Where Were You 5 Years Ago Today? ALCS Game 7

By Curt Nickisch
Oct 20, 2009, 1:54 PM
3 Comments

Red Sox fans, seated front from left, Jamie Hawley, Faryn Maya and Neela Samia, as the Boston Red Sox score in the first inning against the New York Yankees in American League playoff action on Wednesday, Oct. 20, 2004. (Steven Senne/AP)

Just a few days before, the Red Sox were goners. Boston had fallen behind three games to none in the best-of-seven American League Championship Series. The Yankees were our daddies. History was repeating itself. The series was over.

But then came The Steal. Big Papi trotting the bases. The walk-off win where Johnny Damon could keep running all the way to New York.

ALCS Game 7. October 20, 2004. Five years ago today.

That’s the day everything changed. After almost a century of being the goat, this city reveled in valedictory delirium. The Red Sox finished off the most improbable comeback in dominant fashion. Derek Lowe mowed them down. Damon hit a grand slam. There was no going back. The 1918 signs were history.

Here at WBUR, we’re remembering that day. Intern Tom Urell jumped out of his seat, tearing up his knuckles on his concrete dorm room ceiling. News writer Frannie Carr remembers how everyone was transfixed, how that game was the only thing that mattered.

And I won’t forget the NPR story the next morning, with a Yankees fan in utter disbelief: “This can’t be happening.”

Did you think it would ever happen? Where were you on this day?

Share your memories in the comments.

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Elisabeth

I had been at Game 4 and witnessed The Steal and The Walk Off (and experienced one of the few moments of Pure Joy in my life). I had nervously paced around my law school office watching games 5 and 6. And on the morning of Game 7, I had (planned) outpatient surgery at Brigham and Women’s. I spend the evening recuperating at my parents’ house on the South Shore, fighting the after-effects of anesthesia and the grogginess of pain medications. My mom sat with me to make sure I stayed awake, as she knew I would never forgive her if she let me miss that game. My dad – who introduced me to baseball from the time I could walk, who has brought me to countless games in section 159, row LL, seats 5 and 6 – was in Chicago on business. He called in the 8th inning – he was at a bar on his cell phone and we just sat on the phone and watched in disbelief as the game finished with a Sox victory. I cried. And then I made sure my schedule was clear so my dad and I could go to Game 1 of the World Series. I get teary just thinking about that ALCS – I had a rough fall, but that victory canceled out all the negative aspects of it.
Grant

We watched all of the playoff games with friends and neighbors including Game 7 at McFadden’s in Providence. We were very superstitioous in regard to where we stood, when we showed up etc. The camaraderie was extremley strong. It was very festive. When the Sox won the game the place turned into a major party. Strangers were hugging each other. We returned for all of the playof and World Series games in 2007. However at about 11:00pm during game 2 the bar shut off the sound of the game and turned it into a night club. I have not been back to the bars since. Did we New Englanders become complacent after winning one World Series?
http://Facebook Terry RSM

I was “ALL ALONE” at home after work (I watched it there too)with my dog Sparky and my cat Booja, and I screamed SOOOOOOOO LOUD FOR SOOOOOOO LONG….that my neighbors didn’t even care……THEY WERE SCREAMING TOO!!!! hahahaha LOVED IT!!! GO SOX!! 2010

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Where Were You 5 Years Ago Today? ALCS Game 7

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