What are the Red Sox Chances: A Fans Hope Springs Eternal?
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass., July 30, 2004 –Williams College’s expert on humor, Robert Bell, raised in Belmont and Cambridge, Massachusetts–almost within the sound of the thwonk of the ash bat hitting a ball–has been for his entire life one of those who know the meaning of tragedy intimately, a Red Sox fan. Born in 1946, a champion year for the Sox, and now the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of English at Williams, Bell is quoted extensively in the book titled, “For Red Sox Fans Only.” In one anecdote in the book, Bell explains how his bride discovered his Red Sox mania when, on their August honeymoon in 1967, Bell learned the team was in first place. “My wife knew me as a literary and political person,” he explains, so she was “taken back and amazed” when he announced they were going home three weeks early, when the Miracle Sox won the pennant. What else could he do? The return to Boston was sweet, he observes in the book, “The entire town had become electric with excitement. There was a
