Have You The Fever, Sox Fever?

It seemed football and the New England Patriots had a lock on the sports imagination of fans in Swampscott and the rest of New England throughout September even with the Boston Red Sox playing inspiring baseball and marching to the best record in the American League.

Then something funny happened. The drama of playoff baseball emerged.

It infected our interest, considering the tough pitching of Tampa Bay and the uncertainty of whether the team of redemptive beards could advance to the ALCS.

It entered conversations over coffee in some of the restaurants that Swampscott's late Johnny Pesky once frequented.

The early signs of fever kept many of us up at night mustering the courage to weather the emotional rollercoaster that is October baseball when your team, the Boston Red Sox, is in the fold.

Some people think many of us have been inoculated against Sox fever since the curse was broken in 2004 with our first World Series triumph in 86 years. Then another one a scant three years later in 2007. 

But we wonder if the fever is back. We are taking your temperature.

We are curious if you have it, pennant fever, Red Sox fever, and if you do, how do you know you have it?