I have been a Yankee fan since I was born in 1971. To all the Red Sox fans, players and their organization: Do the Math-Red Sox 9 WSC . NY YANKEES 27 WSC. When yall win 19 more than us than you can chant and play NY NY all your want. Get over it you beat us two weeks ago! Sad that you guys can't let go of not being like the most successful sports franchise in existence. I guess jealousy is a form of flattery as they say.
Just Remember-It may be Red Sox country, but it always will be now and forever Yankees Universe!
2
So the Sox are now world famous in Boston. Well done.
1
I'm a Sox fan, but this chant—especially at other stadiums—is just inane.
5
Winning the World Series against the Dodgers was almost as good as beating the Yankees in their Bronx stadium!
1
I'm a lifelong Dodger fan! I congratulate the Red Sox on their World Series Championship! As great as they are, they would never have beaten The Brooklyn Dodger teams between 1947 and 1956! The Yankees were lucky, and got their just reward in 1955!!!
2
"Inferiority complex"? Really? Boston gave us the American Revolution. NYC gave us the 2008 Great Recession. No one in Boston feels inferior to NYC.
5
Get over it, Sox fans. You won, Yanks lost. I grew up a Yankee fan, and rooted for the Sox when I moved to Boston to go to college (after the Yanks, that is.) Totally lame. It's akin to Trump cultists shouting "Lock her up" long after he beat her in the 2016 election. Sportsmanship is dead.
4
I say Miami Dolphin fans have it over Red Sox fans for humor and wit, when rowdy NY fans Jet chant their J E T S Jets Jet Jets-they add, suck suck suck. I'm rolling in the aisle, and I'm a Jets fan.
Hate to state the obvious, but what if the Yankees really do suck?
3
My husband (a Yankee fan) and I (a Red Sox fan) took our then young daughter to Fenway Park for the first time to see the Red Sox play Toronto. She (who growing up in NY is mainly a Yankees fan but also roots for the Red Sox) was just totally horrified as an 8 year old to see all of the shirts and signs outside of Fenway saying "Yankees suck" when the Red Sox were not even playing the Yankees but were playing the Blue Jays! We were at quite at a loss to explain the venom toward the Yankees, though I tried because it was so hard seeing the Yankees win all of those years when we had not won since 1918!
2
i grew up in the 50s, a strong dodger fan. when they went to l.a., the fandom translated hesitantly, and then died as the mets sort of came along. it was always, damn the yankees. now that boston played the dodgers, it was really boston against l.a., and i took real satisfaction in the thought that boston finished off the yankees en route. couldn't help it: i rooted for boston in the end.
1
BUT, you know, the Yankees do suck!
3
As a fan who has lived in both cities I've seen and heard equally demeaning taunts, witnessed plenty of fist fights in Fenway (70's & 80's), beer and food tossed at Sox fans in Yankee Stadium. It goes both ways. Only I always wondered why the Yankee fans hated the team that was the battered hard luck loser, while they always seemed to win. Also remember Sox fans clearly say, "Yankees Suck" not NY sucks. Yankee fans seem to loathe all of Boston, so it's alway "Boston Sucks." That can keep motivating the Boston fan base. Sure it is really crass, but kind of fun and if it keeps the fists and bottles from flying, maybe a tad cathartic.
3
Boston fans can't even enjoy their own victory. That's sad. We're Yankees fans, but quietly rooted for the Sox once they reached the Series. There are thousands of people walking around NYC with Sox hats on and no New Yorker cares. Walking around Boston with a Yankees cap on is sure to draw a middle finger.
2
Well, how about if we drop the contorted metaphysical analysis of a rivalry, and stick to the present-day facts: Right now, this month, the Yankees *do* suck, specifically in comparison to the Red Sox. Not only did the Sox dispatch them with alacrity in the post-season, but they humiliated them 16-1 in the worst of those defeats. Dominated them so thoroughly, that the Yankees hoisted the white flag of defeat in the form of bringing in a catcher to do the pitching - only one step above asking if anyone in the stands might want to take the mound.
As far as the claim that the Yankees are above such childish tribalism, why write the article at all? The author doth protestest too much, methinks.
3
The New York Times always take the time to print something negative about the Red Sox or their fans.
Jimmy Kimmel interviewed people from Brooklyn about the Red Sox when he was in town a couple of weeks ago. Most of the comments were bleeped... not one positive comment about the Red Sox.
Get over it. The Red Sox won the World Series. And you know what? It is always about the damn Yankees!!!
3
Yes, the Yankees do suck!!
3
Before we get all “glass houses and stone throwing” find the YouTube video of Jimmy Kimmel asking random New Yorkers to wish the Red Sox luck against the Dodgers...
Red Socks suck.
Thee fixation on NY is bizarre. Am a NY fan but live outside Boston and they yell "Yankees suck" at Patriots playoff games??? There is room for everyone at the table.
Yank-ees Suck!
UUUU-ESSS-A!
LOL
Rivalries are what they are. Let’s not take it too seriously, commenter from South Carolina.
Fun article D. Waldstein, as a lifelong Sox fan I can say that 16-run drubbing of the Yanks was deee-licious.
And for those talking about the number of Yankees championships, just consider the number of Pats Super Bowls and Celtics championships. Boom.
Long may the rivalry live!
3
Bruins suck, Patriots suck, Celtics such, Red Sox suck.
Boston SUX!
Not all Red Sox fans are so crude and rude. As a long time Red Sox fan, I've never understood the constant "Yankees suck" bellowing. Seems pretty empty-headed to me.
It's even stranger to hear it at an Oakland vs Yankees game in Oakland.
I grew up in NYC when the Yankees, Dodgers and baseball Giants played there. I was and always will be a Yankee fan - they are my 1st team in professional sports. I was about 14 when the Dodgers and Giants moved out of NYC and 18 or so when the Met's were created. At that time, when your team didn't win the pennant, you still rooted for the team in your league, in my case, the American League, to win the World Series. The Pennant winner represented your league. Your leagues pennant winner dominating in the World Series supports the notion that your whole league is superior to the other league. Growing-up, I don't remember any rivalry with Boston or any other team as there has been in perhaps the past 2 decades. And I followed baseball closely - having all statistics of both leagues players and teams in my head at all times. It was like an automatic - and my friends did too. So, what I am saying is Bravo to the Sox, they won in big fashion and doing so makes my Yankees and the whole American League look that much better.
4
Take the jeering as a compliment in a little brother, big brother sibling rivalry. We Sox fans can recall decades during which you Yankees couldn't be bothered even to recognize our team. Your annoyance now at our impertinence in having taken over your 'entitled' position is a similar sort of back-handed compliment, one that we have been able to relish since 2004.
That having been said, and in a polite effort to reject the current zeitgeist of tribalism, I'll admit that your team was pretty good this year -- and the '98s weren't bad either. (Hmm, who is it these days that George Steinbrenner reminds me of?)
6
As a longtime Red Sox fan I accept that for many years this “rivalry” was more in the heads of Sox fans than Yankee supporters. During the years up to 1978, the Sox were more of a pesky afterthought than a serious contender. Certainly the Red Sox were partly responsible for their years in the wilderness. Owner Tom Yawkey wanted players to be his friends and was reluctant to do the hard work of building a serious contender by getting rid of his drinking and sporting pals. Neither team was among the leaders in signing black players but the Sox dragged their feet the longest, until they were embarrassed into signing Pumpsie Green.
True, there was bad blood between certain team members (Arod vs Tek, Fisk vs Munson and basically everyone else) but the violent rivalry of 2003/2004 is more an aberration than a mainstream item. Enough players have moved back and forth between the two teams to limit the enmity to playing “their” theme song in “our”park after a win. And that’s enough to keep this fan from ever becoming a Yankee fan. Long live the rivalry!
3
For some, this type of devotion appears to extend to their civic life as well. Such an uncomplicated way to view the world. I envy that in some ways.
As a Red Sox fan, I've had many years to reflect on why I chose to be a Red Sox fan. Although I grew up in Massachusetts, the first World Series I watched, in 1967, found me a Cardinals fan because I loved watching Bob Gibson pitch. During the 1975 WS, I discovered I loved the Red Sox, who, as the underdog, were truly exciting to watch. Since then, I've observed that the Yankees/Red Sox rivalry added much to my enjoyment of baseball, I have the utmost respect for the Yankees for all their history and accomplishmemts, and baseball is all the better for it, and I've had many civil discussions with Yankees fans over the years.
Red Sox fans are acutely aware that the Yankees enjoy three times as many world championships as the Red Sox (27-9, including 6 in the 1950's!). It is intriguing to consider that some day in the far future, the Red Sox could surpass the Yankees in WS championships. If the Yankees win 1 WS every 19 years (current 21st century win rate) the Red Sox will overtake them at their current 21st century win rate in around 114 years, around October, 2132, when each will have won 33 championships. True parity/balance will then exist in the Yankees/Red Sox universe. But that depends on whether John Henry's descendants remain principal owner. Until then, expect continued Yankees/Red Sox acrimony.
The Red Sox were once the Charlie Browniest of all baseball teams. Winning the World Series never gets old, and I look forward to the Yankees/Red Sox rivalry in 2019!
9
It's a fairly 'newly minted' manufactured rivalry. Yes, they are in the same division and yes, they are the closest in proximity. However, growing up in Boston no one hated the Yankees. We rooted for them in the World Series because they usually represented the American League. As far as a rivalry goes, it was like the rivalry between the hammer and the nail.
2
It seems that Red Sox fans have damaged psyches like people who suffered some type of abuse as children. They can never get over the Yankees or fully enjoy their victories. There's always an undercurrent of sourness and ill will that eats at them.
2
@PWR
The same is true for Yankee fans. The ones I work with were are bit upset when they lost in the division series, but as of Sunday night they have been seriously bitter towards us few red sox fans in the office.
Yankee fans like to think they are above pettiness, but they really are not.
8
False. I can recall no instance EVER where a Red Sox suck chant has broken out anywhere other than during a Red Sox -Yankees game. For the most part, Yankees fans are preoccupied with the other team in the best city in the world, the Mets. The Red Sox has a great year, are a great team of likeable players and I congratulate them.
There is nothing worse than fans with a persecution complex who become winners. They’re winners but still have that chip on their shoulders. It’s like they can’t be gracious.
1
Your "unnamed Yankee official" is wrong again. "Big Boys" down south? Looks like he did not pay attention to how his team did this year in the playoffs against the World Champion Boston Red Sox.
I was at Game One at Fenway Park, and that chant serenaded the crowd in the 7th inning of the game. Beating and showing disrespect for the most obnoxious team in sports never gets old.
5
two words: twenty-seven, four
@jasinct I'd count the hyphenated word as two.
The Red Sox have 9, but they have 4 this century.
@jasinct
first of all - 27, 9
And this is the kind of post that proves that yankee fans can be equally childish and petty
This lifelong Yankees fan closed the baseball season with Bob Uecker's signoff of the Brewers final game of the year. I moved to Boston in 1973, when I considered the Tigers and Orioles major Yankee rivals. Couldn't care less about the Red Sox. But all I found in Boston was hatred for my being a Yankees fan. Only went to Fenway once, where a black friend was taunted by the racist Red Sox Nation. Never again.
So it was pretty easy to completely skip this year's World Series. The Red Sox are losers in my book no matter where they place in the standings. Bad sports. Fickle racist fans. Racist owners. Thoroughly forgettable.
4
Cruller?
1
Red Sox won the World Series with a historically great team. And this is (at least ) the 2nd article that the Times has run in the past two days exploring the Boston obsession with New York. Seems to me that it's New York (Times) that has the chip on its shoulders.....
6
I do not root for either team, but seriously NYT... Is this really compelling coverage of the World Series? Thanks for assuring that poor sportsmanship (and the Yankees somehow) stays in the conversation.
5
David,
You need to come to Boston, the Athens of America, and take a philosophy course at say Harvard or BC or Tufts, or Northeaster or even BU. If you did, you'd realize that when you say that New Yorkers are little concerned about Boston, but then go on to write an article about your putative disinterest, you are involved in a "performative contradiction." You could look it up.
5
~No matter what they do, they always compare themselves to the big boys down south~
It's our century this time!
3
Just to clarify: The chant is not a claim that the Yankees are a bad baseball team.
The chant expresses the view that the Yankees are bad for baseball because for generations they have use their financial advantages to tilt the playing field in their favor. They bought Babe Ruth, and they bought whatever players they wanted to fill all positions with all-stars. As a result, the feeling is, the Yankees' championships are undeserved and illegitimate. This is not a view limited to Bostonians.
Of course, there are points to be made on the other side. Yes, many of the best Yankees were homegrown. And yes, to beat the Yankees, the Red Sox simply beat them at their own game. This year's Red Sox team has the highest payroll in the league. The 2004 Red Sox featured many high-priced free agents, Manny Ramirez most notably.
Many baseball fans, outside of NY, would prefer a game where success was determined by organizational talent and effort, rather than by the size of the budget. The other 3 major sports understand this, and have more or less effective salary caps.
Maybe the chant should evolve: "MLB [stinks]!"
2
It's just a game, a sport, and fans (short for fanatics) are taking it too far.
It's all a part of the dumbing down of American culture. If only this passion could be channeled into something more relevant.
“They had a terrific season,” said one Yankees official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity so as not to further stoke the rivalry. “It just shows how we are in their psyche. No matter what they do, they always compare themselves to the big boys down south.”
Sure, you're in the Sox psyche. And the Sox compare themselves to the "big boys" down south. Let's go with that.
2
I was a Yankees fan in my NJ youth circa 1960, went to Micky Mantle Day when he retired.... Anyway, education took me to Boston in the year of Bucky Dent and I went to about 20 games that year in Fenway. I was struck early in the season when the Sox were playing one of the CA teams, I think it was the A's. They were not scheduled to play the Yankees for another month and the fans in the bleachers stood and sang to the tune of 'I Love New York', I hate NY. This went on thru the entire game and the Oakland outfielders would turn around every once in a while and just shake their heads in disbelief. Seems nothing has changed.
2
No amount of championships will mitigate the inferiority complex to the Yankees. This year’s Sox were a great team, but in the end, they won’t be talked about as much or recognized as much because they are not the Yankees. Same thing goes for the “Stros”. Get an international fan base, maybe then you’ll get a prime time slot.
3
@Sid
Perfectly condescending yankee fan post. And you wonder why people chant these things....
1
To this Yankees fan, I feel like this has become a sibling rivalry of twins rather than little brother/big brother. Lots of respect for the other team, but always want the Yankees to win. And by win, I mean beat the Red Sox and win the World Series. But if the Red Sox beat the Yankees, then they should win the World Series (horrors!). Any other team winning the World Series ends up feeling like a tied game . . . .
Although if the Mets are in the World Series and not the Yankees, it's cute if the Mets win.
2
It’s not correct to say that Boston fans compare themselves to “the big boys down south”. The chant is just fun and a good time. We really don’t waste much time thinking about the Yankees. If there should be any comparison to be done, the points on the compass should now be reversed.
2
I agree that Red Sox fans should not exhibit the tribalism that is so prevalent in our current era. Go Sox and for the record many Bostonians wore I ❤ New York t shirts after 9/11. We are one nation despite the divisive rhetoric spouted by our President.
1
Get over it Yankee fans. This is baseball, a game. Boston is the greatest sports town in America. You don't even come in 2nd.
2
Crullers? Nobody in Boston, let alone in the other parts of real New England (ie, everywhere other than southwest CT), eats crullers.
1
I can understand the poor little Boston Red Sox Fans. After all, it must be hard come from such a small town that it doesn't even have it's own Football team, but has to root for one that represents "New England".
They just resent the guys from the Big City, whose NY Yankees have, over the decades, wiped the floor with their cute little Red Sox.
1
@Brian Bitter, bitter, bitter.
All I can say is Jersey Jets and Jersey Giants.
@Brian
You mock Boston fans for following a football team called New England. At least they play their home games in the same state as Boston. Unless you're a Buffalo Bills fan, you're going out of state to see your football team's home games. Ha ha!
As a Yankee fan, I appreciate the confirmation that we are on the Red Sox's mind, apparently even when things are good. Rear view mirror this year, tailights next year. Go Yanks!
1
My favorite Yankee dis so far came directly from the Red Sox championship clubhouse. In direct response to Aaron Judge they played New York, New York on the boom box.
There are some historic reasons for this. When the DiMaggio brothers came on the scene, we got Joe, they got Dom. When George Herman Ruth came into his own and got too big for the small town arena, we gave the Babe New York and the Yankees.
In short, over the last century, they passed down a strong (deserved or not) sense of "2nd Classdom" from generation to generation.
I'm glad they have been getting this (temporary) shot in the arm,. It just might eventually help them control their sense of inferiority.
@Brian
He's better than his brother Joe,
Dominic DiMaggio!
1
Probably enough already about the NY v Boston rivalry. Their Athens Sparta thing continues to be an adrenalin pump for all of us ( Sawx fan here- since 67) who’re soo passionate about our teams. We all get it by now! But how about the other end of this spectrum? All those apathetic fan bases out there with, for the most part, decent teams who show up late, leave early, stare at their phones, stuff their faces, wait for the kiss cam, and dive into outfield swimming pools, to name but a few of the distractions available to lousy passionless fans with no attention spans. I despise the Yankees... but their fans care hard. I respect and admire. Watching Boston fans takeover Chavez Ravine and, a few miles away, Packers fans outnumber Ram “faithful” by about ten to one last Sunday was a hoot. Shame on LA and those many towns out there just like em ( we all know). Lame.
1
Good on ya Boston for keeping up the east coast over LA. And think of it, Only 19 more world series to be in same league as Yankees. you might get there one day. In your dreams.
Can't Yankees fans and Red Sox fans put aside their petty differences and take just a moment to be grateful they're not wearing Mets ball caps?
1
@Matt
Don't know why but I can't stop laughing at this comment. It's my favorite of the lot. Good job Matt!
2
Back when I was growing up in the 1980s, there were rivalries in all the Boston sports teams: Celtics versus Lakers, Patriots versus the Jets, Bruins versus the Canadiens and of course the Red Sox versus the Yankees. The only one that stands the test of time is the Red Sox versus the Yankees rivalry. Quite frankly, I hope it never goes away.
2
Having lived in Boston for 43 years, I have found it to be a very small-minded, insular town. In baseball, the Yankees are the bogeyman and in basketball, it is LA. I cannot imagine the good people of Boston electing an avowed Yankee fan as mayor and yet in NY, not an issue. Small minded and parochial.
4
The reason it continues is that Yankee fans have felt so entitled for so long.
And then there was this whole "Yankee-tradition" shtick that they literally sold down the river to build a new stadium.
Please...
6
Sox fan since 1949, which means I had to wait 55 years before the drought ended. Since then, a veritable deluge of WS wins, more than the Yankees, whom I regard as the worthy--well, more than worthy--adversaries. So I have no problem talking baseball with Yankee fans. Of course, I also haven't lived in Boston since 6 months after I was born. I thought the ALDS, ALCS, and WS were all very exciting this year because none was a cakewalk despite the 11-3 record. And I can only hope the Sox make it to the postseason in 2019--where the Yankees will surely be. I also like NYC--a lot. A truly great city despite its faults. But I love my Sox even more.
1
As a Yankee fan from childhood 70 years ago, we didn't care a hoot about the Red Sox--they were not worthy of being rivals. True rivals were the Giants and the Dodgers, both of which were such poor teams compared with the Yankees that they decamped to California, where there was no opposition.
I'm a lifelong Yankee fan, but I recognize and acknowledge a great team when I see it. And the Red Sox were a great team this year, largely because they didn't let too many pitches get by the plate.
Alex Cora told them to make contact whenever possible and avoid strike out looking...and that's largely what they did, all season long. Game 4 of the Series was a good example, wiping out a 4-0 deficit in the 8th with timely hitting )aided and abetted by Dave Robert's questionable decision to pull Rich Hill for a reliever).
So - Four World Series championships. Only 23 more to go to catch the Bombers!
3
@hdtvpete They have 9 WS championships actually. They won 5 in the first decades of the 20th century, and were the dominant team during that time, as they are today. Funny how a Yankee fan forgets that.....
2
@hdtvpete
The Red Sox have 9 World Series Championships to their name. They’ve won 4 in the last 15 years.
1
@hdtvpete
it's actually only 18 more championships to go to catch the yankees (Bos-9/NY-27). Not that I'm counting or anything...
I agree with most commenters that this is really nasty since the Red Sox won over the Dodgers and the Yankees were not part of the equation. That said, where does it leave me? As a Giants fan I rooted for the Sox to beat the Dodgers our very traditional rival. It was ABD (Anyone But Dodgers) support, and I know I was not alone.
1
Such small people. Sad. And it's not just chanting, the subculture runs deeper than that. I was in Seattle a few years ago and went to a Mariners-Red Sox game at Safeco. There were fights all over the ballpark, all involving Red Sox fans who had had one too many beers. My local friend, a season ticket holder, said that this only happens when the Red Sox are in town.
5
@Virgil Starkwell
Sox fans remind me of Amherst College football fans - a mean spirited lot, they are.
1
I grew up in the 70s/80s - if an opposing team's fans (particularly the Red Sox) had started chanting at a Yankees or Mets game, they would have not made it out of the stadium alive...
2
The rivalry isn't what it once was and I'm sort of tired seeing it play out beyond games between NE/NY teams.
That said, I hope the "what's wrong with Red Sox fans?" article here and that editorial about NE fans being tired of winning (?) are cathartic reads for some after the outcome of this Fall Classic. Sports are looking rather grim in NY at the moment.
7
@Chris - the Yankees won a hundred games and will compete with the Sox for the AL East title yet again. I don't think the Sox go on to win that division by 8 next year so we should have a good 2019 baseball season. You are correct that the rest of NYC pro sports is in dire condition.
So now maybe someone can explain why whenever Red Sox players like Nathan Eovaldi, Eduardo Nunez and Steve Pearce play really well, the NY press usually refers to them as 'former Yankees', but does not do this when they play poorly. (Conversely, I have never seen Jacoby Ellsbury referred to as 'former Red Sox' when he plays well, which , admittedly, has not been often in a Yankee uniform.) I can never tell if NYers want to take credit for their former players accomplishments, or if they are bemoaning the loss of good players. Or is it something else altogether? Like Waldstein, I grew up in Boston, but have lived in NY for a while, and I still can't figure this one out.
14
As a lifelong Oakland A's fan, I am used to being outnumbered by fans of both teams in my home stadium, and while Yankees fans can be pretty insufferable, Red Sox fans are consistently worse. Dissing rival teams instead of cheering their own sucess is the epitome of poor sportsmanship, especially given Boston's recent string of championships.
However, calling the rivalry a David and Goliath matchup is beyond absurd in this era. Goliath vs Goliath doesn't have the same ring to it, but these are two of the richest teams in baseball, each with payrolls consistently in the $200 million range. The difference is that the Red Sox fully embraced analytics at the outset, even trying to hire Billy Beane from the A's in the early 2000's. Instead, they hired Theo Epstien and began playing Moneyball with huge sums of actual money, which they continue to do today. The Yankees, by contrast, continued their pattern of big-splash signings and huge contracts (not that analytics aren't also involved) and the results of the past 15 years stand for themselves. The Sox have won more than 25% of all World Series in that time period. 4 to the Yankees 1. That's probably a big enough sample to be statisitcally significant.
Science wins in the end, provided you have the money to execute your plan. I wish the A's did!
13
You nailed it! As a Yankee fan I find it all very funny. Btw, have you noticed that TV announcers NE VER comment on the chant.
6
@joelibacsi
It's probably the one occurrence that will find only silence emitting from Joe Buck.
2
As a lifelong Red Sox fan, I am rejoicing this year and salute one of the best teams EVER and the BEST Red Sox team ever. I am so over this "rivalry". Yankees are just another team to beat forever and ever.
2018 WORLD SERIES CHAMPION RED SOX!!!!
29
You think this is unique to Boston? For years when I lived in New York I'd hear Ranger fans' choice words for the Islanders' Dennis Potvin, even when he wasn't in the building. I'm told that even today, years after his retirement, anti-Potvin cheers can still be heard. It's entertainment that's meant to serve as a diversion.
16
Confirmed, maybe even more so today. You can see the t-shirts at the Garden, see variations of "Ptvn sux" vanity plates and hear the chants at away games.
I’m a Yankees fan and I think it’s hilarious. Let them revel in their success.
They still got a long way to go to equal 27 WS championships.
Other than that, where’s Boston?
21
@JRA it seems like perhaps Boston: 21st Century :: Yankees: 20th Century
15
@Dagwood, The Yankees didn't win 100 games by getting lucky. Red Sox just had better and more consistent hitting. (David Price still has yet to beat New York in a playoff game.)
1
@hdtvpete. Oh
As a baseball fan, I’m always disappointed by the prevalence of this kind of attitude. It’s not too different from the divisive rhetoric we hear in the political sphere today: what starts as a kind of in-joke becomes a source of tribalism and, at worst, cruelty. It’s just a drag that sports can’t be a source of unity in 2018. Get the spite out of your celebration, Sox fans.
19
@Liz. Have a sense of humor. It's ridiculously hysterical!
1
@Liz
For heaven's sake, Liz: if rivalries are an innocent means of inspiring elation and of releasing tension —why would you want to suppress that?
To urge that "sports ... be a source of unity" is antithetical to the essence of competition, and a serious misreading of human nature. To paraphrase Madeline, lighten up.
(Which lightness is captured drolly in the piece itself, thankfully.)
@Liz, if you'd ever had to live with someone putting your nose in it for as long as you could remember, and every time you were right on the cusp of turning the tables, the table stayed right where it was, then you'd understand why Sox fans have been-yes- obnoxious toward Yankees fans these last 14 years. In other words, it's not spite; it's retribution. Don't expect it to change.