Win it For...

From SoSH

Author: Eric Christensen (With a forward by Curt Schilling)

Publisher: Sports Publishing LLC

Date: April 1, 2005

Summary: What a World Championship Means to Generations of Red Sox Fans - Printed from the 2004 Sons of Sam Horn website (www.sonofsamhorn.com) started by the thread's originator Shaun L. Kelly. "A sonnet to a team that has been a defining obsession for an entire region of people for more than five generations."--Introduction.

Honors: The National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York has proclaimed that the original SoSH "Win it For" thread has been formally inducted into their permanent collection. Two years ago, the original thread was printed out and sent to the museum. The staff there then spent considerable time deciding whether to admit the thread as part of its permanent collection. On October 19th, the Board of Trustees of the Hall formally accepted the thread; it is now permanent part of the Rare Books Collection of the Museum.

Reviews:

1. This is reality TV like you've never experienced it on TV! It captures the love, passion, dedication, anxiety, and loyalty of generations of Red Sox fans watching their team finally beat the hated Yankees and go on to win a World Series for the first time in 86 years AS IT'S HAPPENING - as a thread on a Web site. This book transcends the Red Sox. Heck, it pretty much transcends all sports and taps into basic and universal emotions we've all experienced when the unreachable suddenly becomes reachable. In this case, it opened up a watershed of 86-years of pent-up emotions, including family dynamics and loved ones shaped in part by their common love for this team. And it came pouring out as Web postings that are truly from the heart. A superb book! - Rick Lancellotti

2. "Win It For" begins about baseball, but it ends up being much, much more. The many vignettes contained in this book create touching pictures of various people with various stories who all happen to share the love of one team. At times humorous, at times touching to the point of tears, "Win It For" kept me reading - despite the fact that its short-essay format makes it the ideal coffee table book to pick up and put down at will. I highly recommend "Win It For." I'm a lifelong Red Sox fan who can identify with the passion all the book's contributors have, but I'm also a person who can identify with the various stories that people told. - Diane Gauvin