Sometimes you're the Louisville Slugger,
Sometimes you're the ball.
Sometimes it all comes together,
Sometimes you're gonna lose it all.
Mary-Chapin Carpenter, "The Bug"

All right. Enough is bloody well enough.

Yes, we're Miserable Red Sox Fans (tm). This is a genetic condition as well as a transmissible disease. We consider ourselves the most loyal and abused fans in the American League, and possibly even more so than Cubs fans, despite their longer run of less than perfect achievment. We have the greatest history of also-rans in baseball, the largest number of legendary players who never earned themselves a ring. We have the greatest old ballpark in the great old world, even if it doesn't have bathrooms, seats us behind pillars, and is probably going to be torn down sometime in the next decade and rebuilt in a New Improved (tm) Version.

We need to get over ourselves.

Let's moan about the Curse of the Bambino a little more, guys. Or the front office. Or the owners. If we can't complain about our ace, how about the #2 starter? #3? Long relief? The bullpen? If we can't complain about the pitching staff, how about the hitting? Or the fielding? If we can't complain about those, how about the DL? Let's complain about the farm system, the draft system, the quality of the foreign signings. Let's crucify Bucky Dent in our hearts next to Frazee. Let us, when our star is denied the MVP award, remember Ted Williams's triple crown and point and shout and yell, "See! It's a conspiracy!" Let us practice Taps on our bugles and start playing before the All-Star break.

I saw, though I forget where, a comment on the infamous Game 4 of this year's ALCS. It said something like, "We've seen before that Nomar is affected by bad vibes." This is something we should all remember, post somewhere where we can see it - before we go to Fenway and expect to see a heartbreaker. Before we expect to see the season end with a near-miss. Remember that there are people out there who are particularly susceptible to bad vibes. And that bad vibes for the Sox are by definition good vibes for the Damned Yankees.

Through the postseason there were signs in Fenway that said, "Reverse the Curse." I would like to modify that somewhat - I would like to declare that the first principle of the Boston Red Sox Fans' Anti-Angst Initiative is:

Other principles are:

• Yesterday's game was yesterday, and is gone and dealt with and in the record books. Tomorrow's game is tomorrow. We need to worry about today's game. The games played after Babe Ruth was sold have nothing to do with the game today - except if we believe that they do. (The Jimy Williams Principle.)
• The Red Sox Nation needs to let go a little of the history of misery and angst, take in a deep breath, and get a grip. It is not, "We have had some of the greatest players in baseball who never saw a World Series." It is, "We have had some of the greatest players in baseball."
• We have a team full of guys who we can say we are proud to have with us and representing us to the baseball world.
• Belief does make a difference.
• It is not enough to say that we believe. We must truly believe.

Now, even if one doesn't believe in vibes, it is something of a truism that constant historical bludgeoning has become something of a joke. Do we really want our beloved Sox to be the butt of laughter because we, the fans, cannot quite manage to realize how tiresome the Curse is to anyone outside. Yes, nobody will understand the history, the tradition, and the loyalty. But our martyrdom for our cause would be much more honorable and respectable if we would just plain shut up about it!

Me, I do believe in vibes. I believe in faith, I believe in good fortune. I believe that the expectation of failure puts sand in the gears of the universe. Enough sand and we get Billy Buckner or Bucky Dent or umpires. Faith does all kinds of things. Ask Carlton Fisk about his home run off the foul pole.

The purpose of this Initiative is to counteract the gloom, doom, angst and chest-beating self-promoting agony of a certain number of fans who would rather see the negative than the positive. Perhaps if we believe hard enough, we can counteract a little bit of the negativity that floats around, and get all the way to the Series and home again with the trophy.