IrishPride Posted September 1, 2007 Share Posted September 1, 2007 (edited) That is absolute bat crap. I've been around the country since 1999... and I notice B Caps, because I almost always give them a "Yeah, Sox!" They've always been out there. Don't make up stuff just because your team is losing. That's poor play, Yankee fan. Well I have traveled all over the US the past seven years been to alot of games........but I think your confused? All the way back to Buckner or Dent, The red sox bandwagoneers came from everywhere after 2004...........You had liike 80years of misery, the true fans where there but to say the yankees have bandwagoneers is absurd, they have been good for so many generations.......They truly are like the cowboys and steelers........Fathers and sons from one generation to the next...........Baseball was full of heros in the 50's and 60's...........today it's full of $$$$$$ but we all watch it because thats how we grew up..........In short you have to be honest, alot of Sox fans if not jumped on the wagon, they came out of the closet........... Edited September 1, 2007 by IrishPride Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SheikYerbuti Posted September 1, 2007 Share Posted September 1, 2007 This might be the funniest thing I ever read on this site. Coming from a Boston fan, that is. I never, ever saw anyone wearing a Red Sox cap unless it was at the Stadium and the two teams were playing. Now, since 2004, they are all over the place. Woodwork? I am sure you have your die-hards (and you may be one of them, King) but most of your "fans" are nothing but termites who jumped on board the band wagon at a time when it was hip to be an "Idiot." I bet the most of them don't even know what the "Pesky Pole" is or who Tony Conigliaro is. There's Room For Everyone in Red Sox Nation by Bill Simmons "Come on, admit it -- deep down, you miss the Curse a little." A buddy e-mailed me that challenge last week. I knew what he was thinking. In his mind, I had to miss following a tortured franchise, had to miss those life-or-death Octobers, had to miss the battle-scarred kinship with other diehards, had to miss dreaming about the big payoff that was probably never coming. He figured I was like Jack in that flash-forward episode of "Lost," wandering around LA with a bad beard as I bemoaned the fact that I'd been rescued. I had to miss the island. It's not true. Real fans don't miss hearing the "1918" chants or McCarver and Buck mentioning Babe Ruth every five minutes, and we definitely don't miss having the lower hand with the Yankees. We don't miss living with a particular kind of sports mortality that most fans can't understand: the fear of potentially going an entire lifetime without seeing our favorite team prevail. It was a noose hanging around our collective neck. What's to miss about that? Still, our life-or-death passion hasn't faded too much. Just ask J.D. Drew, Eric Gagne, Julio Lugo and Theo Epstein, all of whom have struggled this season and have been skewered by radio callers, bloggers and message boarders for it. No Sox fan can find total peace; we'll always dread the next meltdown or come-from-behind charge by the Yankees. These feelings are wired into our DNA, like Haddonfield citizens who will never again feel totally safe on Halloween. Maybe we shrug off day-to-day losses a bit easier, and maybe we don't spend our winters bemoaning fate and destiny, but we still give a crap. We want to keep winning. We don't want things to change. And yet it's been surreal to watch the Sox evolve into a bandwagon superpower like the 1970s Cowboys, one of those successful ubercontenders that everyone in Boston has always despised. Home games have been overrun by pseudo fans, cute females and families in green spamshirts and pink caps. Road games have been transformed by a swelling fan base -- partly because of the bandwagoners, partly because the Impossible Dream season in 1967 created three full generations (and counting) of Sox fans -- that provides a homefield advantage in many opposing parks. A recent USA Today cover story pointed to the team's startling road attendance figures, the highest in baseball, and decided, "Red Sox Nation has grown into its name." I flew down to Tampa for last week's series and can report the following: Sox fans made up 70% of the crowd, overwhelming Devil Rays fans, most of whom were in the Matlock demographic, anyway. From a noise standpoint, if you closed your eyes, you would have thought you were in Fenway. (Well, until you opened them and saw the dome on the ghoulishly outdated Tropicana Field, or the brownish-red shag carpety stuff on the warning track that was pulled from Austin Powers' flat.) Three sights were especially shocking: 1. Entire families dressed in Sox gear, including some clans who traveled from New England for a vacation. Before our team won it all this rarely happened, because few fathers wanted to subject their kids to merciless berating. Now there's a coming-out-of-the-closet feel to these road games: It's okay, you can wear your Manny jersey, honey. Nothing bad will happen. 2. Attractive females wearing Sox gear. Even during the Pedro era, you were more likely to see a no-hitter than a cute woman in team colors. Now they're everywhere. And honestly, I just can't get over seeing a woman who isn't built like Doug Mirabelli wearing a Sox jersey. 3. The scores of post-2004 newbie fans. Do these yahoos even know suffering? In Tampa, the guy behind me (a Sox "fan") and his girlfriend (a D-Rays fan) were doing the whole "giving each other crap" thing, which would have been fine if he hadn't returned with two beers during a Tampa rally and said, "Wow, you got the score to 5-7!" That's post-2004 Sox fans for you: They wear crisp new hats and think Wade Boggs was a country singer and that the score is 5-7. Again, I'd rather be a Sox fan in 2007 than 2003. I just wasn't prepared to root for the Yankees, and as sad as this sounds, we've kinda sorta maybe turned into the Yankees. Like them, we spend more money than everyone else. Like them, we make expensive roster mistakes (Drew, Lugo, Matt Clement, Edgar Rentería, et al.) without any repercussions. Like them, we're detested by opposing fans because we invade their stadiums and taunt their teams. And like them, we're sucking in all the soulless bandwagon kids who pick their favorite teams in first grade based on winning percentages and superstars. Although 2004 got the ball rolling, blame the shrewd owners (John Henry, Larry Lucchino and Tom Werner) for the recent parallels. Fenway could be a Disney mini park at this point; they're practically printing money there, and when you throw in the various merchandising windfalls (one little girl in Tampa was wearing a green Coco Crisp jersey) and the TV money from NESN, the Red Sox will probably make $10 trillion this season. Ironically, this was what we always wanted: caring owners who kept Fenway alive, moved the franchise into the 21st century and spent much of their profits on roster improvements. How could anyone complain? It's like following an unknown band through thick and thin, watching them blow up and sell out stadiums, then being angry because they hit the big time. Of course, it's tough to ignore three-fourths of a crowd in Tampa screaming for "Yooooooooook" as the alleged Boston fan behind me asks, "Why are they booing?" Back in the old days, we used late-season collapses and crushing playoff defeats to Josh Gordon out these fair-weather knuckleheads. Now they're multiplying like Body Snatcher pods. During the lowest point of the 2004 playoffs (Game 3, ALCS), I wondered if I should even raise my first kid as a Sox fan. Was I willing to inflict lifelong pain on him or her? These days, it's one of the safest sports decisions a father can make, right up there with buying a Kevin Durant rookie card and bashing Michael Vick at a cocktail party. Jump on the Bosox bandwagon, and you get a 95-win team with a monster payroll and tens of thousands of fans in every city. We're a sure thing. You also get a franchise without any real baggage, at least not at the moment. (Hold on -- I'm frantically knocking on wood.) When the Yankees made their recent surge and the parallels to 1978 started to pop up, for the first time I didn't quake in my boots. Three years ago, we came back from three-zip, chopped off their heads at the Stadium and buried 1918 in St. Louis. That altered the hammer/nail dynamic of our rivalry, even if Yankee fans will never admit it. Today, we're simply competing superpowers with bloated fan bases. We will always be in the other's way. Always. That's as far as it goes. Maybe it's not the most compelling story line, but for Red Sox fans, it's infinitely more palatable than the previous one. Believe me, we don't miss being on that island. Even if it is a lot more crowded back home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Wolf Posted September 1, 2007 Share Posted September 1, 2007 That is absolute bat crap. I've been around the country since 1999... and I notice B Caps, because I almost always give them a "Yeah, Sox!" They've always been out there. Don't make up stuff just because your team is losing. That's poor play, Yankee fan. Well...considering I live in NY, how many Red Sox hats do you think people wore from 1995 thru 2004? None. Not a one. Maybe the fans came out of the woodwork and donned the B after their miracle in the ALCS. They may not have been band wagoners (although I suspect many were as it was "in" to be a Sox fan) but they sure weren't around the NY area prior to 2004. Wht would I make this up as we were in the process of sweeping the Sox? I could care less about talk...winning is what counts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ursa Majoris Posted September 1, 2007 Share Posted September 1, 2007 its fantastic sports to kick back and enjoy without a real rooting interest Are you kidding? The entire country less the NYY dipsticks will root against the Wankees. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtomicCEO Posted September 1, 2007 Share Posted September 1, 2007 Well...considering I live in NY, how many Red Sox hats do you think people wore from 1995 thru 2004? None. Not a one. Maybe the fans came out of the woodwork and donned the B after their miracle in the ALCS. They may not have been band wagoners (although I suspect many were as it was "in" to be a Sox fan) but they sure weren't around the NY area prior to 2004. Wht would I make this up as we were in the process of sweeping the Sox? I could care less about talk...winning is what counts. I seem to remember asking all my friends in 2005, "Where are all the f'n Yankee hats now?" I've always had a Sox hat that I wear. It's just now, my new hat says "World Series Champions" on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pope Flick Posted September 1, 2007 Share Posted September 1, 2007 The 'Red Sox Nation" and a large part of their fans completely remind me of the little guy who's always trying to hang with the 'cool people' as he sees it, for the simple case of self-validation. Somehow, by having fluked their way past the Yankees in the post season to win only once, they are now considered by their fans to be 'one of the big boys' or the 'main Yankees rival.' When you look at the pure form of the definition: 1 a : one of two or more striving to reach or obtain something that only one can possess b : one striving for competitive advantage Technically, that makes the Red Sox less of a rival to the Yanks than the Blue Jays, Cleveland, Atheletics and even the Twins all of whom have more AL pennants than the Red Sox do over the past 20 years. And if you apply the 'sporting aspect' to this definition, the Red Sox/Yankees Rivalry barely exists: the Yanks make a habit (with one blind squrrel gets nut instance) of stopping the Red Sox so consistently that Red Sox fans cannot even admit how one sided it is. They just yell louder to drown out the facts. Their team spends $ like the Yankees, which they hang their hat on as another validation of being 'one of the Big Boys' without a solid enough W-L record to back it up. Let's face it: a solid sports rivalry has both teams within % points of each other in head to head games. USC/Notre Dame. Texas/OU. Dallas/Washington. Hell, the Cubs and Dodgers have played 1865 games against each other since 1901 and the Cubs lead 928-926. That's a great sports rivalry for 106 years. Out of 2025 RS games between NYY and Boston it's the NYY 1097-914, and we know how the Yanks typically do against the Red Sox in the post season, so it's even more damning than that. In short, just because the Red Sox and their fans have a chip on their shoulder about the Yanks, doesn't mean that although they're in the same League as the Yanks, they're truly not in the same league as they would have you believe. And those in the 'Red Sox Nation' who don't want to admit to the large number of bandwagon fans since 2004 are simply being disengenuous. Props if you've been a fan all your life, but it's a simple fact that the ranks have swelled since they got their nut. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whoopazz Posted September 1, 2007 Share Posted September 1, 2007 Are you kidding? The entire country less the NYY dipsticks will root against the Wankees. And I thouhgt you were one of the good guys around here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whomper Posted September 1, 2007 Share Posted September 1, 2007 Are you kidding? The entire country less the NYY dipsticks will root against the Wankees. I wouldnt be so sure about that.. The Yankees road attendance Im pretty sure ranks among the leagues highest (no link) and its not all people coming to be haters Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugh 0ne Posted September 1, 2007 Share Posted September 1, 2007 CEO grew up in Connecticut, not Massachussettes, so if you use Pope's logic, he shouldn't even be a Sox fan. That homo grew up closer to NY than Boston, so theoretcically, he's a Yankee fan. Carry on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pope Flick Posted September 2, 2007 Share Posted September 2, 2007 CEO grew up in Connecticut, not Massachussettes, so if you use Pope's logic, he shouldn't even be a Sox fan. That homo grew up closer to NY than Boston, so theoretcically, he's a Yankee fan.Carry on. From the larger article above: we're sucking in all the soulless bandwagon kids who pick their favorite teams in first grade based on winning percentages and superstars. That appears to fit irish, in his trifecta-fanship of teams with the most championships across the board, without regard to geographic location. I've met Yankee fans who are from Boston - in fact a couple of friends of mine fit that category. Their reason? When they were kids they decided they didn't want to root for a loser. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sleeping King Posted September 2, 2007 Author Share Posted September 2, 2007 The Great Clay Buchholz has a no hitter through 8! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sleeping King Posted September 2, 2007 Author Share Posted September 2, 2007 Ric Flair style WWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!! Buchholz is amazing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtomicCEO Posted September 2, 2007 Share Posted September 2, 2007 CEO grew up in Connecticut, not Massachussettes, so if you use Pope's logic, he shouldn't even be a Sox fan. That homo grew up closer to NY than Boston, so theoretcically, he's a Yankee fan.Carry on. Then I guess New Yorkers can't be Giants or Jets fans, because play in New Jersey. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whomper Posted September 3, 2007 Share Posted September 3, 2007 Do any local Yankee fans hate Guiseppe Franco as much as I do ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
irish Posted September 3, 2007 Share Posted September 3, 2007 Do any local Yankee fans hate Guiseppe Franco as much as I do ? Absolutely no doubt about that. I hate that frigin' commercial. Now I'm Guiseppe Franco....ba..blah..blah...blah... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cunning Linguist Posted September 4, 2007 Share Posted September 4, 2007 (edited) Holy crap i forgot about this thread. I agree about the fair weather Botson fans... or any team bandwagon fans, they annoy the piss out of me. Most of the "Nation" don't know who Aaron f-ing Boone is, let alone Bucky f-ing Dent . They drive me nuts. I grew up with Chicago teams and love the Bears, Bulls, Blackhawks... can't stand the Cubs. I've followed the White Sox because of the close proximity and enjoy going to Comisky, but I've been a die hard Red Sox fan since i was 6 or 7. Conventional wisdom says i should be an A's or Reds fan since they were winning in the early 70's, or the cubbies since they were on all the time here. It must have been the baseball cards i collected or something since I traded away all the sCrub cards for BoSox, Yaz in particular. My old Red Sox hat from 75 is still around ... it doesn't fit the melon anymore but its hanging in the closet. Somewhere in a storage box is a Bill "the Spaceman" Lee autographed pic i sent for in 7th grade. In 78 when Dent hit the homer in the sudden death playoff game with the hated Yanks, i cried. In 86 i almost threw my little BW TV out my dorm window when the Mets came back to win, but never getting down on Billy Buck, he got them there and shouldn't get all the blame. Shiraldi and Stanley are the goats IMO. That begat Mookie f-ing Wilson and Ray f-ing Knight.. I hate the Yankees, not because they win all the time, but because they are in the same division, its also the pompus attitude i hear from most of their fans...plus im sick of hearing about them. I'm not jealous, i love the rivalry, lopsided as it is. i still think the BoSox are one of the best team/franchises of all time (except for the whole race thing...). I've always said if they were in any other division, they would have more pennants. The post season may have had different outcomes. Woulda-coulda-shoulda i suppose... So Pope, please don't lump all of us under the wannabe nation, its insulting Edited September 4, 2007 by Cunning Linguist Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugh 0ne Posted September 4, 2007 Share Posted September 4, 2007 Then I guess New Yorkers can't be Giants or Jets fans, because play in New Jersey. Hey man, I don't make the rules, Pope does. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtomicCEO Posted September 4, 2007 Share Posted September 4, 2007 I agree about the fair weather Botson fans... Forgive me for finding the phrase "fair weather Boston fans" hilarious. Living my whole life as a Sox fan, there has been very very little fair weather. That is some funny funny stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cunning Linguist Posted September 4, 2007 Share Posted September 4, 2007 (edited) Forgive me for finding the phrase "fair weather Boston fans" hilarious. Living my whole life as a Sox fan, there has been very very little fair weather. That is some funny funny stuff. true We haven't had many sunny seasons I went to the Sox/Sox game last sunday in Chicago. I coulnd't believe how many Red Sox fans were there, it was like Fenway. The problem was that most fit into the "fan since 04" category which makes me sick. One guy had a Boston jersey and a Cub hat on. It has to be embarrasing for the south siders when their team is getting outcheered every play. Edited September 4, 2007 by Cunning Linguist Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Wolf Posted September 6, 2007 Share Posted September 6, 2007 true We haven't had many sunny seasons I went to the Sox/Sox game last sunday in Chicago. I coulnd't believe how many Red Sox fans were there, it was like Fenway. The problem was that most fit into the "fan since 04" category which makes me sick. One guy had a Boston jersey and a Cub hat on. It has to be embarrasing for the south siders when their team is getting outcheered every play. That is the point I was trying to make earlier..."fair weather fans" was the terminology I used but your "fan since 04" is exactly what I was trying to say. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IrishPride Posted September 8, 2007 Share Posted September 8, 2007 (edited) I like The "Whole Bandwagon......Fair Weather deal" I am a huge baseball fan, I go to spring training....I try to go to as many ball games as I can afford each year.......I live in Albany so I'm about 2 hrs north of the Stadium. To get good seats not great for two, Around 150.00,Gas is75.00,Food 20.00 and beer can vary but its usuall between 30.00 and 50.00 and then 20.00 to park. So for around 315.00 you can go to a Yankees game? I'm not compaining but if it wasn't for Yes and ESPN it would be hard to be a fan. I was in Atlanta for some training at work, Showed up at the stadium expecting to get terrible seats, Paid 35.00 for field level seats on first base line? I spent like 60 or 70 bucks.(Astros) I think the media creates fans and the only reason I saw that is, Weather its written or watched......it's alot cheaper than going to a game. Now my Point New york, Boston, LA, Chicago and so on are media centers for the us..............Its easy to be a Sox or Yanks Fan no matter where you live........Except maybe some remote place in North Dakota or Montana.............But then you have the Internet....... Edited September 8, 2007 by IrishPride Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
irish Posted September 10, 2007 Share Posted September 10, 2007 Where are all the Yankee haters now?!?!? I told you all a ways back that the Yanks would be there in the end and dagnabbit that stinkin' Irishman was right again. We may not catch Boston but the Wild Card is all ours. Boston is shaking in their cleats, they want no part of the Yankees. They better hope someone else knocks us off in the Playoffs or we'll be eliminating them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SheikYerbuti Posted September 10, 2007 Share Posted September 10, 2007 I like The "Whole Bandwagon......Fair Weather deal" I am a huge baseball fan, I go to spring training....I try to go to as many ball games as I can afford each year.......I live in Albany so I'm about 2 hrs north of the Stadium. To get good seats not great for two, Around 150.00,Gas is75.00,Food 20.00 and beer can vary but its usuall between 30.00 and 50.00 and then 20.00 to park. So for around 315.00 you can go to a Yankees game? I'm not compaining but if it wasn't for Yes and ESPN it would be hard to be a fan. I was in Atlanta for some training at work, Showed up at the stadium expecting to get terrible seats, Paid 35.00 for field level seats on first base line? I spent like 60 or 70 bucks.(Astros) I think the media creates fans and the only reason I saw that is, Weather its written or watched......it's alot cheaper than going to a game. Now my Point New york, Boston, LA, Chicago and so on are media centers for the us..............Its easy to be a Sox or Yanks Fan no matter where you live........Except maybe some remote place in North Dakota or Montana.............But then you have the Internet....... If I had it all to do over again, I'd be a Washington Nationals fan. The Shiekette and I drove down to RFK last season, walked up to the window and bought $7 seats. The lady at the window said "Just sit wherever you want". We sat first row upper deck, right over 3rd base. It was sweet. But, I bleed pinstripes, so I'm destined to spend a week's paycheck every time I want to see my team play. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whoopazz Posted September 10, 2007 Share Posted September 10, 2007 Where are all the Yankee haters now?!?!? I told you all a ways back that the Yanks would be there in the end and dagnabbit that stinkin' Irishman was right again. We may not catch Boston but the Wild Card is all ours. Boston is shaking in their cleats, they want no part of the Yankees. They better hope someone else knocks us off in the Playoffs or we'll be eliminating them. The pitching is coming around (especially with Moose benched). The hitting is, well, worth about 200 mil. I like our chances here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtomicCEO Posted September 11, 2007 Share Posted September 11, 2007 Where are all the Yankee haters now?!?!? I'm right here. Boston is shaking in their cleats, they want no part of the Yankees. I actually love a good matchup, and I hope the Yankees can provide it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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