When the late John Denver sang about a Colorado Rocky Mountain High, this is what he must have meant. After sweeping the Colorado Rockies in four games, the Boston Red Sox have become the first team in Major League Baseball to win two World Championships in the 21st century - and Red Sox Nation is flying high.

For years, Red Sox fans suffered summer after summer and probably tagged the term, “wait ’till next year.” Sox fans have had to endure their Yankees’ friends for almost a lifetime. No longer. The 2004 Championship got a “monkey off their backs,” while this championship may signify a new era in Red Sox baseball.

When one looks at this Red Sox roster and its minor league system, the combination has all the earmarks of a juggernaut for years-to-come. It reminds me of another team from the American League East that was built in the mid-90s and won four championships in five years. With home-grown players on its current roster like Ellsbury, Pedroia, Youkilis, Papelbon, Lester, and Delcarmen, plus some nasty arms in their minor league system like no-hit-phenomenon Clay Buchholz and a kid named Masterson - added to their “rookie” pitchers Matsuzaka and Okajima - this organization is built for now and the future. And, don’t forget, the Red Sox were able to trade for baseball’s best pitcher, Josh Beckett, and World Series MVP, Mike Lowell, because they had prospects in the system to do so. So, love them or hate them, the Red Sox are here to stay.

World Series Thoughts

Employers throughout New England must have thought Halloween came early this year, as baseball fans headed to work today looking like zombies. For those lucky to be young enough (or foolish enough) to celebrate into the wee-hours of the morning after the Red Sox victory, I can just image what they looked like today. But c’mon Mr. Selig, what are you thinking? Why is a World Series game starting after 8:30 Eastern time on a Sunday night? And don’t give me this “prime time” television ratings stuff, as the biggest sports event in America - that little game called the Super Bowl, is also played on Sunday and is scheduled to kick-off at 6:18 Eastern time. Kids and hard-working people simply can’t stay up after midnight to watch your game. Why are you trying to hide your marquee event? Maybe it’s time the tail stops wagging the dog and you step up to do what’s right for your fan base and put the game on at a decent viewing-time.

Also, was it just me, but were you offended during the game by the two-headed monster called Rodriquez-Boras? Bud Selig and team owners must have been furious that these two money-hungry capitalists, Alex Rodriquez and agent Scott Boras, used MLB’s greatest stage to announce and promote that baseball’s albatross was opting out of his Yankees’ contract. While I know Fox talking heads had no choice but to make the announcement - its media-machismo 101 in play - I wish they had not prolonged the dialogue. Let’s hope the Yankees stick by their guns and not play the Rodriquez-Boros game and say sayonara to A-Rod - and that other owners also keep away from a duo that seems to have no interest in the game. It time for baseball owners to say, “Enough is enough.”