As Sam Sees It<br>

The Boston Red Sox were down to their last out, trailing the New York Yankees and needing to win four straight games to get to the World Series. Eight games later, the Red Sox were on the field at Busch Stadium in St. Louis celebrating a sweep of the National League Champion Cardinals. If there ever was such a thing as the “curse of the Bambino” it has been shattered and pulverized into little pieces.

Manny Ramirez got the trophy as the World Series Most Valuable Player, but the truth is that there were plenty of good candidates on the Boston roster. David Ortiz, who had been the hitting star against the Yankees, continued to wave his magic wand. Johnny Damon came up big. So did Mark Bellhorn.

The pitching was fabulous. The last three Boston starters (Curt Schilling, Pedro Martinez and Derek Lowe) did not allow the best hitting team in baseball an earned run.

This year may have erased the jinx talk, but, sadly, it won’t undo the damage done to a couple of excellent players who were assigned goat horns in previous Red Sox losses.

Bill Buckner was a great ball player with the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Chicago Cubs before he went to the Red Sox and was blamed for the loss of the 1986 World Series to the New York Mets.

Buckner did let a ground ball go through his legs at a critical time in the game. It had taken a couple of walks and questionable plays before his to give the Mets even a glimmer of hope. His just happened to be the last miscue.

Buckner may have well finished his career as a Dodger if he had not broken an ankle that slowed him from a base-running threat into just a good hitter. The Dodgers, who rely on speed, traded Buckner to the Cubs for Rick Monday, who still works for the team as a broadcaster. Buckner couldn’t run any more, but he could hit well enough to win a National League batting title with the Cubs.

The man was playing in constant pain and far less than his natural ability when he committed that infamous error. His one play did not cost the Red Sox that World Series. It was a team effort, just as the miraculous eight straight wins this year was a team effort.

The man Buckner should be compared to is Curt Schilling. Schilling could have been a goat himself after his disastrous first game start against the Yankees in the American League Championship Series. Instead, he underwent an experimental surgery in which his skin was sewn so as to hold an ankle tendon in place.

He played in less than his best physical condition and in pain and won a crucial game in that series and his only start in the World Series. Both men gave beyond the normal effort and did so courageously. One won and the other didn’t. But both deserve our admiration.

The Winslow Bulldogs will begin their post season quest for an Arizona State 3A Conference Football Championship on Friday at Emil Nasser Stadium. Come out and see this fine team one more time on their home turf. Then plan three trips to the valley to watch the Bulldogs hand Coach Matt Gracey his first state championship. It won’t be an easy task. The likes of the Blue Ridge Yellowjackets, the Show Low Cougars and the Coolidge Bears have other ideas about where that trophy belongs.

No prediction here, except that the Bulldogs will make their presence known and give their fans something to cheer about. If state championships were easy to win, they wouldn’t mean near as much. Win this one, gentlemen, and you will have a victory to savor the rest of your lives.