There's nothing quite like kicking a dead horse. For 20 years now, the media has tried to make Bill Buckner the scapegoat for the 1986 World Series loss.

Yes, the error is a memorable one, but certainly not the only reason the Sox lost.

It's time now, that we as a collective, try to put this game behind us. The latest bit of "news," now suggests that a Cubs batting glove worn by Buckner may have contributed to the curse. Pah-lease.

Doesn't anyone remember that the error happened in Game 6. That the Red Sox had their chances in Game 7 and that Bill Buckner helped get them to the World Series afterall.

Poor Buckner. That one error has ruined what was truly a good year and career.

In 1986, Bill Buckner struckout only 25 times in 629 at-bats, tops in the league at the time. Pretty impressive. He also hit 39 doubles (3rd in the league in '86) while knocking in 102 baserunners (also a top 10 finish in '86) while batting in the three hole ahead of Jim Rice.

There are so many other things that went wrong in Game 6; blaming Buckner is a travesty.

From The Sporting News' 25 greatest moments in World Series history: "Many people forget that even if Buckner had made the play on Wilson's ball, the game would have continued because the Mets had tied the game earlier during Wilson's at-bat on a wild pitch from Stanley, which allowed Mitchell to score from third. Before the wild pitch, Wilson fouled off two pitches with a 2-2 count. The wild pitch made the count 3-2, and Wilson had to foul off two more pitches before hitting the fatal grounder to Buckner."

And what of the three consecutive singles allowed by Calvin Schiraldi in Game 6? Schiraldi also gave up the winning home run in Game 7. No one ever talks of that.

Let's also remember: Bill Buckner had 32 more put-outs than Kevin Youkilis had last year (1067 to 1035). And though he may have had 14 errors, he had 128 more chances than Youkilis (5 errors) as well.

One more thing: Wikipedia has ESPN's list of top 5 reason why you can't blame Buckner

So let's all get over it and move on...The Buckner stops here!

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