Sunday, April 24, 2005
Hater-ade
That’s what I am recommending for all the people who now hate the Red Sox, exemplified by David Schoenfield’s 86 Reasons to Hate the Red Sox column. As a devoted sports fan throughout the 1990s who never had any of his teams win, I am familiar with the position certain Mariners, Steelers, or Titans fans may find themselves in at this point. To tell you the truth, I can’t say I blame you…Red Sox overkill, whether in the form of fan documentaries, “Fever Pitch,” or book releases continues to spiral out of control. This was only reinforced by the two Red Sox-Yankees series to start the season as well as the fanfare surrounding raising our championship banner etc. (I don’t remember this being such a big deal for Florida in 2004…by the way the Marlins have won two World Series in the last 8 years…that’s what people should be hating on.) The exploitive tendencies of both Sox management (looking to milk as much revenue as possible) and certain Red Sox players (Johnny Damon with a Page 3 pictorial? A little much) does not help.
I guess when anything compelling happens, whether it’s in sports or any other realm, someone is going to try and figure out as many ways as possible to make money off it. Over the last two years, the Red Sox’ chase for the World Series has been deemed marketable to the national, “Red Sox Nation.” Now I don’t know how the Red Sox national phenomenon has occurred, whether people are embracing us as an alternative to the Yankees, or whether some combination of New England transplants and Boston university grads has combined to create a new fan base. Personally I think it’s the latter; and it kind of pisses me off as well. (I love how in a post about not hating I can’t do anything but hate.) For example, I met a kid in Australia who went to Brandeis…who informed me in the span of 30 seconds that:
1) He was in Landsdowne Street for Game Four of the World Series and it was one of the greatest experiences of his life
2) Because he was there and I had the fortune of watching the pinnacle sporting event of my life from the Marly Bar in Newtown Australia, he was more of a true fan than me.
3) He was originally from New York and actually a Mets fan first.
Now I have become more passive in my old age, due to either newfound maturity or smoking weed every day for four straight years (Disclaimer: please ignore this comment with regards to any Congressional campaigning,) so I restrained myself from breaking the kid’s jaw. Plus he did seem genuinely excited about the Sox, so I let him off with a simple “Not a chance,” and eye-roll after making a Jody Reed reference he didn’t pick up. This breed of Sox fan, as well as many Bostonians who started following the team in the last five years, will soon neglect their allegiance following our next down period. Frankly I won’t be sad to see them go, mostly so I can have a better chance of getting tickets.
But there will still be those more committed fans, like myself, and I’m going to let you in on a little secret, we are never going to stop gloating over 2004. There was a universal sentiment among Red Sox fans that, proceeding the 2004 postseason, our somewhat unfortunate history had been maliciously rubbed in our face by other sports fans and media outlets, with the primary transgressions coming from that small town four hours to our Southwest. The 2003 ALCS only magnified these feelings of frustration and hurt, as my cell phone found out when I threw it on the ground following the 8th inning that evening. It wasn’t just that our team was going to lose because of our idiotic manager, but that the Curse/Red Sox and their fans are such losers, stereotype that my brethren and I so resented was being fulfilled right before our very eyes. Thus, in 2004, when we went from 3-0 down to the Yanks (another brutal reinforcement of the stereotype,) to Champions…well you’ve seen it explained here and elsewhere. Regardless, after a few moments of “did that just happen? Yes it most certainly did” euphoria, us fans had a choice. Should we attempt to take the high road, by not rubbing our success in the face of Yankees fans, Cards fans, and other baseball fans who had not been fortunate enough to see their team win a World Series, remembering that not ten days earlier, we considered ourselves to be the captain of said ship? Or should we be insufferable asses, gloating as much as possible?
Score one for insufferable asses. If you can’t gloat over your sports team’s success, you are missing out on one of the best parts of sports fandom. I am personally stoked to move back to the US and make snide comments to anyone wearing a Yankees hat. I will annoy Mariners, Cubs, and White Sox fans by condescendingly reassuring them that “some day it will happen for them too,” and forcing them to watch the “Faith Rewarded,” DVD. Will that make them hate me as a sports fan? Maybe, but after all, it’s just sports. It’s not like I’m gloating over getting better grades than them, or getting paid more. And to those whose lives can’t go on due to Red Sox saturation, I offer this condolence: Ha Ha you sucker.
I guess when anything compelling happens, whether it’s in sports or any other realm, someone is going to try and figure out as many ways as possible to make money off it. Over the last two years, the Red Sox’ chase for the World Series has been deemed marketable to the national, “Red Sox Nation.” Now I don’t know how the Red Sox national phenomenon has occurred, whether people are embracing us as an alternative to the Yankees, or whether some combination of New England transplants and Boston university grads has combined to create a new fan base. Personally I think it’s the latter; and it kind of pisses me off as well. (I love how in a post about not hating I can’t do anything but hate.) For example, I met a kid in Australia who went to Brandeis…who informed me in the span of 30 seconds that:
1) He was in Landsdowne Street for Game Four of the World Series and it was one of the greatest experiences of his life
2) Because he was there and I had the fortune of watching the pinnacle sporting event of my life from the Marly Bar in Newtown Australia, he was more of a true fan than me.
3) He was originally from New York and actually a Mets fan first.
Now I have become more passive in my old age, due to either newfound maturity or smoking weed every day for four straight years (Disclaimer: please ignore this comment with regards to any Congressional campaigning,) so I restrained myself from breaking the kid’s jaw. Plus he did seem genuinely excited about the Sox, so I let him off with a simple “Not a chance,” and eye-roll after making a Jody Reed reference he didn’t pick up. This breed of Sox fan, as well as many Bostonians who started following the team in the last five years, will soon neglect their allegiance following our next down period. Frankly I won’t be sad to see them go, mostly so I can have a better chance of getting tickets.
But there will still be those more committed fans, like myself, and I’m going to let you in on a little secret, we are never going to stop gloating over 2004. There was a universal sentiment among Red Sox fans that, proceeding the 2004 postseason, our somewhat unfortunate history had been maliciously rubbed in our face by other sports fans and media outlets, with the primary transgressions coming from that small town four hours to our Southwest. The 2003 ALCS only magnified these feelings of frustration and hurt, as my cell phone found out when I threw it on the ground following the 8th inning that evening. It wasn’t just that our team was going to lose because of our idiotic manager, but that the Curse/Red Sox and their fans are such losers, stereotype that my brethren and I so resented was being fulfilled right before our very eyes. Thus, in 2004, when we went from 3-0 down to the Yanks (another brutal reinforcement of the stereotype,) to Champions…well you’ve seen it explained here and elsewhere. Regardless, after a few moments of “did that just happen? Yes it most certainly did” euphoria, us fans had a choice. Should we attempt to take the high road, by not rubbing our success in the face of Yankees fans, Cards fans, and other baseball fans who had not been fortunate enough to see their team win a World Series, remembering that not ten days earlier, we considered ourselves to be the captain of said ship? Or should we be insufferable asses, gloating as much as possible?
Score one for insufferable asses. If you can’t gloat over your sports team’s success, you are missing out on one of the best parts of sports fandom. I am personally stoked to move back to the US and make snide comments to anyone wearing a Yankees hat. I will annoy Mariners, Cubs, and White Sox fans by condescendingly reassuring them that “some day it will happen for them too,” and forcing them to watch the “Faith Rewarded,” DVD. Will that make them hate me as a sports fan? Maybe, but after all, it’s just sports. It’s not like I’m gloating over getting better grades than them, or getting paid more. And to those whose lives can’t go on due to Red Sox saturation, I offer this condolence: Ha Ha you sucker.
# posted by Marmaniac @ 6:02 AM 
