Sportsmen Of The Year

[mstar1]

Who else would it be? Who else could it be?

If you are even the meagerest of a sports fan, or just someone who has a heart and/or a soul read this weeks Sports Illustrated article on the Red Sox and their fans. It is one of the best sports articles I have read in a long long time. Tom Verducci doesnt waste time filling up the pages with meaningless stats or time worn phrases but has come as close as anyone I've seen so far as some who 'gets it' and communicates it well.

an excerpt from Sports Illustrated:

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"The most emotionally powerful words in the English language are monosyllabic: love, hate, born, live, die, sex, kill, laugh, cry, want, need, give, take, Sawx."

"The Boston Red Sox, are, of course, a civic religion in New England. As grounds crew workers tended to the Fenway Park field last summer after a night game, one of them found a white plastic bottle of holy water in the outfield grass. There was a handwritten message on the side: GO SOX."

"Rooting for the Red Sox is, as evident in the obituary pages, a life's definitive calling. Every day all over New England, and sometimes beyond, death notices include age, occupation, parish, and allegiance to the Sox."

"What the Red Sox mean to their faithful - and larger still, what sport at its best means to the American culture - never was more evident than at precisely 11:40 p.m. EDT on the night of October 27th in St. Louis, Missouri, Red Sox closer Keith Foulke, upon fielding a ground ball, threw to first baseman Doug Mienkiewicz for the final out of the World Series - and the first Red Sox world championship since 1918. And then all hell didn't break loose. It pretty much froze over."

"All over New England, church bells clanged. Grown men wept. Poets whooped. Convicts cheered. Children rush into the streets. Horns honked. Champagne corks popped. Strangers hugged."

"On its most basic level, sport satisfies man's urge to challenge his physical being. And sometimes, if performed well enough, it inspires others in their own pursuits. And then, very rarely, it changes the social and cultural history of America; it changes lives. The 2004 Boston Red Sox are such a perfect storm."

"The Red Sox are SI's Sportsmen of the Year, an honor they may have won even if the magnitude of their unprecedented athletic achievement was all that had been considered. Three outs from being swept in the ALCS, they won eight consecutive games, the last six without ever trailing. Their place in the sporting pantheon is fixed: the St. Jude of sports, patron saint of lost athletic causes, their spirit will be summoned at the bleakest of moments."

"The dawn that broke over New England on October 28, the first day in the life of little Damon Andrews, named for Red Sox center fielder Johnny Damon, was unlike any other seen in three generations. Here began the birth of the new Red Sox Nation, sons no longer bearing the scars and dread of their fathers and grandfathers. It felt as clean and fresh as New Year's Day. Damon's first dawn was also the last of George Sumner."

"The story they will tell is not just about the story of George Sumner. It is not just the story of the 2004 Boston Red Sox. It is the story of the bond between a nation of fans and its beloved team."

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[simonzelotes]

Who was George Sumner?

[mstar1]

George was one of the millions of stories from Red Sox Nation,

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The cancer would have killed most men long ago, but not George Sumner. The Waltham, Mass., native had served three years aboard the USS Arkansas in World War II, raised six kids with a hell of a lot more love than the money that came from fixing oil burners, and watched from his favorite leather chair in front of the television-except for the handful of times he had the money to buy bleacher seats at Fenway- his Boston Red Sox, who had found a way not to win the World Series in every one of the 79 years of his life. George Sumner knew something about persistence

The doctors and his family thought they had lost George last Christmas Day, more than two years after the diagnosis. Somehow George pulled through. And soon, though still sick and racked by chemo, the radiation and trips in and out of hospitals for weeks at a time, George was saying, "You know what? With Pedro and Schilling we've got a pretty good staff this year. Please let this be the year".

On the night of October 13, 2004 George Sumner knew he was running out of persistance. The TV in his room at Newton-Wellesley Hospital was showing Pedro Martinez and the Red Sox losing to the New York Yankees in game two of the American League Championship Series-this after Boston had lost Game 1 behind Curt Schilling. During commercial breaks Sumner talked with his daughter Leah about what to do with his personal possessions. Only a few days earlier his wife, Jeanne, had told him,"If the pain is too much, George, it's O.K. if you want to go."

But Leah knew how much George loved the Red Sox, saw how closely he still watched their games and understood that her father, ever quick with a smile or a joke was up to something.

"Dad, you're waiting around to see if they go to the World Series, aren't you?" she said "You really want to see them win it,right?"

A sparkle flickered in the sick man's eyes and a smile creased his lips.

"Don't tell your mother" he whispered......................

.....On October 25 the Sox were two victories away from winning the World Series when doctors sent George Sumner home to his Waltham house to die. There was nothing more they could do for him. At home, though,George's stomach began to fill with fluid, and he was rushed back to the hospital. The doctors did what they could. The said he was in such bad shape that they were uncertain if he could survive the ride back home.

Suddenly, his eyes still closed, George pointed to the corner of the room, as if someone was there , and said, "Nope, not yet"

And then George went back to Waltham. Leah knew that every day and every game were precious. She prayed hard for a sweep....

...At home in Waltham, George Sumner slipped in and out of sleep. his eyes were alert when the game was on, but when an inning ended he would say in a whisper, which was all he could muster, "Wake me up when the game comes back on." Each time no one could be certain if he would open his eyes again...

... It was 11:40 PM. The Red Sox were jumping up and down on the diamond. they were World Champions.

George Sumner had waited a lifetime to see this-79 years, to be exact, the last three while fighting cancer. He drew upon whatever strength was left in his body and in the loudest whisper that was possible he said "Yippee!"

And then he closed his eyes and went to sleep.

"It was probably the last real conscious moment he ever had." Leah says.

George opened his eyes one last time the next day. When he did he saw that he was surrounded by his extended family. He said, "Hi," and went back to sleep for the final time.

George Sumner, avid Red Sox fan , passed away at 2:30 a.m. on Oct.29. He was laid to rest with full military honors on Nov. 2.

....On the day George Sumner died , Alice and Jaime Andrews took home a healthy baby boy. They named him Damon....

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[excathedra]

makes me cry