Red Sox Magic Number - 38

After the Yankees lost yesterday - the new magic number for the Red Sox is now 38. The number 38 brings to mind many things.

There are 38 slots on a roulette wheel. (And if you added up all the numbers on a roulette wheel you would come up with 666 which is both the mark of the beast and the number Alex Rodriguez originally requested when he went to the Yankees).

I can't help but think of the band 38 Special when you mention the number 38. They sang the hit Hold On Loosely (but don't let go). That seems to be perfect advice for the Red Sox who need to be loose down the stretch but also focused.

Of course the number 38 is also the uniform number of Curt Schilling.

However, to most Red Sox fans over a certain age - the number 38 is most closely associated with Channel 38 WSBK which for most of my youth broadcast both the Red Sox games and Boston Bruin games. Seeing Ned Martin and Bob Montgomery (with Tom Larson in studio) doing Spring Training games meant school was almost out. Channel 38 was NESN before there was a NESN except instead of fishing shows to fill in the time between games they had The Movie Loft and Hogans Heroes. To this day if I'm playing poker and I hold an open ended straight with the 4,5,6,7 - I immediately think WSBK.