E.K. NATION

One Babe Ruth trade, one League of Nations, one Prohibition, two grandparents of E.K., one Great Depression, two parents of E.K., one Second World War, one Ebert, two atomic bombs, one Siskel, one CIA, one NATO, one Korean War, one Elvis, two new U.S. states, four Beatles, two Kennedy assassinations, two Darren Stephenses, one Vietnam War, nine Brady's (counting Oliver, ten if you count Tiger), one E.K., one Watergate scandal and one resignation of a president, one Iran hostage crisis, one MTV, one collapse of the Soviet Union, ten "Friday the 13th" movies, two exploding space shuttles, nine amendments to the Constitution, two Coors Light twins, twenty Summer and nineteen Winter Olympics, two World Trade Center buildings, sixteen U.S. presidents and eighty-five World Series later, the Boston Red Sox are once again champions of baseball.

Since the Sox last won the World Series in 1918, the Yankees have won it twenty-six times; Cardinals nine times; A's and Dodgers six times; Reds five times; Giants, Tigers and Pirates four times; Orioles and Senators/Twins three times; Indians, Braves, Blue Jays, Mets and Marlins twice; Phillies, Royals, Diamondbacks and Angels once.

Congratulations, Boston. Play that Hallelujah Chorus in the churches of New England once again, drink up some of that Boston lager, and celebrate: Your team is, at long last, superjacent once again. ("Superjacent" brought to you by Merriam Webster's Word of the Day)