I grew up a Baltimore Orioles fan.  Ripken, Hoiles, Mussina, Anderson, Gomez, Devereaux.  How I loved them.  Went to one of the last games at old Memorial Stadium and many at Camden Yards.  I’ll always have a soft spot.

So judge me, but I converted to Red Sox Nation.  How can you not in Boston?  It’s like witnessing Jesus perform a miracle and somehow not believing.  I had to keep this a secret in NYC.  At one staff meeting, the agency commissioner (a Mets fan) goes around the table and asks each squad member who their favorite team was – some definitely lied to win brownie points, many replied the Yankees.  When it came to my turn, I knew this would be a potential minefield.  Wanted to say the Red Sox, but just told the white lie and said the Orioles.  They really sucked back then, so threat level reduced.

The Red Sox were fun to watch.  The 2007 World Series team was special – Ortiz, Youk, Pedroia, Beckett, Lester, Ellsbury, Paps, etc.  My favorite player though was Jason Varitek, the catcher and team captain.

By the 2007 season, Varitek wasn’t a serious power hitter or had a high batting average.  His major contributions were as a leader.  One of the rare captains in baseball, he wore a “C” hockey style on his jersey.  He knew his pitchers inside out and how to handle them, calm them down.  I watched many games where you could tell that they respected him.  Such a commanding presence.  And he fought Alex Rodriguez who was being his usual entitled self.  This scene would become my laptop’s wallpaper.

Varitek’s qualities as a captain were rare.  He illustrates the principle that often the captain isn’t the best offensive player or the star.  There’s an insightful book “The Captain Class” that describes the qualities of great captains in sports history – many not what would be initially imagined.

The Red Sox were a religion.  Their spring scrimmages against college teams would even be televised.  One of my students hit a home run off Lester, one of their star pitchers.  I still love that dirty water and miss Fenway.