When I left the Red Sox on Sunday afternoon, things seemed to be in order. They were up, 5-2, in the sixth, and reliever Daniel Bard was hurling fireballs at the Angels. I wasn’t sure they would win the series, but I thought they would win this particular game, and eventually push the series to five games. Sunday happened to be the day a friend of mine chose to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving (which is actually today), despite not being Canadian, and so I shut off the TV, met my friend Bruce and drove up to her house, confident the Sox were on their way to mounting another incredible comeback. Visions of a Yankees-Red ALDS were dancing in my head.
That’s why I was so surprised, when I arrived at my friend’s house an hour and a half later, to learn the Sox had lost. “What?” I said. “How did that happen?” I learned that Jonathan Paplebon, the beloved Sox closer who had never before given up a run in the post-season, gave up two inherited runs in the eighth, and three of his own in the ninth, leading to a 7-6 loss. Now, Paplebon hasn’t had the best season, and this was sort of an epic collapse, as closer collapses go, but I felt strangely calm and unsurprised and not even all that angry at Paplebon.
When the series began, and people were yapping away about how the Red Sox TOTALLY OWN the Angels, I wondered if this would be the year the Angels finally figured out how to get past the Red Sox. Why I wondered this, I don’t know. Maybe because the Red Sox just didn’t seem to be that ... good. Sure, they feasted on National League teams and the Orioles, but their hitting was subpar, key players were showing signs of age (Varitek, Lowell), and they clearly could have used a guy like Mark Texeira. You know, the guy the Red Sox coveted, but the Yankees got, and who hit a walk-off home run against the Twins. But whatever. All I can say is that I’m glad I wasn’t home to see Paplebon’s meltdown.
Overall, the Red Sox seemed less important than usual this year. Their playoff loss came at a time when I have a bunch of other things on my mind, and thing I was looking forward to most on Sunday wasn’t the Red Sox-Angels game, but Canadian Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is a fine holiday, and if you celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving, you get two Thanksgivings a year. And it makes sense to have Thanksgiving in October, because it’s harvest season, and there are plenty of fresh vegetables on hand.
Ever since reading an article (click here) in Slate about the resurgence of hard cider, I’ve been craving hard cider, and so I brought a six-pack of Woodchuck Amber to my friend’s house. Cider is a deeply American drink, with an interesting history. A few years back I read “The Botany of Desire” by Michael Pollan, and learned that Johnny Appleseed’s reputation has been completely sanitized. In real life, he was a religious eccentric who walked barefoot, made unsuccessful arrangements to marry a child bride and wore a tin pot on his head. And while it’s true that Appleseed traveled throughout the American frontier, selling and planting apple trees, he wasn’t doing this because he wanted school children to have a healthy snack. According to the Slate article, Appleseed’s apple trees produced a “tart, tannic fruit suitable to cider making.” In other words, this revered American folk hero provided settlers with the ingredients needed to make a tasty alcoholic beverage. (Having grown up singing the Johnny Appleseed grace every night, this information came as a bit of a shock.) For a more comprehensive Johnny Appleseed history, click here.
Anyway, the cider was perfectly delicious, as was the smoked turkey, corn pudding, homemade pickles, pumpkin pie, beet salad, zucchini bread, mashed potatoes and fresh green vegetables. Really, who could worry about the Red Sox with a spread like that laid out before them?
SUNDAY FOOTBALL
I remain in a two-way tie for second place in my Pigskin Pick’em group. My longshot pick, the Kansas City Chiefs over the Dallas Cowboys, did not work out the way I’d hoped, as the Chiefs lost in overtime. But the game affirmed a deep-held suspicion: The Cowboys are just not very good. Last week, Bill Simmons speculated that the only reason people think the Cowboys have potential is because Tony Romo has such a cool name. In a piece you can read here he wrote, “Well, the name ‘Tony Romo’ ... I mean, that’s a great name. That sounds like the name of someone who is going to be such a smash hit, he’ll end up winning a couple of Super Bowls and opening a chain of BBQ restaurants. I want to root for “‘Tony Romo.’ I want to believe that ‘Tony Romo’ is going to come through on this game-winning drive. I want ‘Tony Romo’ to plow through a series of hot actresses and singers. I want ‘Tony Romo’ to stay single past retirement, develop a drinking problem and eventually hit on a sideline reporter during a live telecast before entering rehab. These are the things that ‘Tony Romo’ should do.
“This is why we projected talents for Romo that he didn’t actually have. I picked him 40th in my West Coast fantasy draft even though he didn’t have a proven No. 1 receiver. Why? Because he’s ‘Tony Romo’! Now, let’s say his name had been ‘Kyle Boller’ or ‘Kevin O’Connell’ or ‘Alex Smith’ or ‘Jared Lorenzen’ this whole time. Would you have believed in him? Would we have given him the same benefit of the doubt all these times when he kept gagging in big moments? I say no. We believed in Tony Romo mainly because he seemed like a good guy and he had a great name. Really, those were the only two reasons.”
As for the Patriots, I was sad to see that they lost to the Broncos, although it did give me another opportunity to send my friend Dave a cheerful e-mail mocking him for being so negative about his team. He predicted the Broncos would win four games this season, then revised his prediction to six. For whatever reason, everybody was totally wrong about the Broncos. Including me. I can’t believe they beat the Patriots! Ah, well. Much like the Red Sox, it just doesn’t seem that important right now.
Some people predicted the Colts would actually lose to the Titans, who are way more horrible than anybody could have imagined. Not me. In fact, the Colts are my early Superbowl pick. They look really good.
Got a comment? E-mail me at sfoss@dailygazette.net.
