So far, three games into this 2008 American League Divisional Series between the Angels and the Red Sox, the team that has been On the Road has won every game. Maybe there’s no place like home, and not in the way that Dorothy meant it. I mean maybe home does not exist. Where is home? Jack Kerouac boomeranged back and forth across the country for years trying to answer that question. Maybe he only ever felt at home when he was in motion, on the way from one thing to another. By the time he arrived, whatever he thought he’d come for had evaporated, if it ever existed in the first place.
My home is in Chicago, sort of, where I reside, but it is also in Vermont, sort of, where I grew up, and in New York City, sort of, where I lived for years. Sometimes people assume I’m from Boston, because of the Red Sox cap, but the truth is I don’t know that city very well. I went there every once in a while as a kid, a little more often when I spent a couple summers on Cape Cod during high school, then I lived there for a few months in the fall of 1985. The last time I was there was for the parade in 2004, which I’d always promised myself I’d find a way to attend, so that I could scream and yell and cry with strangers.
Last night I watched the Red Sox game in a bar here in Chicago where I watched the Red Sox win the first World Series of my lifetime. Then, the place was packed with Red Sox fans, backing up the reputation it has for being a Red Sox bar. When Foulke fielded the last grounder everyone went berserk. Things have changed. Last night the place was half-empty, pockets here and there of laughter-barking late Sunday football lushes who either didn’t care about the Red Sox or who were sick of them. The moment I walked in some drunk spotted the Red Sox cap on my head and bellowed, “Nice hat! Do they make it for men?”
But this is not my city. Why should I be surprised when I don’t feel at home. I wouldn’t feel at home in Boston either. Who cares? Just let me read my books and follow my team in peace. So on that note, tonight I’ll be rooting for the home team from behind the locked door of the unit where I currently pay my rent and pet my cats. Go, home team.
Angels
Figgins, 3B
Anderson, LF
Teixeira, 1B
Guerrero, DH
Hunter, CF
Napoli, C
Rivera, RF
Kendrick, 2B
Aybar, SS
SP: Lackey
Red Sox
Ellsbury, CF
Pedroia, 2B
Ortiz, DH
Youkilis, 3B
Drew, RF
Bay, LF
Kotsay, 1B
Lowrie, SS
Varitek, C
SP: Lester
Cardboard Gods 
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