Let the Hate Begin (Yankees-Red Sox Style)

The Wall Street Journal ^ | 3/28/3 | By RUSS SMITH

[WaveThatFlag]

Granted, there is upheaval in the world and there are battles where a great deal is at stake -- life itself. All the more precious, then, the minor skirmishes on the home front that mean a great deal in a small way and remind us of how lucky we are to feel innocent hatreds, from summer to summer, at the ballpark.

[WaveThatFlag]

Author is delusional if he thinks that this year will be any different from the last 89, but he is right about one thing: Boston truely does suck.

Let's go Yankees.

[Huck]

AL East is a joke this year.

[Huck]

Hey....we're talking baseball!

[Sonny M]

1918.

[WaveThatFlag]

Hey....we're talking baseball!

Sure... The Scooter, Campanella & all. Must be springtime, right?

[Huck]

Must be springtime, right?

It's a beautiful thing.

[dougiefresh]

I wish Clinton was still in office. Maybe he could go after the Yankees like he did Microsoft and Phillip Morris and try to put them out of business too.

[WaveThatFlag]

Eight years later, as a college student in Baltimore, I watched the sixth game of the World Series between the Sox and Cincinnati Reds at the school's bar. When Carlton Fisk won that game with a foul-pole homer, the Rathskellar fell sullenly silent, since so many of the students hailed from New York. I collected about $50 on bets and took a powder.

Yeah, nice homer. I forget, who ended up winning that Series again?

[JohnnyZ]

When Saddam is well and truly gone, GWB will announce that the Yankees are the new Third Member of the Axis of Evil.

Go Sox!

[eastsider]

When [Roger Clemens] beaned the Mets' Mike Piazza and didn't even apologize, I was disgusted.

[Media Insurgent]

When I moved to Massachusetts, it amazed me how many people I saw walking around wearing Yankees gear. I thought that was supposed to be illegal or something. There's even a station in Worcester that carries Yankee games. Just goes to show you that there are frontrunners everywhere.

[big'ol_freeper]

Go Sawks!!!

[RJCogburn]

he is right about one thing: Boston truely does suck.

I respect you as a FReeper, and I make it a point to not insult Freepers even when I disagree with them.

So, I'll address you as a baseball fan. You're a idiot!

[WaveThatFlag]

So, I'll address you as a baseball fan. You're a idiot!

The spirit! Same to you buddy! Up yours!

[Billthedrill]

Ah, baseball season, and the trash-talking begins. My Boston colleague tells me they're selling seats at the TOP of the Green Monster this year, which might be pretty cool...gotta find an excuse to make a trip on the boss's dime...

Decorum does differ throughout the league - they won't even let me wear a "Yankees Suck" T-shirt into Safeco...but it is nice to see the occasional east-coast boor tossed for obscenities...

[Alberta's Child]

The most dramatic Yankees - Red Sox game from my childhood was not the 1978 playoff game in Boston.

It was a regular season game in August or September of 1977, in which Ed Figueroa of New York and Reggie Cleveland of Boston both pitched eight innings of shutout ball. Figueroa put the Sox down in the top of the ninth, and after Thurman Munson led off the ninth with a single, Reggie Jackson got a hold of a 3-2 pitch that was practically in the dirt, and hit a long home run into the right-centerfield bleachers.

Players who reminisce about that game years later all remember Reggie Cleveland standing on the mound staring out toward the bleachers long after all the other Boston players had left the field.

Reggie Jackson was not always one of the fan favorites in New York, but he always had a way of coming up big in those situations. Watching balls race into a cool autumn New York night off that black bat of his was one of those things that sent chills through a kid in the late 1970s.

[RJCogburn]

The spirit! Same to you buddy! Up yours!

Fun...it's like being at the game!

[dead]

Hey Red Sox fans - Thanks for the Memories!

Let’s Go Mets!

[Jeremiah Jr]

The sequel, Curse II

Bring it if ya got it!

[RJCogburn]

My Boston colleague tells me they're selling seats at the TOP of the Green Monster this year

Yup. 50 bucks/ticket. They say the first row has to stand and look down to see plays off the wall, and the next couple of rows won't see them at all.

Things took a turn for the worst at Fenway when they put in the electronic thing in centerfield. It's gone downhill since.

[RJCogburn]

Neat! Thanx.

[WaveThatFlag]

What ever happened to Oscar the Grouch? Is he still hanging around Fenway these days?

[babylucas]

I grew up in Connecticut and suffered for years as a Red Sox fan. Then I moved to Arizona in 1995. I attended games 1, 2 and 7 of the 2001 World Series. Oh, the rapturous joy!! Go Dbacks!

[majordivit]

What i remember most about the 1978 season was not Bucky Dent's three run homer in the playoff game; but an earlier Yankee four game demolition sweep of the Sox at Fenway which shrunk the Sox lead over the Yanks to almost nothing.

I thought the 1978 Red Sox team was about as good as it gets. The Sox built up a 14 game lead on the defending world champ Yankees in mid August. When the Yankees crushed the Sox in all four games, by overwhelming scores, I knew that there would be no stopping them. I bet most people do not remember that after the Yanks passed the Sox in September, the Sox came back and found a way to tie the Yanks on the last day of the season, forcing the one game playoff...

I was in attendance at Fenway Park in 1988 on a day when the Sox played a video history of the 1978 pennant race on Fenways big screen. The 1978 Yanks-Sox pennant race was certainly the greatest of the decade and possibly the greatest of all time.

[soxfan]

Any Red Sox fan who reads Ron Shandler's Baseball Forecast for 2003 is going to be really excited. From a stats standpoint, the run differential projects a 100+ victory season.

[xp38]

For the past 5 seasons the AL east standings have been static with no change in position by any team. The only variable besides the actual number of games won and lost is whether Boston took the wild card slot or not. Maybe this year there will be a change but if anything it will probably not be the number 1 slot but the ones below. The standings for the past 5 years in order were NY, Boston, Toronto, Baltimore, Tampa Bay....Go Jays!!!

[nutmeg]

PING from (divided) Red Sox/Yankees country!

[WaveThatFlag]

Any Red Sox fan who reads Ron Shandler's Baseball Forecast for 2003 is going to be really excited.

And this is different from every other year how? You guys are such easy marks...

[JohnnyZ]

Dude, LAST year's run differential predicted a 100-win season.

[Stay the course]

I wonder what would happen if Boston and the Cubs both made it to the World Series. One of them would seemingly have to win, but that would violate a fundamental law of the universe. The earth would have to open up and swallow them or something.

[stanz]

Saw this, but I decided to save myself from the flames of FR today.

[Charles Henrickson]

. . . attempts to gin up lesser pairings into an admirable viciousness -- St. Louis and Kansas City? the Cubs and White Sox? -- have always failed. There is obviously something different about Boston and New York. . . .

What is obviously different about the Boston-New York rivalry is that the writers who write about it all live in Boston or New York.

The Cardinals-Cubs rivalry is pretty darn good.

Furthermore, the Cubs and White Sox play in different leagues, so the rivalry can't be quite the same. But when I was growing up on the north side of the city of Chicago, the dividing lines were very clear: If you lived on the north side, you were a Cubs fan and hated the Sox; if you lived on the south side, you were a Sox fan and hated the Cubs. The hostility was real, and it was intense.

[JohnnyZ]

And you're a FAT French jerk. I'm surprised you can type with your hands so occupied with Derek Jeter.

Maybe I should clarify that the Bosox ACTUAL run differential last year was awesome and normally would win 100 games, but due to the vagaries of statistics it didn't turn out that way. I don't see why we wouldn't equal or surpass that run-diff performance this year, and if we get as many breaks this year as we got shafts last year we'll win 120.

[Maven]

I bet $100 on the Sox every year. This year, I collect.

Got just two words for this:

GO ANGELS!!!

Maven

[WaveThatFlag]

and if we get as many breaks this year as we got shafts last year we'll win 120.

Maybe you'll get even more breaks and win 130...

[Maven]

Let's go Yankees.

And to all you Yankee fans:

GO ANGELS!!!

Maven

[xp38]

Dodgers/Giants isn't bad as a rivalry. Toronto and Detroit sort of developed one for a while until Detroit moved out of the AL east and they hardly see each other any more.

[11th_VA]

I support the players, but not the Yankees. I HATE Steinbrenner ...

[WaveThatFlag]

The Cardinals-Cubs rivalry is pretty darn good.

I loved the George Will story from Ken Burn's Baseball documentary (which I watch every February). He tells of how he grew up in western Ohio. His he had the choice of being a Cubs fan or a Cardnals fan. His friend picked the Cardinals and grew up happy and liberal. He picked the Cubs, and grew up miserable and conservative.

[Charles Henrickson]

I wonder what would happen if Boston and the Cubs both made it to the World Series. One of them would seemingly have to win. . . .

Wrong Sox.

If you want to talk about the two teams that have gone the longest without winning the World Series, it's the Cubs and the White Sox. The Cubs last won in 1908, and the White Sox in 1917 (a year further back than the Red Sox of 1918).

Between the Cubs and the White Sox, the city of Chicago has now gone a combined 168 seasons (not counting the strike year of 1994) without winning the World Series. This is, by far, the longest championship drought in any sport for any city. Even if you combine the Red Sox record of futility with the concurrent years of the old Boston Braves, Chicago would still more than double Boston's baseball non-championship run.

[Charles Henrickson]

Even if you combine the Red Sox record of futility with the concurrent years of the old Boston Braves, Chicago would still more than double Boston's baseball non-championship run.

Duh! What was I thinkin'? That couldn't be true. It wouldn't be more than double. If you take the Red Sox' 83 unsuccessful tries (1919-2002, minus one for 1994) and add on the Braves' concurrent string of 33-34 years (1919-1952? '53? when was their last year in Boston?), you get about 116-17 unsuccessful tries for Boston. Chicago's 168 tries is a lot more than 116-17, but it's not more than double.

(I don't think the Braves ever won the World Series during that stretch, did they?)

[Alberta's Child]

You ain't seen a sports rivalry until you've been to a hockey game between the Rangers and the Islanders. And now that the Devils have been one of the top teams in the NHL over the last ten years, the Devils-Rangers rivalry is a hot one, too.

[WaveThatFlag]

Was a season ticket holder at the Garden in 93-94 and 94-95.

[Alberta's Child]

Sounds like you cancelled your season tickets at just about the right time, eh?

[nutmeg]

Saw this, but I decided to save myself from the flames of FR today.

I agree... no comment from me here, either! :-)

[musicman]

BREAKING NEWS....Debka-Reuters News Wire.....

Ex-first baseman Bill Buckner, was almost struck and killed when an 18 wheel semi-tractor trailor truck with failed brakes, was heading for a sure to be fatal head on colision with the pedestrian Buckner.

Luckily,he avoided injury as the semi went through his legs.

[LonePalm]

I have started a Free Republic Rotisserie League on Yahoo!.

We are still looking for a few managers, 4 slots left.

Details were posted here on Free Republic with details.

Let's Play Ball!

Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)

[Martus]

AL Least is a joke EVERY YEAR!!!!

[GOP_Raider]

GO GIANTS!!