Sox fan blacked out, bummed out

It was Game 4 of the World Series Wednesday night, "the most important game of my life," said Geri Shuman, 65, of Randolph, a lifelong Red Sox fan.

She got comfortable on the couch of her apartment at the Presidential Acres complex.

But when she turned on her television, she got nothing. As millions of Sox fans watched spellbound as their team won its first championship in 86 years, Shuman got a blue screen.

Shuman said a car had struck an electrical transformer near her apartment several days before, and workers repairing it inadvertently hit the cable wire that connects to her apartment unit.

"I was so upset, I kept turning on the TV every 5 minutes to see if was working," she said.

Comcast spokeswoman Jennifer Khoury said she was looking into the problem, but it was unclear whether the malfunction was cable-related. She said there were no complaints of cable outages reported in the area that night.

During the game, Shuman got phone updates from her son Richard, who lives in Weymouth. She did not go elsewhere to watch the game because she does not like to drive at night.

Shuman is no ordinary baseball fan. A nurse at Northeast Specialty Hospital in Braintree, she sometimes worked in a Red Sox shirt and hat. She and Johnny Damon share a birthday, Nov. 5.

A few years ago, she said she could not die before seeing her team win the World Series. Her hope now? That they win another championship.

Sometime soon.

JOHN TLUMACKI