[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 19]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 25460-25461]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




     CONGRATULATING BOSTON RED SOX ON WINNING THE 2004 WORLD SERIES

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                          HON. ROSA L. DeLAURO

                             of connecticut

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, November 18, 2004

  Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I rise to congratulate the Boston Red Sox 
on their historic World Series Championship, and I want to thank my 
colleague from Massachusetts, Mr. Capuano, for his continued--and, I 
might add, longstanding--leadership on this issue.
  I must admit this moment is somewhat bittersweet. As a lifelong fan 
of the New York Yankees, winners of 26 titles and 6 American League 
East division titles in a row, I had become accustomed to the annual 
October routine of dispatching the Red Sox--often in the most 
heartbreaking of fashions.
  As such, I have always treasured moments like Bucky Dent hitting his 
game-winning home run off Mike Torrez in a sudden death playoff game 
against the Red Sox in 1978. Last year had been particularly 
satisfying, as the Yankees had triumphed over the Red Sox in Game 7 of 
the American League Championship Series with Aaron Boone's extra-inning 
homerun after having stormed back against a seemingly dominant Pedro 
Martinez.
  And this year, the Yankees seemed poised yet again to break the 
collective heart of Red Sox Nation--having outmaneuvered Boston to 
trade for Alex Rodriguez in the off-season before staking a three-
games-to-none lead in the

[[Page 25461]]

American League Championship. No baseball team had ever come back from 
a three-game deficit in a best-of-seven series. And with a crippling 
injury to Curt Schilling's ankle in Game 1 and a 19-to-8 drubbing of 
the Red Sox at Fenway Park in Game 3, it seemed once again that the 
fabled Curse of the Bambino would be making its annual devastating 
appearance.
  Yet then, the impossible happened--in what even this ardent Yankee 
fan must admit was thrilling, historic fashion, the Red Sox won the 
next 4 games and the series.
  And so, with their defeat of not only the Yankees but also their 
commanding 4-game sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals, I join my New 
England colleagues in congratulating the Boston Red Sox for rewarding 
the fans of Red Sox Nation with their first World Series title in 86 
years. I, for one, will miss the ``Nineteen-Eighteen'' chants for sure, 
but life will go on. Even if the Red Sox are the very best baseball 
team in the world right now, I know that a return to Yankee domination 
is but 4 short months away. So, we will give you this one.
  Let me again thank my colleagues--I can only hope that they will join 
me here next year as we return to our annual practice congratulating 
the Yankees.

                          ____________________