I try to just ignore "Red Sox Nation" and "Yankee Universe" as best I can, but the Bill Buckner thing is sticking in my craw a little bit.
And I know I shouldn't say any of this, really, because the decent fans in "Red Sox Nation" will be offended. But it's not about them.
If you hadn't heard, Buckner returned to Fenway Park and was given a long standing ovation. Everyone is getting misty-eyed hard-ons for this "forgiveness" from Boston fans that Buckner has received.
Get out of here with that nonsense.
These are the same fans media that gave Buckner and his family hell for 20 years over a ground ball. I'm not saying that fans shouldn't be passionate, but they made him miserable. We had to put up with story after story from these poor, poor people about how Bill Buckner had caused so much awful pain to their lives and the city, and so on and so forth.
So now everyone's supposed to be thrilled that Bill Buckner has been "forgiven"?
It's long been noted by everyone except the most absolutely ridiculous that blame for the '86 collapse could be put squarely on the shoulders of Calvin Schiraldi and manager John McNamara. Buckner was a physical mess at that point; there was no reason for him to be on the field at that point of Game Six. Whether he insisted or not, McNamara was the manager. He should've known better. And let's not even forget that they grabbed a 3-0 lead in Game Seven before choking that away, too.
Bill Buckner has had to put up with this shit for decades. And, still, there are Red Sox fans media that won't grow up about this thing.
Take this, for instance:
It's been 21 years since the ball went through Bill Buckner's legs. That one moment erased everything else he did in his baseball career. There was no forgiving Bill Buckner for years and years by Red Sox fans.
...
I guess I am willing to forgive Bill Buckner. But, and I bet a lot of you feel this same way, if the Sox had not won two World Series Championships in recent years, and we were still hearing chants of "1918," we wouldn't be so forgiving of Bill Buckner. And he sure as hell (no pun intended) wouldn't be throwing out any opening day pitches. ... It's a new winning century in Red Sox nation, and we are all in a forgiving mood.