Why I Couldn't Bring Myself to Watch The 2018 Red Sox World Series Parade

While I have no trouble walking around New York City wearing Boston Red Sox regalia, I could not bring myself to watch yesterday's World Series parade on TV or online.


Frankly, it would have hurt too much. After all, coming to NYC not part of my plans and an act of desperation. At the time, I tried to put a happy face on it. I wrote, "I shall root for the Red Sox for the duration of 2018 even if it means missing a World Series parade. Well, I've been to three of them."


As it turns out three isn't enough. Although I was certainly rooting for the Red Sox against the Yankees there was a part of me which wanted the Astros to prevail in the ALCS and an even bigger part of me that wanted the Dodgers to win the World Series just so I wouldn't have to face this conundrum. Another part of me was tempted to take a bus up to Boston and go to the parade. This would have required taking a day off work, finding a place to crash for the night or perhaps making it a very long day trip. But my housing issues in Boston still haven't been resolved and going up there would have been a reminder of it. Perhaps this is the price to pay for moving out of Boston or at least a small part of it.


When I told one of my new colleagues that part of me was rooting against the Red Sox, he said I was being selfish and I told him he is exactly right. Most people never experience anything like much less thrice in a lifetime. This fellow is a Knicks fan who have not won a NBA Title since 1973. Other franchises have had longer droughts, but this man believes with all his heart that all five boroughs will shut down if the Knicks ever win it all again.


I told him that although I've been to three World Series parades, I always kept in mind that each parade could be my last. He could see I was genuinely pained about not being in Boston yesterday telling, "The win is more important than the parade. The win is forever." This is true, but the parade is a part of the championship. The Boston Red Sox had their greatest season ever and I couldn't be there with them in the end and be part of the reverie of the promised land. And if I couldn't be there in the flesh, I didn't want to see it all.


With that I'm glad I posted a few minutes of the 2013 World Series Parade to YouTube. It is the only video I have ever uploaded.