The Bench Jockeys

Could the epic collapse of the 2011 Boston Red Sox be yet another manifestation of the “King James Curse” as conjectured by The Bench Jockeys back in April http://thebenchjockeys.com/2011/04/09/a-cursedly-simple-answer-for-red-sox-slow-start/ and May http://thebenchjockeys.com/2011/05/11/the-king-james-curse-just-like-we-told-ya/ ?

It wasn’t the “shot heard ’round the world” or Kirk Gibson’s remarkable one-handed home run off of the Eck in the 1988 World Series, but last night was most definitely one of the most memorable nights in baseball history as the fate of four teams trudging through the marathon of a 162-game season weathered the perfect storm of rain delays, improbable comebacks, momentum shifting plays and managerial “stick it to yas.”   The Rays down a hockey stick in the 8th comeback to force extra innings and beat the Yanks who opted not to trot out their closer Mo Rivera, while Red Sox in control of their game against the O’s with the taste of victory one out away give up three consecutive base hits in the bottom of the 9^th and lose 4-3.  The Cards pound the hapless Astros 8-0 and wait through extra innings for the results in Atlanta where the Braves jump to a 2-0 lead only to lose at home in 13 against Philly.  The Divisional races long settled, baseball needed last night’s drama to kick start the Playoffs.

Boston, which held a 9 game lead in the wild card race on September 3rd, limped to a 7 -19 record over the ensuing 26 days, losing to the AL East doormat, Baltimore Orioles, 5 times in 7 games.  The “2011 Fold” as it will come to be known by the Red Sox sets the new standard for “failing to close” as Boston became the first MLB team to miss the postseason after leading by as many as nine games for a playoff spot entering September.  In the yin/yang of baseball, Atlanta proceeded to cough up the second largest September lead – 8.5 games – as the Cardinals passed them for the NL Wild Card.   Is it also possible that the unholy alliance between LeBron James and the Fenway Sports Group has so skewed the balance of Boston lore that karmic forces also impacted the 2011 Atlanta Braves (formerly of Boston)?  Could be….

Well, we have earned another ‘Pat (Riley) on the back.’  Over a month ago – on April 9th to be exact – with a handful of games left in the regular season, The Bench Jockeys guaranteed a Celtics-Heat post-season match-up and we told you it would not end well for the Celts.  We surmised that the newly-inked Unholy Alliance between the Fenway Sports Group and LeBron James was an affront to everything Boston and would result in chaos in the streets of the North End and on Landsdowne.  We even suggested that ol’ 33 would have been a more appropriate partner for the FSG venture and questioned the wisdom of such a union, ripe with such frightful potentialities for the Boston faithful. http://thebenchjockeys.com/2011/04/09/a-cursedly-simple-answer-for-red-sox-slow-start/  We even told you how it would end… a Read more »

April 10 – In the first Boston-Miami hoops game in the post-Fenway Sports Group/LeBron James period of the unholy alliance, the Heat destroyed the Celts 100-77.  Don’t say we didn’t warn you, Boston.

The Developer of The Bench Jockeys always talks about sports Karma.   Streaky-hitting, baseball players and Major League franchises rise and fall with the karmic tides.  After all, the Boston Red Sox endured 86 years of bad juju associated with a curse.  So what better time to talk about Karma than eight games into the 2011 season; a season where the folks at Fenway Park printed Red Sox World Series Champs – 2011 T-shirts on March 30th.  And why wouldn’t they?  Virtually every sportswriter deemed the Sox a lock to win the AL East and 75% of the ESPN pundits were certain they will be in the Series. The only problem is Read more »