On the traditional thanksgiving day, it seems only appropriate that all Sox fans are thankful for this past season. The first AL East title since 1995 and second World Series in four (4!) seasons is more than most people could expect, but he Sox gave it to us anyways. So to sum up the season, thank you…

Josh Beckett for pitching a Cy Young caliber season and then kicking it into another gear in the playoffs. You went 4-0 in the playoffs with a Sandy Koufax-esque 1.20 ERA, and were at your best when the team needed you most in the ALCS. I don’t know if you were trying to stick it to your ex who the Indians had sing the National Anthem, but I truly don’t care what your motivation was.

Curt Schilling for sacking up when you needed to and reminding us of what you looked like in 2004 (minus about 50lbs).

Dice-K for earning all $100M+ in 5 IP during game 7 of the ALCS.

Jon Lester for giving us all something to root for besides the final score. Oh, and that start in the clinching World Series game was nice too.

Tim Wakefield for winning 17 games and then being such a selfless person that you took yourself off the WS roster because you knew Lester gave the team a better chance to win.

Julian Tavarez for your special moments with Manny.

Clay Buchholz for that no hitter against the Orioles.

Mike Timlin for anchoring a young bullpen to a WS title. There’s a reason you’re nickname was “the Admiral.”

Manny Delcarmen, Jr. for providing a great bass beat for the pirate ship band in the bullpen.

Hideki Okajima for pulling a Keith Foulke and clearly giving everything you had in pitching some of the most high-leverage innings in the post-season. The 2 innings in game 7 of the ALCS were unbelievable, and the Sox wouldn’t have been playing in the WS without that 1-pitch double-play you got from Casey Blake in the 7th inning. I just hope your arm doesn’t fall off next season like Foulke’s did in 2005.

Eric Gagne for absolutely nothing.

Jonathan Papelbon for your fastball, your jigg and for preventing heart-attacks across New England.

Tek for being The Captain.

Belli for…are you still on this team?

Youks for being the only player who looks more pissed off and excited when the Sox screw up or score than I do. Being a fellow member of the tribe, playing gold-glove defense and hitting like you thought it was the first half of the season in the playoffs is also a plus.

Dustin Pedroia for the big ol’ swing.

Julio Lugo for, shit, I’m going to have to get back to you on this one.

Alex Cora for providing good defense when we could no longer take Lugo’s terrible throws from SS.

Mikey Lowell for being the MVP of this team all season long. The clutch hits, the great defensive plays, and being an all around team-player made you a cornerstone of the 07 Sox.

Manny Ramirez for hitting the bomb off K-Rod in the ALDS, and for being Manny.

Coco Crisp for becoming a permanent fixture on WebGems each night. It’s a shame you didn’t win the Gold Glove.

Jacoby Ellsbury for providing a spark where there used to be a black hole in the lineup starting in game 6 of the ALCS and getting out number two in the 9th inning of game four of the World Series while crashing into the wall.

J.D. Drew for the $11M grand-slam.

Eric Hinske for May 17th vs. the Tiggers.

David Ortiz for carrying this team on your back even when your knee wanted to collapse.

Terry Francona for keeping a high priced team in a stressful sports city loose and ready to play. And on top of that, for making all the right strategic moves in the playoffs (although I’m still confused why you pitched Wakefield in the ALCS).

A couple more headlines, as we keep enjoying the World Series. These better not jinx next year!

Back in ancient time, right around November 2003 BCE (Before the Celebration Era), Theo Epstein brought a player to the Red Sox named Curtis Montegue Schilling. When Schilling joined the Sox he said a lot of things, some good, some bad. For every “I can’t think of a cooler scenario than making 55000 New Yorkers shut up,” there was a “make sure you tell everybody to vote, and vote Bush next week.” Needless to say, he put his mouth in quite a few places. But you could never accuse Curt of not also putting his money where his mouth was. He made those 55000 New Yorkers shut up in 2004 and he (I assume) voted for Bush in 2004.

But for some reason when he said he wanted to return to the Sox for his final season, everybody (myself included) was extremely skeptical. We figured he’d take the big money deal wherever it was and wouldn’t take a hometown discount to pitch in Fenway in 2008. Well, my apologies go out to the “Dome-Bellied Big Lug,” we should have learned by now that he’d put his money where his mouth is once again. An $8M contract with a ton of incentives is exactly what I like to see as a Sox fan. Plus this now lines up a possible rotation of Beckett/Schilling/Dice-K/Lester/Buchholz/Wake (yes that’s six) for 2008. How sweet would that be.

So thanks big guy, it’ll be a pleasure to see you end your career in a Sox jersey. Mostly because it means mine will never go out of style.

In 2004, they were the idiots. The traitor himself stood up and proclaimed “we’re just a bunch of idiots.” So every interview of a Red Sox player, coach or front office representative throughout the postseason ended with the question, “in 2004 you guys were ‘the idiots.’ So what are you this year?”

Well, I’ve now heard all the postgame interviews and the postseason late-night talkshow interviews and it’s clear to me that this team was not “a bunch of idiots” (which was also true as soon as Damon left for the MFY, since the average IQ of the team rose 50 points). No, this team, by their own admission is a group of “bad men.” (Or the R-rated version, “bad mother fuckers.”)

After hitting the walkoff home run against the Angels in game 2 of the ALDS, Manny said:

When you don’t feel good and you still get hits, that’s how you know you’re a bad man.

And according to Tom Verducci, after the Sox lost game 3 of the ALCS to the Indians Papi gave this fiery speech:

Listen, we’re not just a good team. We’re a great team. And don’t you fucking forget that. And let’s go play one at a time and go prove that. Because let me tell you something. There’s a reason why you wear this Red Sox uniform…Because you’re a bad mother fucker.

As a quick aside, I love this quote. Not only because Papi’s the man, but because as a fan, there’s nothing better than knowing that the players you root so hard for respect the front of the jersey as much as you do.

It’s clear that the Sox this year should be known by a different moniker. So I’d like to say, once again, congratulations to the 2007 World Series Champion Red Sox, a group of bad mother fuckers.

It took me awhile, but here are a bunch of pictures from the parade as well, complete with captions. I really wish I could have been there. Why did the Sox have to win so quickly?!

Wasssssssup?

Was fly this flag worth somebody’s life? Of course!

So that’s the answer to the Da Vinci code!

Theo, Jews don’t pump their fist for Jewish pride.

This is a basketball! (Sorry, you have to be a UCLA fan to get that.)

Party at my house! (No, Manny actually said that.)

You deserve it Tek.

This was the same look I saw from Pedroia when I wished him good luck last August. Boy have times changed since then.

Eat your heart out A-Fraud.

Still doesn’t beat the “Jeter is golfing…” poster from 04, but it’ll do.

And so do you sir.

Parade pics just wouldn’t be complete without Papi.

Eric Kilby posted some fantastic pictures of the post-game celebrations from game four in Denver. Here are a couple that I really enjoyed: