By Kelly Burke
November 13, 2008
 
As sports anchors, we're supposed to be objective and unbiased, but the bottom line is most of us are die-hard sports fans too! Sometimes balancing the two is hard...and when it comes to my love for the Red Sox, I don't even try. People often ask me how I am a Red Sox fan growing up most of my life in Arizona and now calling Oregon home, and what they don't realize is that for the first ten years of my life I was raised in Hollis, NH (population 5,000 people) and only an hour away from Boston.
 
The whole attraction started innocently enough...my brother was a big fan and my Dad would root for them, so that's probably where I picked it up...but lately it has gotten out of control. Just ask my roommates or my family- heck, even I'll admit to it. I've always liked the sport of baseball, but I would say in the last five years my passion for the sport has reached new proportions.
 
I can remember 2004 when the Red Sox went on that magical run through the ALCS and World Series. I know exactly where I was in Game 4 against the Cardinals...at the time, I had a part time job at a local bakery/coffee shop, and I was upset that I had to work. I was supposed to be helping customers, but I think I spent more time in the back trying to sneak updates from Jon Miller and Joe Morgan on ESPN radio who were calling the game.
 
Luckily in 2007, I watched Boston sweep the Rockies from the comfort of my own couch. I met Troy Tulowitzki this summer, and I actually considered bringing the sweep up during the interview just to rub it in, but he was way too nice to go through with it.
 
Which brings me to 2008...it's reached epic levels this year. I'm embarrassed to admit that I have actually cancelled dates this postseason to accommodate when the Red Sox were playing, especially as it got into the ALCS. Game 5 against the Rays, I was getting so mad as I watched my Sox trail 7-0, almost to the point of turning off the t.v. (but thank you baseball gods I did not), and then I witness one of the greatest comebacks in baseball history. I'm sure my roommates thought I was crazy...I was screaming, jumping up and down, not to mention I took the t.v. control hostage, even though they were supposed to be watching Grey's Anatomy at the time. It frankly scared them I'm sure, because while I'm an emotional person, this was a side of me that I know they had never seen nor could they understand. It's just a game...yeah right!
 
Game 7 was the worst. As the final innings got closer, I was texting my brother on the phone non-stop trying to hold it together. It was almost like I could sense the magic had run out. Matt Garza has now become my new Aaron Boone. To make matters worse, I had to anchor that night, so I had to watch the Rays celebrate from my office and then go on and read the highlights. My best friend, (former Newswatch 12 anchor) Colleen Bormann even had the nerve to call me right after the final out and rub it in (even though she doesn't know the first thing about baseball) and let's just say I hung up on her real quick. There were no returned phone calls to ANYONE that night...only self-pity.
 
My love for the Sun Devils, Phoenix Suns, and Patriots just cannot compare to the boys from Beantown. Maybe it's because Dustin Pedroia is a fellow ASU athlete and class act or that Jacoby Ellsbury hails from Oregon, but I loved the BoSox long before they joined the team. Will Southwood, my friend and coworker says I am being greedy...Boston has enough championships these days...it's somebody else's turn.  Part of me sympathizes with him (he's been through some lean years lately with the Raiders and A's). However, the bottom line is that I am a former athlete, and I love to win, so when you have a good thing going, why give it up??
 
I have no Red Sox allies in the newsroom with me these days since Tim Conroy left, but fortunately I do have several Red Sox friends in the Rogue Valley that can relate. And since my Sun Devils are stinking it up, I have a solid three months before spring training starts, but the thing that will make me happiest and get me through these months without baseball and Boston is knowing that on Christmas morning, I will be given one of the greatest gifts of all. They say diamonds are a girls best friend, but for me it is all about the 2004 Boston Red Sox Collectors Edition DVD...courtesy of my brother, P.J. Burke. I'm told it brought tears to his eye the first time he saw it, and I'm sure it will leave me weeping as well, although this time, tears of joy!!
 
~Kelly
kburke@kdrv.com