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.

[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!!

[TheRedSoxWinThePennant]

it does not matter because this is the year my fellow freeper the boston red sox will not only win the pennant but the whole kit and kaboodle

GO RED SOX!!!!!!

[WaveThatFlag]

That's aboot right. Missed Gretzky though, eh?

Trivia point: Gretzky's grandfather left Poland because of WW I. He moved to Canada instead of the US because the US hadn't entered the war yet and he wanted to kills ome Germans.

[WaveThatFlag]

Yeah, except for the fact that since baseball went to division play, most of the World Series winners have come from the AL East.

[b4its2late]

My two young sons, decked out in Bosox uniforms (we're diehard Boston fans but as Manhattan residents attend about 25 games at the stadium each season) were confused. My nine-year-old said: "Dad, are those guys too drunk to know what teams are on the field?" They'd endured the jibes of Yankee partisans before, but this commotion was just too taxing on their developing minds. It didn't help that it was soon followed by the inevitable "1918!, 1918!" -- for some, the year that ended World War I, for others, the year the Boston Red Sox last won the World Series.

This reporter better get a clue and change his and his sons allegiance, b4its2late for them..... LOL! Gotta love the curse.

[LibKill]

it does not matter because this is the year my fellow freeper the boston red sox will not only win the pennant but the whole kit and kaboodle

Read it and weep. :)

Curse of the Bambino. (Will open in window.)

[Alberta's Child]

That's interesting -- I never knew that.

What is ironic about that is that there is a peculiar part of Canadian history involving German POWs who were sent to Canada during the war. Many of them ended up in loosely-organized camps out in Manitoba. They weren't guarded terribly well, since there wasn't much of a military presence in the area and there was no place on the open prairie for them to escape without being recognized and caught. Many of the prairie farmers used them to help around the farms.

As soon as the war ended and the POWs were sent back to Germany, many of them immediately emigrated back to Canada and moved back to the same small prairie towns where they had been POWs. To this day, there is a heavy German influence in parts of southern Manitoba.

[wi jd]

How do you justify your NFL & MLB allegiances?

Why not Giants and Forty-whiners? Or Athletics and "Silver & Gray"?

[baggadonuts]

Hmmm...no, in fact you suck as do your stinkin' Yankees.

BO-Sox!!! BO-SOX!!!

[Hildy]

Read this book by my Dad:

The Great Rivalry: The Yankees and the Red Sox 1901-1990

[Hildy]

Read this book by my Dad:

The Great Rivalry: The Yankees and the Red Sox 1901-1990