Out with the Religious Loyalties Test, in with the Baseball one.
Since everyone must define their loyalties these days, here goes: I was not born a Red Sox fan. My mother grew up in Baltimore, so I was an Orioles fan in the American League, but I was really, really a Braves fan, years of listening to baseball games under the covers after the lights went out, and those were the years when the Braves were AWFUL.
But back to the American League, I liked the Orioles, which means I disliked the Yankees, along with all those other reasons, too. All of that baggage made me a somewhat ideal family to marry into a Red Sox family, which I have, with gusto. I even forked out for my wife to get the out-of-town games this year so she could spend less time rooting against someone (the Yankees) and more time rooting for someone (the Red Sox). And I got to sit in a prime seat of Game 7 of the ALCS this year, which was one of the most exciting sporting events I’ve ever attended.
All of which is to say, even as a fan of the Red Sox for less than five years, even I know that it was 86 years between Red Sox championships in the World Series. For that reason, I winced at Mitt Romney’s announcement in the CNN/YouTube debate that as a “lifelong Red Sox fan” he was so excited that after 87 years the Red Sox finally won another championship.
Now ABC is calling him on it.

The Former Massachusetts governor, who presided over the hub of Red Sox Nation for 4 years, and was Governor of the state in 2004 when they staged their epic, history- changing comeback and finally triumphed in the World Series, botched one of the holiest, most sacrosanct numbers in Red Sox lore.
At the close of the GOP debate in St. Petersburg, FL, Mitt Romney spoke of the 2004 World Series Championship: “Eighty-seven long years. We waited 87 long years. And true suffering Red Sox fans that my family and I are, we could not have been more happy than to see the Red Sox win the World Series.” The only problem with that statement? It was 86 years between Red Sox victories. 86 years! 1918 to 2004. That makes 86 years.
It is a number that millions of Red Sox fans know by heart. It is a number that many kids in Massachusetts know before they can even count.
What does this say about the Governor? His authenticity has been questioned on several issues: abortion, gay rights, gun control. Is his alleged Red Sox fan-dom also now in question? Romney, who was born and raised in Michigan, did once refer to Fenway Park as “Red Sox Stadium.”