Your 2007 World Champion Boston Red Sox!!!!!!!!

Wow. It happened again. I thought hard about a creative title for today's column, but I just like the ring of what's above better than anything else I could come up with. Now we know what it is like to have the Red Sox win TWO World Championships in our lifetime. It feels a lot different than 2004. It doesn't have the drama of 2004, with a comback against the Yankees for the ages to set up the sweep. It doesn't have the history of 2004, wiping away 86 years of heartbreak. 2004 was about Faith Rewarded. But 2007? 2007 was all about vindication.

As Jonathan Papelbon's final pitch crossed for a strike, every thing changed forever. This 2007 World Championship vindicates everything that the '04 team represented to Red Sox Nation. The 2007 team vindicates the ownership and its devotion to investing in fielding a winning team. 2007 vindicates the entire 2004 squad, showing they were not a fluke, that the Red Sox are loveable losers no more, no longer the team that couldn't get it done on the biggest of stages. 2007 vindicates a strong minor league program, say hello to Pap, Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis, Jon Lester, Jacoby Ellsbury (do you think Manny would have caught that ball in the ninth?). It vindicates front office moves that sometimes drew the consternation of the Nation...Beckett, Lowell, Matsuzaka, Okajima...hell, even J.D. Drew came through. But more than anything else, it vindicates the Boston Red Sox. We are fully immersed in what will be the Greatest Era In Sox History since we won 4 Championships in 7 seasons...yeah, that would have been from 1912-1918. They had Tris Speaker and Smokey Joe Wood, we've got David Ortiz and Curt Schilling. They had Babe Ruth (it's OK, we can say that name now), we've got Manny Being Manny and Josh Beckett being Josh Beckett.

Your World Champion Boston Red Sox. I like that way that sounds. I like the fact that our kids have no idea what it has been like to be a Sox fan for the better part of the last century. I know that in the eyes of many people, this victory brings us into Evil Empire territory, but I'm good with that. It comes with winning. The Celtics had it in the '80s (ok, the Celtics pretty much had it from '57 through '88, 30 years of domination, we'll never see anything like that again), the Patriots have it, and now the Red Sox have it. Everybody hates a Winner, except the winners fans. I like being a fan of Winners. I've tried the other side, and trust me, this is better.

There are a lot of great stories that will float around Red Sox Nation in the wake of this Championship. There is the story of two cancer survivors...one (Jon Lester) getting the win in the decisive Game 4, the other (Mike Lowell) is the World Series MVP. There is the story of two guys from Japan, Daisuke and Hideki, making their MLB debuts and ending up coming up big in October. There is Curt Schilling re-inventing himself and becoming the aging warrior who must win with guile, not with gas. There's the rookie who's head was being called for in April who went on to become a force at the plate as well as at second base. There's the story of the ailing Big Papi fighting through the pain. There is Manny and his hair, secondary to his bat. There is the September call up of the Native American rookie Jacoby Ellsbury, who gets inserted into the line-up only to see the Sox win 7 straight by the largest combined margin of victory in history. There is the story of shutting down a Colorado Rockies team that came into the Series having won 21 of 22, only to fall flat after an 8 day lay-off.

2004 ended an era, an era of heartbreak, of curses, of 86 years of frustration. 2007 ushers in a new era, hopefully like the one that started back in 1912.

It is a great time to be a part of Red Sox Nation. Enjoy the bubbly, we've earned it.