DanMargarita.com

The Red Sox abysmal (so many adjectives to choose from, so little time) collapse in September, not to mention the final game of the season, has brought back some haunting memories for those of us who grew up watching the Red Sox seemingly go out of their way sometimes to make their next “choke” more spectacular than their last one.

When former Boston legend Larry Bird was in town for an event earlier in the year, he noted that with the recent success of all four major Boston sports franchises (sorry, Boston Blazers, New England Revolution and Boston Lobsters) that kids growing up un New England today have only known their teams to be successful.

They do not know the heartbreak generations of fans have suffered. They don’t know who Denny Galehouse is. They don’t know who Bucky “Bleeping” Dent is. They’ve probably heard of Bill Buckner, I suppose, since he’s still occasionally referenced in popular culture and his infamous error in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series pops up now and then.

Thus I have decided to write a poem to educate the kiddies on the Sox historic foibles as well as a wrap-up of game 162 of the 2011 season.

It is a combination of Clement Moore’s, “The Night Before Christmas, aka “A Visit From St. Nicholas,” “Paul Revere’s Midnight Ride” and “Casey at the Bat.”

“’Twas The Night Before Playoffs”
By Dan Margarita

‘Twas the night before playoffs
The Red Sox last game
And just like the old days
They went down in flames

So listen my children
To one of my talks
And you'll hear of the collapse
Of the Boston Red Sox

I'm sure for the Sox
This is not what they meant
But they brought back the ghost
Of Bucky “Bleeping” Dent

"On Bucker! On Stanley"
And all of those ghosts
"On Pesky! On WIlliams!
And of course Eddie Yost"

The Sox took the lead
And had reason to mock
When Scutaro scored
On a rare pitcher's balk

Big Papi singled
To give the O's trouble
But got thrown out at second
Stretching it into a double

A third base coach
With a head made of bone
Got Scutaro needlessly
Thrown out at home

We prayed for the Yanks
To beat the Tamp Bay club
But sadly, the Yankees
Only put in their subs

With two outs and Papelbon
Out on the mound
It seemed a no-brainer
The decision was sound

A fly ball to Crawford
And the Sox would survive
It's likely he'd catch it
If only he'd dive

He opted to slide
To try for the catch
And missed it real badly
And made us all wretch

He still had a chance
With a throw to the plate
But his throw it was wild
And weak and too late

The Yanks gave us hope
Which was something we'd need
And then went and blew
A seven run lead

Now the summer is over
And the season in ruins
Let's root for the Celtics
The Pats and the Bruins

With all of the snow we had last winter, it seemed to last forever. No matter how much snow we have this winter, the means by which the Red Sox season ended, may make this winter seem even longer.