Sweet Caroline - bahm bahm bahm

Hello, my name is Ruthe Lane, and I am an emotional person.  I cry at the drop of a hat. I cry when I am happy, sad, mad...over-active tear ducts are definitely something I am familiar with.   And tonight, I had an epiphany.  I also cry during sports events...

I have sworn off sappy chic-flicks for the reason of over-active tear ducts.  The reason why I swore them off was due to one of the last sappy crappy I watched, 'Leap Year,' shortly after having gone through a break up this summer.  Let me tell you, that damn wedding toast had me crying for 3 hours straight...you know the one; that really sweet lyrical toast given in the middle of the wedding that you want to have someone tell you:

"May you never steal, lie or cheat. 

But if you must steal, then steal away my sorrows. 

And if you must lie, lie with me all the nights of my life. 

And if you must cheat, then please cheat death, 

because I couldn't live a day without you"

I still hold out hope to marry again some day, and hold out hope to use this during my wedding...

No, I swore those movies off...and then my friend wanted to watch 'Dear John.'  Okay, I watched it.  And it wasn't as bad as I thought because I am in a different frame of mind. I am dating someone new, happy, and somehow the sappiness didn't seem to matter.  But, that is also the last sappy movie I have watched.

Fast forward to today, January 28, 2011.  Still seeing the guy I was seeing when watching Dear John, happy in general with things in my life...the only thing missing right now is, well, the guy being here and not in another state, and baseball.  That would complete my day.  So, to fill the gap of one of my wants, I put in 'Fever Pitch.'  

First off, anyone who knows me knows I am a baseball fan.  I may not be the biggest on knowing stats, but I love watching the game.  And there are certain rules I have, which some of them have been broken.  For example - as an Angels / Red Sox fan I could not think of crossing party lines, so to speak, and date a Yankees fan...that is just unthinkable.  What would RSN think?  Well, enter the guy I am seeing, who likes to kindly remind me each chance he gets of how many pennants his team has won.  Being a fan of the opposing side, I just roll my eyes.  Another rule I have is to watch as much baseball as I can watch, but not go overboard.  Let's face it, too much of a good thing is just too much.  You need a balance, and if you do not have that balance life shifts into the Bizzaro World that is spoken of in Superman comics...no, we don't want that.  These are guidelines for my watching and enjoying baseball...and so far, up until July, 2010, I was doing good (that is when I started seeing my guy.)  That being said, I really don't see this movie as a sappy chic flick.  If anything, it is a sappy Sox flick where anyone who has followed the Sox, knows someone who follows the Sox, loves someone who follows the Sox, and/or participated in anything Red Sox Nation related can completely relate to.  We are crazy fans.  We live and breathe our boys of summer.  We get miserable when they lose, and feel like we could soar with eagles when they win.  There is even a quote in the movie that describes the passion the Nation has for our team:

Troy: Why do we inflict this on ourselves?
Ben: Why? I'll tell you why, 'cause the Red Sox never let you down.
Troy: Huh?
Ben: That's right. I mean - why? Because they haven't won a World Series in a century or so? So what? They're here. Every April, they're here. At 1:05 or at 7:05, there is a game. And if it gets rained out, guess what? They make it up to you. Does anyone else in your life do that? The Red Sox don't get divorced. This is a real family. This is the family that's here for you.

I can laugh at the character named Ben because I know guys like him.  I can laugh at the character because I used to date someone similar to Ben.  Yes, I was a Lindsay at one point in my life.  So in watching this movie, it is nice to see this little story of a guy so in love with the Sox she has to cover his ears while he is eating lobster to avoid hearing about the game he is taping.

But that isn't what makes me get teary-eyed watching this movie.  Pardon the language, but screw the love story in this movie.  The part that always makes me tear up, choke up, and have Niagara Falls eyes is seeing the Sox win the World Series in the movie, in 2004, which happened in life, in 2004...after the drought came this over-abundance of delight at these guys winning.  Sweet Caroline, good times never seemed so good.

Tonight while watching the movie, though, it occurred to me something very important.  So important I called my Yankee loving guy and told him my thoughts immediately...those tears, the emotion, and the joy of seeing clips from a former World Series are so dear to me.  They are dear to me because of every year they didn't make it.  They are dear to me for every fan who sat, breathless, hoping they would win each other year, and those that were able to witness it that year, and in 2007.  For Red Sox fans, our pennants are held more dearly to us because it meant the end of a drought...the end of famine...and the beginning of something new.  For each pennant the Yankees may have, I wonder how many hold such reverence for each time they have won.  Do they tear up because they won the 2009 Series?  For Sox fans, so used to disappointment, we see each pennant we have won, or may win in the future, as reverently as we do going to church on Sunday.  Heck, Fenway is a house of worship for some where prayers are made to the Lord to be on our side.

And with any luck, He will be on our side for 2011.