Rocktober or Socktober?

Oh, what an exciting time of year this is. For me, the play-off season and the World Series trumps Christmas, Halloween, New Year’s, and even my birthday. I can’t watch a single game without my stomach contorting into a ball of knots, without performing a variety of rituals, without sitting on the couch in the right spot, or taking a sip of beer at the right time. It’s a time of soaring heights and potentially depressing lows, and I live and die with every pitch, for you see, I am a Red Sox fan.

Now, before you start throwing rocks (or Rockies, ha!) at the screen or start spamming the heck out of this Site, let me explain. I was raised outside of Boston, in the heart of Red Sox nation, and though I may have moved across the country, but the Mark of the BoSox is not a tattoo that washes off easily (nor would I want it too). I’ve suffered with my team! I “cowboy’ed up” ’03 when Aaron Boone and those damn Yankees broke my heart with a Wakefield blast over the Monster. And I was right back in ’04, when my same “Bunch of Idiots” performed the impossible and won the greatest achievement in sports for the first time in 86 years. And although those sad ghosts of the past 86 years were not all mine, they were the specters of friends and family and the entire city where I grew up and I can’t tell you how cathartic that evening in October was.

But here’s where things get tricky. I’ve never had an NL team before. I’ve never lived anywhere where that would be a possibility. But since I move out here in January, and before the season even started, I adopted the Rockies to fill that role. Now, the adoption was expedited by the fact that I had Holliday, Helton and Hawpe on my fantasy team, and as a result, watched a ton of Rockies games. I’ve been amazed by this scrappy group of youngsters helmed by the vet Helton (no one deserves to be in the WS more) fought all season and especially in September and October to win 21 of 22 and a spot at the big show. They’ve certainly won a place in my heart and I’ve been to the Tap Room nightly cheering them on with like-minded locals from Padres to Phils to D-Backs to now. And now is when I stop.

Lest anyone think I was trying to skate a fine edge and have the best of both worlds, I assure you I am not. My heart beats Bosox entire. And I will still frequent Vail’s familiar haunts cheering on my captain Tek and all my Beantown Boys, despite what that might mean for my physical well-being.

Regardless of whose side you’re on, we are in for a great series. Potential Cy Young winner Josh Beckett versus a young and talented Rockies pitching staff. Potential NL MVP Matt Holliday and Todd Helton matching their power against Boston’s fearsome duo of Big Papi and Manny. The lights out closers Fuentes and Corpas versus the equally intimidating Okajima and Papelbon. And potential Rookies of the Year Pedrioa and Tulowitzki showing us what they got at the plate and on the field. Also, this will be the first World Series witnessed with three Japanese all-stars (Kaz, Dice-K, Okajima).

Vegas odds have got Boston up in the series, 2-1, but if this past play-off season has shown us anything, it’s that the Vegas odds don’t mean much. I will say that if Boston loses, I will be somewhat depressed, but I will be happy for the Rockies, who have yet to reach the title in their short history. Boston couldn’t lose to a better and more deserving team.

But that won’t happen. Boston is going to take the series four games to one.

Comments? Predictions? World Series tickets horror stories? Share them with us below.

By John Elliot