Boston Red Sox fans wonder what'll happen next

by David Waldstein/The Star-Ledger

Wednesday October 15, 2008, 9:23 PM

Jim McIsaac/Getty ImagesRed Sox fans have good reason for looking glum, as their team faces elimination Thursday night.

BOSTON -- One of the more iconic landmarks in this city is the famed Citgo sign, a huge red, white and blue illuminated advertisement that has loomed over Fenway Park since 1940.

It's as much a part of the Fenway landscape as the Green Monster itself, and yesterday around noon, the sign caught fire. The minor conflagration was contained rather quickly, but with the Red Sox on the verge of elimination, and the Patriots staggering in the wake of Tom Brady's season-ending knee injury, what could go wrong next?

Manny Ramirez signs with the Yankees? Kevin Garnett demands a trade? Red tide poisoning is discovered in the chowdah?

In a city that, over the past decade. has come to expect championship parades at regular intervals -- six since 2002, including the Patriots (three), Red Sox (two) and the Celtics -- the mood in Boston has suddenly turned glum.

The Patriots not only lost the Super Bowl in February, but any hope for redemption was lost when star quarterback Tom Brady blew out his knee in the first 15 minutes of this season, ending his year. And with one more loss in the ALCS, the beloved Red Sox's season will be over.

It has been a truly brutal, long weekend up here. The Red Sox lost to Tampa Saturday night, the Patriots were demolished Sunday in San Diego, and on Monday and Tuesday the Rays again spanked the Sox, pushing them to the brink of elimination.

"Boston fans don't like to lose," said MBTA bus driver Jean Frederick. "We're used to winning around here. People are very shocked."

Frederick, a 28-year-old from nearby Everett, said his bus from Kenmore Square near Fenway out to Dorchester, was nearly silent Tuesday night after the Red Sox lost 13-4 to fall behind 3-1 in the best-of-seven series.

And at the Upper Crust Pizzeria on swanky Newbury St. Tuesday, the TVs were turned off as the game unfolded and the Red Sox were down 11-1. People understood why.

"They were coming in and saying, 'Yeah, I turned it off, too," explained 21-year-old employee Angel Covas from Chelsea.

Covas, who is more of a Patriots fan, was also working in the restaurant the day Brady went down. He heard the dreaded words from a co-worker, "Brady's hurt," and his world suddenly changed.

"I panicked," he said. "Everything just dropped for me."

Brady's injury has been a source of a deep angst up here, but many fans have moved on, either rooting for replacement Matt Cassel, or arguing that he should be replaced with backup Kevin O'Connell.

Surprisingly, artist Neil Collins from Cape Cod actually wasn't devastated by Brady's injury at all.

"I'm sick of Tom Brady's Hollywood lifestyle," he said. "People obviously wish he didn't get hurt, but I don't think there's a great deal of sympathy for him here. A lot of people around here are sick of hearing how great his lifestyle is."

Collins, 33, stood outside an art gallery on Newbury St., putting the finishing touches on a painting depicting a Red Sox-Yankees game at Fenway Park. Atop the painting he placed a sign he had drawn earlier in the morning in the same lettering that adorns the Red Sox's uniforms. It read, "Keep The Faith."

After 2004 and last year, two seasons in which the Red Sox came back from 3-0 and 3-1 deficits to beat the Yankees and Indians, respectively, en route to winning the World Series, many Sox fans indeed remain faithful.

Amy Whitten of Beacon Hill, despite losing her Red Sox hat when someone broke into her car last week (another sign of doom?), refused to give in. Wednesday she went to the souvenir shop across the street from Fenway for a replacement.

"With all the bad news lately on the economy, people were looking forward to the games for some good news," she said, her new cap sitting prettily atop her head. "Now this. We've come back before, but I don't think anyone has the same level of confidence right now."

If the Sox should lose, and if the Patriots go 8-8 and the Citgo sign burns to the ground and Old Ironsides sinks, Frederick, the bus driver from Everett, has a plan.

"We've still got the Celtics," he said, "and pretty soon they're going to raise their banner."