I'll tell ya, with all apologies to my girlfriend (whom I have not only converted her to Red Sox Nation, but her mother as wel), watching the Red Sox win the World Series was the greatest moment of my life.
I had started watching baseball in 1986. Growing up in CT you had three choices, Red Sox, Yankees, and Mets. The first game I started watching on tv was a Yankees game on WPIX Channel 11 out of New York. My father came into the room, looked at the tv, and said to me, "turn that sh*t off! If you want to watch baseball, watch this!" He then proceeded to change the channel to WSBK 38 out of Boston, it was 8/21/86 as a matter of fact, and the Red Sox creamed the Cleveland Indians 24-5. I became a diehard fan for life on that day. We won the AL East that year, and played against the California (now Anaheim) Angels in the ALCS. After going down in the series 3 games to 1 I heard nothing but teasing from Yankees and Mets fans about "The Curse". Well, the Sox came back on won that series 4-3. It was then on to Shea to play the Mets, and we won the first two games, only to lose the next two at Fenway, but then got game 5 in Boston to head to NY with a 3-2 lead. This was against a Mets team that had won 108 games, and many of my peers were jumping on their bandwagon. Then came game 6, extra innings, we score two, one out away, and a ground ball goes through Bill Buckner's legs as the Mets come back to win the game, and the Series the next day. I had to endure alot the next day at school from these Mets fans who would later prove to be fair-weather. Despite the loss and the constant teasing, I stood by my Red Sox.
In '88 and '90 the Red Sox would win the AL East again, only to get swept by the Oakland A's managed by Tony LaRussa in the ALCS. Then in '95 and '98 we won the wild card, only to be dispatched by the Cleveland Indians. In '99 we won the wild card again, and came back from 0-2 down in a best of 5 to beat the Indians and win the Division Series. A very overmatched Red Sox went down in 5 to Yankees, but that one loss we gave them was their only playoff loss that year.
Last year I thought was going to be the year. Wild card again, coming from 0-2 down to beat the A's, and going to war with Yanks in the ALCS. On FOX, all you saw was pictures of Ruth and goats (for the Cubs, who were in the NLCS). We had game 7 won, Pedro was kept in too long, we ended up losing in 7 innings to our hated rivals. I was crushed.
This year, we caught fire after trading Nomar Garciaparra, a Boston icon. When we swept through the Angels, I again thought, "this is the year". Then when we lost the first three games against the Yankees I held out hope, but thought we were done. Then we started coming back, and did what no one else ever did before: come back from being down 0-3 in a seven game playoff series to win. I didn't want to jinx anything, but I thought that whoever was going to the World Series for the National League was in the way of destiny and about to get run over. How right I was! We crushed those Cards, who had won 105 games during the season. It wasn't even close!
All of the years of frustration...gone. You can take the championships won by the Patriots, Celtics, and Bruins and put them together: they don't add up to this one for the Sox. Fox, who had plastered a goat complete with sound affects after the Cubs were out of playoff contention like the pricks they are, along with some Yankees fans (some were humble and congratulatory) can take Babe Ruth, their "1918" chants, and their stupid Curse, and shove them up their collective asses!
So yes, I will be unbearable. I think I deserve to be!
