Posted on 08/25/2005 10:30:21 AM PDT by raccoonradio
Forget about strutting around in that ``Yankees Suck'' T-shirt next time you head over to Fenway Park to diss the Bronx Bombers.
In a bid to restrain some of Red Sox Nation's more unruly fans, the Sox have begun a quiet policy of effectively barring display of the blunt T-shirts inside Fenway.
Sox officials are strongly urging fans who show up with ``Yankees Suck'' shirts to turn them inside out. While declining to call it an outright ban, team communications chief Charles Steinberg claimed there have been no incidents where fans refused the team's request.
Team executives rolled out the T-shirt policy, first reported on Boston magazine's Web site, after hearing numerous complaints last season about the off-color put-down of the Yankees, Steinberg said.
The shirts themselves are sold before games by independent vendors hawking their wares on the streets around the ballpark.
``We are determined to keep Fenway a place where families feel comfortable,'' Steinberg said.
In fact, team officials have been frustrated enough to even muse among themselves about tamer put-downs fans could use, he said.
But Sox executives have stopped short of selling alternative T-shirts or offering official, sanitized chants.
``That would reek of some phony, synthetic corporate construction and would be rejected, as perhaps it should be,'' Steinberg said.
Still, the Sox may be on solid legal ground when it comes to forcing fans to cover up ``Yankees Suck'' T-shirts, according to one local legal expert.
Several courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, have upheld the right of private business and property owners to restrict offensive messages or speech, said Andrew Glincher, head of Nixon Peabody's Boston office.
And the move may strike a sympathetic chord among fans fed up with unruly behavior in the stands. ``I can't say it upsets me terribly,'' said Michael Rutstein, publisher of Boston Baseball and a frequent critic of the Sox owners. ``Some people are willing to draw a line at some point, and I guess I am one of them.''
One of my favorite things watching a Sox game is anticipating when the "Yankees Suck" cheer is going to start. No matter who or where they are playing (actually, Camden Yards usually gets pretty loud as all the Orioles fans join in!)
Thanks..
Well, you asked for it... ;)
Listen..after the way my Metsies are playing the last three nights..( and Pedro goes tonight ) NOTHING can upset me...fuggedaboud the WC..we're going after the Braves...
Oops...my mistake, I thought you were a BoSox fan...
I am...was just funning with you..
Do you have the one "Hell Freezes Over"?
Interesting that we can't suggest the Yankees suck, now that it is, in fact, a confirmable fact.
"Oh Granite, you're just so super silly sometimes!" -- Jeter
Yankees Swallow. Yankee Fans Suck.
As long as I get to wear my Skankees Hater cap...
Heck, I bought one of those T-shirts from a vendor outside of Fenway Park myself.
In 1975.
The year my 8y/o heart was broken.
Why's Tito have Olderdude batting 3rd? Mueller, Tek, or Kapler are all better choices. And that thought was before John's gdp.
Nice montage..BTW..where are all the Yankee supporters..they used to hang around here?
I wonder if this is related to the T-shirt I saw this afternoon on the train into New Jersey from NYC. A group of men across the aisle had just been at the Yankees game and one had a shirt that said "Boston Still Sucks." I thought it was pretty funny, though I couldn't care less about the Yankees, the Red Sox, or baseball in general.
Are U Kiddin' me Tito??? We're down 3runs, 8th inning, bases loaded, two out. Weak hitter due up, so we ph with our very weakest hitter??????????? And our backup catcher for a 2nd baseman???????? 4 other guys with near .300avg's holding down the bench, including Ortiz!!!!
I hate that guy, I hate that guy, he's barely better than the last guy.
He replaces a .218 left hander hitter for a .218 right handed hitter????? Why no Tony G.at that point? Mirabelli is having a tough year at the plate. Too big a swing, no timing and swinging at stuff out of the zone. Kapler in RF against a RHP at the expense of Nixon? Millar in LF who played horrible defense tonight?
Oh, and I hope everyone will finally stop drinking the Schilling kool aid. He's had 6 weeks to get it together and he hasn't. Pitches left over the plate, walks and no control of his secondary pitches. He's not right this year after putting it out on the line like he did last. He's not the answer this year.
Theo did a good thing in replacing Lowe and Diva with Clemment and Wells but he counted on scrap heap guys like Halama, Mantei and Miller to do too much.
I really wanted Schilling to have a good outing. And I'm willing to give him three more, but that's it if he doesn't keep the ERA under 3. We can barely do worse with Papsmear, Hansen, etc...
Everyone thinks we hated Grady because he left Pedro in, but he made absurdly horrible decisions that entire year...Tito's doing his best rendition.
Now I can't watch ESPN tom. I'm done with this subject tonight.
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