Tessie Up!

Okay, the Red Sox lost to the Yankees last night--again! The season is rolling to a close and those damned Yankees are making us look like fools. If we don't do something, Boston's going to replace the Yankees as the biggest chokers in baseball, topping their 2004 downfall in the ALCS when they were ahead three games and lost the next four to our beloved Sox.

That's just wrong and I have two words to say to all of Red Sox Nation: Tessie Up!

This takes a bit if explaining--especially if you're not a Sox fan--so I hope you'll stick with me. It has to do with superstitions. If you're a baseball fan, you gotta have 'em. I've got a gazillion where the Red Sox are concerned. Given last night's game, I'd have to say mine aren't working, so I'm calling out to Red Sox Nation to Tessie Up! Because our boys need it. Desperately.

Where is this coming from? Well, this morning, I was following one of my own personal superstitions and reading the comments written by some of the Yankee fans to an article on AOL Sports about last night's game. One of them said--and I'm paraphrasing here--"The ghost of Babe Ruth is back!"

Meaning, of course, that the Curse of the Bambino is alive and well and living in Red Sox Nation.

Can't argue with that, especially since the Yankees have hacked away at our lead in the AL East until it's down to a measly 4 1/2 games--and I'm afraid it's going to get a lot worse before it gets better. If it ever does get better. So, we've got to do something to stop the Babe. We've got to counter-attack with Tessie.

What's Tessie? Well, roughly, "Tessie" is a song from the early 20th century that was adopted by the "Royal Rooters," a group of Red Sox supporters as their rally cry. Some people believe the singing of "Tessie" is the reason Boston was going to and winning the World Series pretty regularly back in the early 1900's, back before 1918 when Ruth was sold to the Yankees. I've even seen it posited that the Curse of the Bambino is nothing compared to the Curse of Tessie. "Tessie" is also credited with the 86 year drought because they stopped singing it after 1918. Then, in 2004, the Dropkick Murphy's released an updated version of the song and when people started singing it at the games, Boston won the World Series again.

So, have they stopped playing "Tessie" at Fenway? Or, could it be that Tessie is a jealous ghost and we're not giving her enough attention? If the fans at Fenway--and oh, how I wish I could join you--start singing Tessie's accolades again, not just after the game but during it, will we salvage this season that's slipping through our fingers?

Or, are they already singing it and Tessie's ghost is getting her butt kicked by Babe Ruth's ghost the same way we're getting ours kicked by the Yankees? (I really can't say because I'm down here in NC and I have to rely on ESPN's pretty worthless coverage of the Red Sox.)

Thing is, we have to do something to give our boys a boost. So, to all the Fenway Faithful, Tessie Up! Don't just smile when you hear it played after the game and think, "oh, what a catchy tune," but open your mouths and sing. And not just when the game is over. Belt it out at the top of the second, the bottom of the sixth, whenever, and get all the people around you singing too.

Don't know the words? You can find them here (along with a better explanation than mine):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tessie

And let's see if we can't stop this humiliating downward spiral before it's too late.