The Sox were coming to the Bronx to play their first series against the Yankees. My buddy Brian was going to be in town so we got tickets. They were up in those nosebleeds, as a game against the Red Sox always sells out, but we didn't care. I had to see this in person.
You see Yankees fans hate the Red Sox. Now I don't mean there is a good natured sports rivalry the way other fans might have against another club. I mean they hate them and they wish them nothing but cancer and pain. So much so that when a player leaves the Red Sox for the Yankees the fans tend to feel a little betrayed and tainted. It's like throwing a rabid monkey with the Ebola virus into a kindergarten classroom. When we've gone to Yankees stadium to see them play whoever the fans still scream their hatred of Boston. They could be playing the Devil Rays or the Orioles and you'll here "Fuck Boston! Red Sox Suck!". When the game is in a lull they look at the scoreboard that shows the scores of other teams and start cheering for whoever is playing the Sox.
I once saw THE ENTIRE STADIUM start booing a guy wearing a Red Sox shirt. I wasn't going to miss this.
On the subway ride up to the stadium we began to notice that rather than seeing only Yankees hats and shirts we were seeing alot of Red Sox stuff. There are alot of people from Massachusetts who for a variety of reasons have moved down to New York. Usually they hide their love of the Red Sox from the light like lepers or Democrats in Alabama. There was another phenomenon I had not observed which was mixed couples, one a Yankees fan and one a Red Sox fan. i noticed that the Red Sox fans tended to be the women. I even saw a few gay couples and the more fay of the two was the Red Sox guy. Conversely at the Red Sox games at Fenway the women tended to be the Yankees fans and the men the Sox fans. I wonder if that says something about the tendency of men to stay in one place while women move around for work or whatever?
So we arrived at Yankees Stadium and bought our Nathan's hot dogs and sods in our Yankees souvenir cups and sat down to watch the game. When the Red Sox hit the field there was an explosion of boos they could hear up in Boston. They played the Imperial March from Star Wars like they always did. It had a particular resonance that day. They call the Yankees the evil empire due to their huge budget and larger than life persona. With Steinbrenner as the Emperor and Darth Jeter at the helm I guess. Then again the Red Sox need a hair cut.
The fans were rabid, on both sides. Evey play led to them quaking and screaming like they were at a foul mouthed tent revival. There were all new insults I had never heard. They would scream "FUCK YOU BOSTON!" "RED SUX" "EAT SHIT AND DIE YOU DIRTY FUCKING SHIT STAIN!" And "GO BACK TO BOSTON FENWAY FAGGOTS!" and the favorite "BOSTON SUCKS! BOSTON SUCKS!". In the first inning Hideki Matsui broke his wrist after slipping in the wet grass (it was raining) and having his arm bend back the wrong way four inches up from his hand. It was gross. The Red Sox fans seemed pleased. The particularly seemed happy when the Sox would get Johnny Damon out. Damon is persona non grata in Boston since defecting to the other side.
Marybec and I used to say he looked like a Neanderthal Jesus when he was with the Sox due to his hippie hair and beard. Steinbrenner had him shorn like a sheep. Now he looks less like Neanderthal Jesus and more like the love child of Abe Vigoda and a Baboon.
There were ejections, oh yes. there were 7 in our section alone. The fans would cheer or jeer depending on what team the ejected fan cheered for. Mostly the ejections were for fighting, blocking views, or other assorted douschebaggery.
The Red Sox won that day, but it didn't really matter. The point is that the rivals played again in a clash that goes back to when the teams were founded in the first decade of the twentieth century. the fans on both sides seemed to get a meaning and validation out of just being there. Boston and New York City are two larger than life cities with their own particular rules and culture. The citizens of these two towns wear where they are from like a mark on their forehead. The mark is the mark of their team, their town, their pride.
Oh and Johnny you asked what happens when the Yanks lose. When they win at the end of the game the Frank Sinatra version of New York, New York blares through the speakers and all the fans join in. When they lose they play the Liza Minelli version of New York, New York because that way we all lose and suffer.
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