In the 14-year stretch between 1998 and 2011, the Red Sox were box office entertainment. Part of this had to do with them being at intersection of the greatest rivalry in the history of the sport and an 86-year-old curse. And of course, from there, things were further escalated by perhaps the most theatric two-year saga sports has ever offered, in 2003 and 2004. (Epic doesn’t even begin to describe what transpired those Octobers.)
But looking back on this era with a couple of decades of perspective, something else was also happening here. Something that should be obvious on the surface, but also played a pivotal role in prolonging the region’s obsession with the Sox beyond the climax of a rivalry.