The tip of my $6 victory cigar now safely preserved in the ultimate plastic baggy of posterity, it is now time to reflect on the 2004 World Champion Boston Red Sox and thank some of those who made the third most joyous night of my life possible.

All of the names will go down in history. All of them. Even if someone mentions Cesar Crespo (and yes, I hang out with several people who will bring up Cesar Crespo several times in the next three decades), I’ll think of the 2004 Red Sox. But these are the Idiots I’ll remember the most.

John Henry, Tom Werner, Larry Lucchino, et.al. – I didn’t trust them when they were awarded the franchise. The back-room deals with Bud Selig that got them the team made me suspicious. I thought they’d treat our most sacred franchise like a cash cow and get out with the highest profit margin possible. But they improved the ballpark, opened their wallets to free agents, hired a genius GM, gave him the okay on several bold moves and treated the fans with the respect they deserved but never received from the previous regime. They have been the ultimate stewards. Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.

Manny Ramirez – Cue Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song.” Keith Foulke was probably the real World Series MVP. Yet more than any other single player, he allowed this to happen. Think about it. He could have wined, pouted and moaned about the Red Sox putting him on waivers or including him in the Alex Rodriguez trade talks, and he could have destroyed the team’s amazing chemistry. And unlike a certain shortstop who set out to do just that, they couldn’t have dumped him on someone else because of his contract.

Instead of being a crybaby, the man-child took it like a man, and put together the best season he’s had as a member of the Red Sox. He even opened himself up to the media and fans. Without him, the best lineup in baseball isn’t nearly as good, A-Rod or no A-Rod.

Johnny Damon – Set the tone in the two most memorable games of my life. Plus, my wife has a crush on him. I’ve told her if she ever wants to divorce me and marry him, she has my blessing..

Keith Foulke – The most clutch closer we’ve ever had. The anti-Stanley. He had a rough stretch around the All-Star break, but from August on, I never felt more comfortable with a Red Sox closer on the mound in my lifetime.

Pedro Martinez – A diva to the end, no doubt. But of all the Red Sox players, I’m happiest for him. The guy risked his career for a marginal playoff team in 1999 and may have taken a couple of years off his prime by doing it. And what a prime. The most dominant pitcher I’ve ever seen, and he was wearing a Red Sox uniform. How about that? Get whatever you can on the market, Petey. No hard feelings, even if you go to the Yankees. But please stay.

Derek Lowe – Thrown onto the scrap heap when the playoffs began, he came up huge in the aforementioned games of a lifetime.. Despite this, I just can’t see ownership paying him what a team like Detroit will to bring him home. Too many hard feelings between the two sides. If and when he pitches again at Fenway, he deserves a 15-minute standing ovation the first time he takes the mound, regardless of what uniform he’s wearing.

Jason Varitek – Should be at the top of ownership’s free agent list. The heart and soul of the team. Became a Red Sox for life the moment he smacked A-Rod in his pretty boy mug, as far as I’m concerned.

Terry Francona – Anybody who knows me or has read this column for any amount of time knows I held him in low regard this season. So did the majority of Sox fans, I dare say.

But all year, whether it was during the team’s mid-season malaise or during Mark Bellhorn’s horrendous early post-season, he believed in his players when no one else did. That should be the number one prerequisite for any manager. He allowed a hairy bunch of free spirits to relax and flourish in the No. 1 most pressure-packed market in sports. He handled the bullpen masterfully in the playoffs. And you know he never would have asked Larry Walker to bunt with a man on in the first inning of an elimination game as alleged future Hall-of-Famer Tony La Russa did.

I can’t guarantee that I’ll never second-guess him again, but I will never, ever disrespect him again.

Mark Bellhorn – Somebody said he reminds them of “Booger” from Revenge of the Nerds. Perfect. You know how minor Sox celebrities of the past like Rico Petrocelli and Bernie Carbo occasionally come out of nowhere for radio or TV interviews to reminisce about 1967 or 1975? He and Kevin Millar are gonna be those guys for the 2004 team.

David Ortiz – The pantheon of clutch Boston athletes in my lifetime lists five names – Larry Bird, Tom Brady, Adam Vinatieri, Curt Schilling and Big Papi. How in the world did this guy ever sit on the bench behind Jeremy Giambi?

Curt Schilling – The legend that will stand the test of time. When people talk about this team 100 years from now, they’ll (unfortunately) mention how they ended “The Curse”, how they came back down 0-3 to the Yankees, and how Curt Schilling underwent two invasive surgeries to his right ankle before his two biggest starts of the season. The bloody socks should be sent to Cooperstown immediately and preserved for generations of Red Sox fans to admire.

Thanks to all of them. They will not soon be forgotten.