Money Can't Buy Class: Red Sox Beat The Yankees.
I am more of a hockey fan, but every fall I'll get just a little fairweather and start watching Sox games if situations get interesting - and let's just say it's been a long week of TV. If you want to read a great Red Sox Blog, there are none finer than my friend Kent's who has kept the faith remotely for years, all the way from Atlanta. So I'll leave the excrutiating post-game analysis to people like him and just make a few high-level comments on why I think the Sox were able to mete out such a brutal pennant-winning, arse-whipping to the Yankees last night.
In a word: Karma. God, the powers that be, Miss Cleo, the Universe... whatever you want to call it... finally had had enough of Jeter's snide expressions, A-Rod's 22 million dollar blueberry yoghurt lips, pompous fans who forget that their now-toppled dynasty was bought rather than built and... um... that smug little Jeter bastard again. The looks on the faces of the NY crowd after the last out were just savory. It's been so, so easy to be a Yankees fan for the last few years. And we were all so, so sick of you.
I remember in particular a shot of Billy Crystal in one of the luxury boxes, his face still pressed to the glass in disbelief a good 5 minutes after the game had ended. You can't win all the time, Bill - I know it hurts. But I guess you already learned that lesson way back when The Legend of Curly's Gold was released. Crystal is a great symbol for Yankees fans in general: Sitting high on their perch, looking down their noses at other teams instead of cheering their own, never dreaming they'd soon be unsurped by one of the greatest underdogs in sports history.
Popular Red Sox credos like "Keep The Faith" and "Cowboy Up" turn the attention and the onus inward. They're meant to inspire and motivate the team and faithful fans alike. The best the Yankees can muster is "Who's Your Daddy?" which just encourages people to dismiss and insult the opposition rather than root, root, root for the home team. And Jeter's response to curious reporters last night? "It's not always the best team that wins." It's not always the best team that comes back from a 3-0 series deficit to then whup the opposition by nearly double digits, either. Oh wait - you know what, Derek? It probably is. Sorry, I got caught up in the undertow of your ginormous ego there for a moment.
Too bad, so sad. What comes around already went around, and you lads get to spend the rest of the fall polishing your Bentleys. While the Red Sox Nation spends it showing New York that millions of dollars are never a match for perseverance, unity, character and class. Of course, I DID pass a guy on the way to work this morning wearing a "Jeter Swallows" T-Shirt. But for the sake of this article, let's just keep that between us fairweather Sox fans.
posted by Dave Pye @ 10/21/2004 10:48:00 AM
17 Comments:
Hey, lemme know where to pick up MY Jeter T-shirt...
I'm seriously worried - if we win the WS and break the curse - what will that do to our psychology of nobel and determined underdogs? We'll have to develop a new self identity. And re-fabricating your persona in the light of success is usually a dicey affair... just look at... well, the Yankees.
- Milton
Voicemail I just got from Venditti:
"You guys are goin' crazy down there or what, eh? Big Boston victory? No more curse of the fat fuckin' slob? See ya, fat fucking slob."
Milton - yes it will drastically alter the archetypical Red Sox fan identity forever. I hate to say it... But it just might not be as fun anymore.
I think if the Sox win the World Series, it will be just as fun as it ever was to be a Sox fan. Do you recall what it was like being a Patriots fan before they won the Super Bowl? It's just as fun now isn't it? I think it will be a riot to see hollywood types suddenly wearing Sox caps, claiming they are life long fans, when two months ago, they were walking around unshaven in a wife beater with a Yankee Cap on. Kevin Federline, I am talking to you. Detroit Velvet Smooth From Moncton. OUT!
You know John Kerry's people must be scrambling to get him a few seats behind home plate - and in front of the cameras - right about now. "He's everyman. He's from Massachusetts. He looks like one of the trees from Lord of the Rings."
Lord of the rings tree....that was a good one! and oddly true...which is what makes it so funny.
So where are the PRE-WORLD SERIES PARTY happenings tonight?
I need a hot venue to bring my hot friends to.
Oh that's easy. There's this great new place in the North End, similar to the Living Room. It's called "Dave's Bedroom" and it's near the corner of Prince and Salem. I've never seen a line up, there's no cover before 11 and it's always ladies night.
Dave's bedroom eh? Never heard of it, but it sounds hot. We'll give you er... it a whirl. Hope we'll see you there. ;-)
xoxo,
Bruce, Bradley, Jack and Phil
The four horsemen of the ass-puck-o-lips.
Menino is actually testing out his proposed World Series Boston Bar liquor ban there tonight. So maybe another time.
here's another thing I read today about class. all the smack everyone's talking about Nomar leaving, and how he was a cancer to the team, well, who really knows but those in the dugout. but I read today that the 25 man team has gotten together and are planning on creating a 26th share of the post-season shares they've won and will give it to Nomar, because according to Varitek, they wouldn't have gotten to where they are today with Nomar's efforts. it's coming out of their own pockets.
that, and how everyone was calling for Mark Bellhorn's head in the first 5 games of the ALCS, but Tito kept him in. And then Bellhorn comes back and hits not one, but 2 game-clinching HR and a HUGE double in the WS. I mean... talk about a team that sticks together. it's not about who does what...it's about what they do for each other. and I like that
"their now-toppled dynasty was bought rather than built"
and Boston's team wasn't bought?
Foulke, Schilling, Damon, Manny, Pedro...
ever heard of these guys?
How much do they make, and where did they come from?
"Popular Red Sox credos like "Keep The Faith" and "Cowboy Up" turn the attention and the onus inward. They're meant to inspire and motivate the team and faithful fans alike. The best the Yankees can muster is "Who's Your Daddy?" which just encourages people to dismiss and insult the opposition rather than root, root, root for the home team."
Have you even been to Fenway before? Ever hear the phrase "Yankees Suck"... its only on the shirts of literally thousands of fans in the stands of every game (not just the ones against the Yankees), and chanted in the stands of every game(again, not just the ones against the Yankees) despite the fact that the Yankees were the defending Divisional champs in all those games for all those years.
"Who's your daddy" is a chant based on a quote that came right out of Pedro's mouth... not even on the same level as "Yankees Suck"
If you can come to Yankee Stadium next year and point out as many "Red Sox Suck" t-shirts at a NY vs. TB game as you can "Yankees Suck" shirts and "Yankee Hater" hats in the Bos vs. TB game at Fenway the weekend before, then you could say that yankees fans are AS class-less as Red Sox fans.
People were chanting Yankees Suck at the Patriots parade for god's sake.
I'm not saying they are all bad, because its obviosly not a majority.. but look at some of your own fans before criticizing someone elses.
Mr. Anonymous Payroll: I don't have any exact numbers to quote, and apparently neither do you. What I do know is that the Yankee payroll makes the Sox's look like a 6-year-old's weekly allowance. In India.
Mr. Anonymous Who's Your Daddy: You make some valid points. But if you re-read the last sentence of the article you'll see that I eluded to, and agree at some level, with everything you just said. Both cities are guilty of opponent-bashing which has always been a big part of any professional sport.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/teams/salaries?team=nyy
NYY Salary: 183,335,513
BOS Salary: 125,208,542
Or better yet,
#1 spender: NYY
#2 spender: BOS
I never said the yankees didnt buy most of their players... they obviously did.
My point is that it is hypocritcal for a sox fan to point that out about the yankees, when the sox do it as well.
I'm glad that you can agree with what I say, but on the one hand you claim "Both cities are guilty of opponent-bashing which has always been a big part of any professional sport." Yet your basis for calling the Yankees fans classless is that they chant "who's your daddy".
And while you acknowledge that you "DID pass a guy on the way to work this morning wearing a "Jeter Swallows" T-Shirt", I find that to be a huge underestimation, if that is your only acknowlwgement of RSN Yankee-Bashing.
Additionally, several Red Sox players have stated that they felt they were the better team after losing last year and have every right to say so. So you shouldn't pass judgement on Jeter saying it this year. Of course he believes he was on the better team, and he has every right to say it. Yes it was a historic comeback, but regardless of what order the games were won, it WAS a 7 game series, not the all out stomping the sox gave the Cards.
What's a measley 58 million, eh? And it sounds like you need a support group of some kind. It's over, and the chips fell where they fell. I am going to get back to mourning hockey. You can have the last word.
Look man. Telling me that I need to go to a support group isn't going to make this particular blog post any less hypocritcal. Insulting me, then conceding the last word isn't giving me the last word. 58 million is the difference between the yankees and the red sox, but its also the difference between the red sox and half the league.
I can't give you the last word if I have to keep piping up to defend myself. I know the article is hypocritical. I conceded that to you. I conceded it to everyone in the last sentence of the article. As for the player salaries, I'm not worried about the rest of the league. 58 million still buys a lot of talent. I have played on many sports teams and mustering energy and motivation after a loss is incredibly difficult. The Sox were impressive this year and they deserved to win the series. If you want to argue that too, then there is no pleasing you, and I'm done.
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