So it's 3 am and I'm too pumped to go to bed. The Red Sox did what the Red Sox just don't do which is win two tough games, on the road, in the playoffs. You better believe, though, that neither the fans nor the players have put this series in the win column yet. They still have to put them away with either Bronson Arroyo or Tim Wakefeild.

It's always a hilarious experience to watch games with other Red Sox fans when the Red Sox are well ahead late in the game. The announcers begin to talk as if the game is in the bag for the Sox, while Red Sox fans shout "SHUT UP" at the TV. I think what most Red Sox fans fear is a repeat of something like the Bill Buckner game. During the 9th inning of that fateful game 6 of the World Series in 1986, Dan Shaughnessy of the Globe said that the champagne had been put in the dugout, the reporters had been ushered in, and Jean Yawkey (widow of racist SOB Tom Yawkey and owner of the Red Sox) had been carted in to congratulate the team for their first World Series in 68 years. Then as the team collapsed in the most mind boggling manner possible, everything was literaly rolled back out, including the senile Yawkey, leaving only the reporters to ask the players how it felt to be a part of the biggest fuck-up in World Series history.

Ever since that game every Red Sox/Any Boston Team's lead in the post season seems a candidate to be just like 1986 only worse. So when Chris Berman says "well it looks like the Red Sox will go back to Boston 2-0" every Red Sox fan hears that, except they imagine it's on Sportcenter the next morning followed by "but then came the collapse.....BOO Yah Eckstein homers in the bottom of the 9th to cap a SIX run rally and it's a whole new series." Even when watching the "Snow Bowl" game (Patriots playoff game vs Oakland in 2001) a few years ago with my family, I remember we all let out a collective gasp when we saw that as Adam Vinatieri lined up to kick the game winning feild goal, the three points had already been added to the scoreboard. All we could think of was the ball going over Vinatieri's head and Mookie Wilson picking it up and running it the other way for the touchdown, and having that play, with the scoreboard showing Pats 16 Oakland 13 in the background, being on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

All because of Calvin Bleepin Schiraldi, Bob Stanley, and Roger Clemens (I don't beat up on Buckner he's taken enough of the blame over the years.)