdogdom, I'm not sure I'm really interested in being part of the equation of fandom anymore. Part of the beauty of being a fan all those decades was in how pathetic the Sox had been for years and years and now...that's just all ruined.


My Mom asks, 'isn't 86 years enough for you?' No, not really. She said in 2004, she wasn't really paying attention, didn't really think they could break their curse; but she knew from the screaming around the city that, under the shadow of an eclipsing moon, they'd done it. But she's been watching this year, enjoying the game. That makes one of us Mom.

What do you think? Am I a foul-weather Sox fan, cruelly turning my back on the team now that they've "sold out" to success?

The Sox have been darning their image. They can no longer be holy to me.