I thought you knew the background there.... I was "teamless" since the Dodgers left Brooklyn and TRIED liking the Mets when they started in 1962. They were a comedy of errors (I think they lost something like 120 games that year) but I TRIED rooting for them. Then in 1963 the Red Sox brought up a rookie, Rico Petrocelli. Now, Rico was a close friend of my brother. I was 12 years old and all of a sudden I KNEW somebody who was in the Majors! How many people can really say that? Somebody who had slept over at your house and ate meals with you was playing in the major leagues!! That was enough to win me over to Boston. The fact that Petrocelli had a decent career (playing in a few World Series, including hitting two home runs in one Series game; playing in several All-Star games, hitting 40 homers in one year and knocking in over 100 in another; winning numerous Gold Glove awards, etc.) was enough to keep me as a fan. It became a habit and I loved the grittiness of their teams... I saw players like Yaz, Tony Conigliaro, Reggie Smith, Jim Rice, Fred Lynn, Carlton Fisk, Roger Clemens, Wade Boggs, Pedro Martinez, Nomar Garciapparra, Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz come and go and they are simply an exciting team. Their losses and chokes became part of the love and seeing them win in 2004 was my biggest sports thrill.