Dispatches from the state of Boston fandom

Beth: It's not the same as Oct. 17, 2003, but these past couple days, for at least a minute or two, some people have had a faraway look in their eyes.

Adam Pieniazek will not be deterred; predicts the Patriots will win the Super Bowl.

Lewis Forman explains how the Fenway sold-out record has come at the cost of a piece of the soul of Sox fandom:

... It's less of a game and more a destination. It becomes classic blue hats vs. pink hats instead of right handed relief vs. left handed relief. Clam Chowder vs. gourmet pizza instead of a hot dog vs. a box of popcorn. People watching vs. GAME watching.

Papel-blog comes back from an extended blogging break:

The Red Sox are engaged in a three-game set to determine who will emerge in first place in the AL East, and I can't spend the duration of the series making jokes about Derek Jeter's sexual orientation in order to cope. And judging from what went down in Foxboro on Sunday, football is not going to be the stress-reducing distraction from the pennant race that it has been in previous years.

Kristen writes:

I would like to personally thank the Red Sox for at least temporarily, lifting the spirits of a grieving region. Jason Bay would not want us to cry, people. Jason Bay would want us to be happy. And Jonathan Papelbon would probably make some obscene sock puppets to get us laughing again if he thought that'd work. ...

And, of course, no matter what, we'll always have Debbie CHB Downer to tell us what to think:

Dan likes to portray New England fans as little more than infantile sycophants with a lack of perspective. ...

Indeed, harrumphs Soxaholix:

... Let me get this straight, the same fans who endured 86 years of Red Sox futility *and* years of the Patriots as also rans "are lost boys and lost girls"? ...