Over a month ago, the Red Sox were officially knocked out of the playoff race after suffering a catastrophic letdown. The team couldn’t get along, unfairly fired its manager in the midst of a playoff race and could barely garner a .500 record with the second-highest payroll in baseball.
Yet for some reason, here at the University of Massachusetts, Red Sox fans were rioting in the streets in celebration last Sunday.
What was the cause of this celebration? Did the Red Sox actually do anything to deserve this unprecedented support? Of course not. It was only another case of Boston fans showing why they are the most bitter fans the sports world has to offer.
When the Diamondbacks beat the Yankees, Red Sox fans took to the streets like their team had just won its fourth straight world title. The “Yankees suck” chant resonated around campus, and most of UMass went to sleep with a cozy feeling in its heart.
However, a brief look at the situation will show just how ridiculous this display was. For one thing, a Yankee win in game seven would have given them 27 World Series titles since the Red Sox last won one in 1918. Because the Diamondbacks pulled it out, though, on a Luis Gonzalez bloop single in the bottom of the ninth, New York now has to settle for a mere 26 world championships since the Red Sox won their last one.
This is not something that would make me dance in the streets if I was a Red Sox fan, burning Derek Jeter posters while simultaneously trying to convince myself that the Yankee shortstop is indeed, a homosexual.
Red Sox fans don’t even root for their own team anymore, instead choosing to spend their time hating somebody else. Just look at their rallying cry of “Yankees suck.” Every other team in sports has a rallying cry that is meant for cheering the hometown team on. “Let’s go Mets” can be heard at Shea Stadium, the Tomahawk chop (which I hate, but at least it is for the Braves and not against another team) is heard at Turner Field and even Expos fans bang on empty seats to try and motivate their squad.
Meanwhile, Red Sox fans spend the tense moments of every game, not cheering on their own team, but instead telling the most successful team in baseball history how bad it is.
If these “Yankees suck” chants were reduced to times the Red Sox were actually playing the Yankees, they wouldn’t be all that bad. However, Boston fans have taken it upon themselves to break out their rallying cry no matter who their team is playing. When the Red Sox play the Orioles, it doesn’t matter – the Yankees still suck. When they play the Blue Jays, once again, it is the Yankees that suck. It has gotten so bad that even Foxboro Stadium and the Fleet Center generally hear the words “Yankees suck” more often than they hear, “Go Patriots” or “Go Celtics.”
The funniest part of this situation is that Red Sox-Yankees is hardly even a rivalry. In a true rivalry, Boston would actually have to win some of the time, and that is clearly not the case. Since the Red Sox sold Babe Ruth 83 years ago, the Yankees have never lost to Boston in a game that actually mattered.
As a result of this, Yankees fans don’t even dislike Red Sox fans. After all, it is virtually impossible to despise someone you always beat. It is like the big brother always picking on the little brother in one-on-one basketball, but never going so far as to dislike his younger compatriot. Instead, it is the Mets (my favorite team) that are the true rivals of the Yankees, as the two squads fight for New York City supremacy.
In all of their bitterness, Red Sox fans don’t even realize that other baseball teams have suffered as much or more than Boston. The Cubs, for instance, haven’t won a World Series since 1908, and yet you will never hear a “Cardinals suck” chant in the north end of Chicago. Granted, the Cubs usually don’t come as close to the title as Boston before falling just short, but still, there is basically no bitterness in a group of fans that continually comes out to Wrigley Field in droves every year.
The White Sox have also suffered as much pain as the Red Sox, not having won a World Series since 1917. Once again, however, “Indians suck” chants are a rare sound indeed at Comiskey Park. All this, and the White Sox have a jinx even worse than the selling of Babe Ruth – that being the Black Sox scandal of 1919.
So, the next time Boston wins an important game, take to the streets and revel in what your team has accomplished. However, the next time New York loses an important game, just be thankful that your main “rival” has not increased the gap between the Yankees and the Red Sox even farther than it already is.
