How Things Have Changed

Yesterday we went out and got my 4 year son Austin a new Red Sox hat. It was something I didn't want to do. His old one he had worn nearly every day for the last 2 years. It was no longer a dark blue, but a sun-faded purple. There were some mud stains here and there and even a little oil on the brim from when he helped me change the oil in the cars. In other words, his old one was just perfect.

In picking out the new hat from the nearly 200 sox hats on the shelf, I realized that of all the great things that have changed since the Red Sox won the series in 2004, there is one thing that I miss about the old days. It is the camaraderie between the fans. Maybe it is just me but doesn't it seem that Red Sox fans are everywhere now a days? Growing up in Florida, and Nevada and Wyoming and even here in Oklahoma, before we won in 2004, I rarely saw anyone wearing a red sox jersey, shirt or hat. On that rare occasion when I did spot another "B" hat, there was that moment of happiness and recognition and sometimes the other fan would give a nod, or a little wave and I would always nod back. Sometimes they would stop and we would talk about Mo Vaughn's hitting or even about where we were when a certain game happened.

I still have the hat I wore in 1986, but my wife absolutely refuses to go anywhere with me if I wear it so it stays in the closet. I bought that hat in the summer of 1986 to replace an older Sox hat and when I was entering the store to buy the hat, an older gentleman was leaving the store and he was wearing an old B hat as well. I remember he asked me if this was going to be our year and if I thought Clemens was the best pitcher we ever had. We stood outside in the parking lot talking about the Red Sox in the middle of Wyoming for at least 20 minutes. A 17 year old and 70+ year old with only the Red Sox in common. I remember how he shook my hand and how old and frail his hand was. I remember how he smiled at me and pulled on the brim of my hat and told me 'this is the year' before we said goodbye. I thought of him when we lost later that year to the Mets. And I thought of him again in 2004 and again last year. I wonder if he made it long enough to see our team win it.

However, after 10-27-04, all that is gone. Now, when you go to the mall you can count at least 10-20 people wearing red sox hats. Not one of them gives a nod or even a moment of recognition. And what is sad is that most of the hats look brand new, unlike my current hat that I have had for the last 10 years. It has turned a light blue color and the white around the "B" is now black, and the crud that has built up around the rim is probably either giving me a brain tumor or causing all my hair to fall out. So anymore, unless they have some old school jersey on or a hat that looks like it had been trampled on the floor of a movie theater, I don't waste my time giving the nod. They don't understand.

Strange thing is my son does understand it already. About a year ago I took my son to work and a Judge who is a Yankee fan asked my son "What is that on your hat?" Expecting my son to say "a 'B'", I was shocked by what he did. He took off his hat and looked at it. He looked at the stains and dirt and the overall wear on the hat and he looks up at the Yankee Judge and said, "Tears". And yesterday, when I placed his new hat on his head and asked him if he liked it, he said, "This one doesn't have any tears".

And he was right.