If you are tired of looking at and discussing the Red Sox in a superficial and “talk radio” way, then the new book The Red Sox and Philosophy is for you. Editor Michael Macomber compiled essays from thirty philosphers to cover nearly every Red Sox topic imaginable from the Dao of Ted Williams to the existentialism of Bill Lee. Below is a excerpt from Peter Kreefts’s “The Primitive Mysticism of Red Sox Fans ” (Chapter 13 in the book)
The greatest good, and the ultimate meaning of life, for Red Sox fans, is beating and preferably humiliating, the Damnyankees. Red Sox fans are Manichean dualists. They believe in a single absolute good and a single absolute evil. And its not so much the attainment of good as the defeat of evil that is their ultimate purpose and happiness.
The book also includes and excellent chapter by Stephanie St. Martin entitled “In Sync With Pink?” where there is a true and honest analysis of the “pink hat” and what it means to all sides.
There are few books out there where you can get a true sense of what it means to be a Sox fan. After reading The Red Sox and Philosophy you realize just how much we have in common and how deep our fandom goes. Now I just need everyone out here in California to read it to prove I am not all that crazy. However the book does come with a warning in chapter two from John McHugh :
In order to lead emotionally balanced lives we must be able to stop ourselves from ruminating over wins and loses of the previous evening and from focusing exclusively on the upcoming game, each to the detriment of life in the present.
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