Before tonight the author of a book on Red Sox history could have borrowed a title from Gabriel Garcia Marquez and called it "A Hundred Years of Solitude." Because that is exactly what is has been. Our fandom has been a history of 9th inning collapses, second place finishes, and defeats at the hands of the New York Yankees, but now all that has changed.

How is it possible that the Red Sox, down 0-3 to their nemesis, their archrival, the team that has always outspent them, out maneuvered them, and out played them since 1918, came back and won four in a row to capture the American League pennant? Folks, this is the dorky kid sucker punching the bully. This is Luke Skywalker destroying the Death Star. This is the Rabbit finally getting his Trix. This is Wile E. Coyote finally taking a big suculent bite out of the Road Runner. This is, in short, the most stunning on-field turn of events in the history of professional sports. Whatever happens in the World Series, the Calvinistic sense of doom that has pervaded these parts for oh so many years has been lifted, this team has truly shown us that anything is possible, that the past means nothing, and that the future is ours to take.

This may seem overdone given that it is simply a sporting event. But for those of us who watch it intently and closely, it is more than simply a bunch of young-middle aged men swinging bats around. It is a human drama, and at times like these it can be more powerful than the most skillfully directed movie or the most poignant moment in any television series. Just like in those movies and television shows things we identify with their characters, their hopes, their dreams, and their aspirations, only unlike those we don't have the sense of being led around towards an inevitable pre-packaged ending. Things don't always work out in the end, sometimes rather than heroic endings or meaningful final confrontations, there are anti-climaxes. Most of the time, fans of teams slowly come to realize, over the course of a season, that this just isn't their teams year. Despite the fact that they paid attention, despite the fact that everybody wanted one thing to happen, and despite the fact that it would've made for a better story had the team won the championship, most of the time the teams' season would end in a meaningless game or a bitter loss. It is, in a sense, like having to walk on a tight-rope with no net for your emotions.

It is these anti-climaxes that define a fan's experience, and it is what makes him/her one. The unrelenting hope for good things and the bitter struggles that a fan must endure before his/her team gets to the promised land (and sometimes they never do) are what make watching sports different than watching a sucession of good movies. When things work out in movies we decry it as a Hollywood ending that, while nice to watch, doesn't usually have a deeper meaning for us. When things work out in sports, like right now or in 1980 when the US upset the Russians, it gives fans hope that perhaps by struggling just like their heroes thing can work out in real life as well. And that is what makes tonight so special.