Tori Sanders, The Circuit
While most Benedictine students spent Halloween dressing in festive costume, a few students were busy celebrating a World Series win for their favorite team – the Boston Red Sox.
Grant Lahm, senior and member of the Benedictine basketball team, is one of the biggest Red Sox fans on campus, though he’s from the Midwest.
Lahm said that he has been telling his friends since last year that the Sox were going to win it all this season.
“Being from Nebraska, you’re kind of like a pro-sports free agent,” Lahm said.
His decision to stick with the Sox took place at a very young age. Lahm’s very first t-ball team took its name from the Red Sox and ever since then, he’s been a devoted fan.
Lahm has been unable to practice basketball the last few weeks due to injury, and used that time off to his advantage.
During the World Series, Lahm said he made sure the current game was on in the locker room whenever possible so he could sneak in to watch from time to time.
Although he fell asleep in inning 16 of 18 innings, Lahm especially enjoyed Game 3.
Game 3 was logged as the longest World Series game in MLB history at 7 hours and 20 minutes.
Peter Girard, junior, another Red Sox fan, also had to make some sacrifices to keep up with his favorite MLB team.
The East Coast native has been abroad in Austria all semester, but has been working around the 6-hour time difference to keep up via statistics and his family group chat.
“The team is important to me, because ever since my first time at a game in Fenway Park, when I was little, I’ve been absorbed in the culture around the Sox,” Girard said.
He woke up after the World Series’ win, disappointed upon realizing that he had slept through his 3:00 a.m. alarm.
After checking ESPN, however, he began to celebrate.
“I started cheering when I found out they won… and then I threw on Dirty Water by the Standells and sang along in the shower,” he said
Lahm had a similar reaction here on-campus.
“The first thing I did was just scream,” Lahm said.
His second move was to take a sharpie to a poster in his room writing ‘2018,’ next to the list of previous Boston World Series championships.
“Then I cracked some beers and turned on Sweet Caroline,” he added.
Both students were excited to see the recognition that Red Sox left-fielder Steve Pearce received as the World Series MVP.
“It was special in the World Series having an under the radar guy like [him] earn MVP,” Girard said.
Boston acquired Pearce from the Toronto Blue Jays midseason and the move proved to be advantageous for the Red Sox.
Both these fans look forward to future seasons watching their favorite team, whether here in Kansas, across the pond in Austria or out east at Fenway itself