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The Official "It Gets Better" Letter Of The Tortured Sports Fan

Ten years and two days ago, Aaron Boone's 11th inning home run capped another Red Sox collapse. The next morning, Tom Condardo typed out this letter and sent it to his two sons to officially welcome them into the heartbreak club.

Kevin Condardo posted his father's letter on Reddit yesterday. While it's got specific meaning for Red Sox fans, it's resonated in a general baseball thread, and should strike a nerve with anyone who's ever been crushed by their team and wondered why they bother. From the Sisyphean metaphor to the unabashed fatalism to the depressive acceptance, we've all been there.

I would urge you to get out now, to spare you from further heartache, but I know it is too late. You now have shed blood. You can never get out.


Hopefully this will all end someday. Maybe not in my lifetime, but hopefully in yours. Until then, enjoy the good time, for there will be many. But understand, as you now have fully experienced, that those good times will ultimately end. Usually tragically, twisted, unexplained...but never unexpectedly.


Kevin writes that he's kept the letter framed on his wall. Since then, the Red Sox have won two titles, the Patriots two Super Bowls, the Celtics an NBA championship, and the Bruins a Stanley Cup. There's hope for everyone.


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