So now that the Sox are going to the World Series, I’ve been hearing a lot of support from casual baseball fans. It’s been over 15 years since both teams have been to the World Series, but since Boston hasn’t won since 1918, they seem to have won the “we only watch the championship” type fan. I expect this… historically, I haven’t watch much of the NFL’s regular season, so I usually cheer for the “underdog” in the playoffs, so I’m not unfamiliar with the sentiment. What I am unfamiliar with are the Yankees fans that have been showing support for the Sox, now that the World Series is here, because that is unacceptable.
Oh, I know there are some fans that aren’t rabid Yankees (or Sox) fans. I actually know a few people that like both about equally: a family to to one team, but more local to the other, and a general “disinterest” in baseball. That’s fine, because those types of fans would cheer for which ever team that makes it through to the playoffs and wouldn’t cheer against the other team.
Then there are the die hard Yankees (or Sox) fans. These are the “true blue” fans. Fans of the Yankees during the late 60s and mid 80s (the recent dark times for NY fans) and fans of the Sox in 1987 (after Boston’s WS loss) are the die hards. They stick with their team with a ferociousness that borders on religious fever. For Yankees fans, they bleed in pinstripes. Their hatred for the other team is only second to the love of their own team. These are the fans that buy new jerseys each year (if only for a different arm patch), make a trip to their home field feel like a church visit, tattoo team logos on their bodies, cheer when their enemy loses, and know, yet despise, the other team’s players for as long as they wear the wrong uniform.
And for the first time in I-don’t-know-how-many-years, the Red Sox have beaten the Yankees, in a decisive head to head series. The casual fan has been won over to Boston’s side. The Yankees players (for the most part) have congratulated the Sox on a job well done. I’m neither a team member nor a casual fan: I’ll keep my mouth mostly shut on the matter, after tipping my hat to the Sox, and quietly route for the Cardinals. Well, I can’t even say that: I’ll just route for Boston to lose, because I don’t care who they play. That’s the type of fan I am, along with a lot of Yankees fans, and that’s also the type of fan that most Boston fans are.
What I am completely pissed off by are the “self described” Yankees fan that is suddenly pro-Red Sox. What kind of creature is this?! I saw on the news – while still in WA no less – that the Mickey Mantle Bar in NYC has been renamed the Ted Williams Bar, for the week of the World Series. You dare abuse a Yankees legend? Yankees fans need to find this guy and politely explain to him that if you’re going to trade on the Yankees success you cannot switch teams, just because it’s fashionable to casual fans… These turncoats are just jumping on the bandwagon, which is acceptable to the casual fan but is an ugly trait to a “real” fan – they are no friends of mine. And make no mistake: when the Yankees won the ALCS last year, there was no Yankees flag flying in the city of Boston and no Sox fans had anything nice to say about the NY players. We treat each other equally in this regard.
And when the WS is over and spring training begins, I hope you understand that you are no longer welcome in the Yankees family: only the faithful may belong.
That’s a real shame about Mickey Mantle’s place. When I was in new york many years ago, that was the first place I went to visit. Does WFAN still do an afternoon show there every day?
By the way, I always wondered how Yankees fans dealt with the Wade Boggs issue. Did he ever earn the right to wear pinstripes in the eyes of the faithful?
Beau
I can’t imagine it filling up with Sox fans just for the WS – after all, it’s an evil place for them for most of the season, not to mention that there’s Mickey stuff on the inside: there are sevens everywhere!
Boggs is an interesting situation, actually. My initial reaction is that a change of uniform can change your feelings about them, but then there’s the player himself… sometimes pinstripes can’t make someone less of an asshole. Boggs I had no problem with. Even if he should went to the HoF as a Red Sox player, I’ll always remember him as a Yankee – both for the ride on that cops’ horse and for the inning of pitching he did during a late season game.
I grew up an Atlanta Braves fan. That may not seem that noteworthy now, but remember Atlanta back in the 70s and 80s: they were not a powerhouse. The biggest thing I remember is the year (was it 83? 84?) that they opened the season with 14 wins in a row. It was like they had won the World Series around my small East Tennessee hometown.
I’ve never paid much attention to the American League and I’ve learned over the years to not pay much attention to the playoffs past the wild card round but I am interested in seeing the outcome of this World Series and I would like to see Boston win, to be around when the “impossible” happens.
As a Yankees fan, you should root for the Red Sox, too, because once they’ve won a World Series, their mystique is gone. The curse of the Bambino has been their philosophy, their defining attribute, and it’s drawn lots of fans who otherwise wouldn’t be interested in them. Once they’ve won, well, they’re just another major league team. All those folks will start cheering for the Cubs.
Ya, that’s the argument my sister takes… that once they win a WS they become just another mediocre team. I even think that having the Pats on a streak and a WS win would confuse Boston and probably cause them more pain than a loss would – they can’t get used to the idea of winning ;)
For me, I just want no happy sports fan in Boston: since they seem to love their misery so much, they should keep it active. I mean the survival of the Bambino curse has gotten so much more press, over the Goat, because of the near misses that Boston seems to have… i.e. 1986. In fact, what would be true Bostonian Lore would be the Sox winning Game 3 and then losing 4-7 to the Cardinals, much like the Reserve Sweep that washed the Yankees out… And what’s more is that Red Sox fans could see it happening.
I figured the curse would expire at 100 years, actually. 100 years of WS maybe, rather than 100 years of cursed? Either way, Boston needs a minimum of 28 years to catch up to the Yankees success, so that’s still something to be proud about. w00t!
You got it right Randy. I hope Boston loses like they lost last year, right at the end with the prize so close that they can almost touch it. That makes me happy. Go !!!!
If Houston had won I don’t know what I would have done. Root for Clemens to lose. Beltran to play poorly so that only the Yankees will want him. And for Boston to lose lose lose. Period.
I personally am not cheering for Boston (or for St. Louis) but will still enjoy watching the games. Dont think you have to be a hater just becuase of the rivalry (like many mets fans who root for boston just becuase they hate yankees). Some yankee fans might actually respect the Boston players. Well I guess part of me would like to see Boston lose. Well, if Boston wins, my chant next year will be twenty-oh-four!
Um. Yeah.
2004.
*sob*