PeaceBang
The manic mind of the minister -- Auntie Mame Meets Cotton Mather. Blogging about Unitarian Universalism, UU Christian spiritual practice, occasional cultural and political ravings, and the inner life of ministry. PeaceBang is the alter ego of a small town pastor serving an historic New England Unitarian Universalist congregation.
Damn Yankees
September 19, 2007 on 7:56 am | In Cultural Commentary |My younger brother and I generally get along well. We can talk about most anything and there’s a lot of love there. When I last visited him, though, I broached the subject of introducing my nephews (2 and 3 years old) to the Red Sox. Oh no. Not in his house. My brother, a Yankees fan, is under the impression that Red Sox Nation is a disgusting assemblage of foul-mouthed creeps and beer-swilling losers. I yelled at him about the YANKEES FANS, did he actually think that my nephews should be part of THAT despicable phenomenon? He roared back at me that there’s a reason Sox fans are known as “MASSHOLES.” I tried to explain that we’re the underdogs, we’re always going to be a little bit scrappy, he just didn’t UNDERSTAND.
It was actually kind of hilarious because I was genuinely upset, and I only managed to watch one game while I was babysitting for my nephews (”See boys? There’s Kevin Youkilis. You yell ‘Yooooook’ when he comes to bat, okay?”) in direct rebellion of my brother’s wishes.
As we roll into the bitter end of the season and the Yankees are positioned to win their sixty bajillionth league pennant while my team keeps monumentally screwing up, I take special umbrage at this story, which I dedicate to my brother.
Am I right, huh? Am I right? The Yankees are totally vile, right????
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I had to Google all the referrences. You’re talking about baseball, right? People still play that? Wow!
Comment by Joel Monka — September 19, 2007 #
Down here, we are obsessed with College Football and baseball comes in at a distant, but respectable second place.
However, this is not to say that I don’t understand about the sort of us versus them dynamic in sports. If you live in this small state, you are born rooting for either the Alabama Crimson Tide or the Auburn Tigers. Marriages have ended, petty crimes have been committed, and a rash of hurtful comments have been slung in the death match that is fought 365 days a year.
Comment by Comrade Kevin — September 19, 2007 #
11-year-old Fausto Jr. has been a Yankees fan since age 4. His appalled mother once asked him why. He likes to root for underdogs, he said. It’s true! Since the little tyro started following baseball, the Yanks have never won a pennant!
Comment by fausto — September 19, 2007 #
Well, my dear. I’m sure you expected to hear from me. And I do feel that there is much more vitriol for folks like me in Boston than there is for folks like you in NY. The difference might be that NYers are split (not down the middle, but still) between the Mets and the Yankees.
I think that you can feel at home in NYC as a Red Sox fan, because there are plenty of them around and out in the open. I dare not do that in Boston for fear of my life.
Do you think that’s right?
Comment by KRS — September 19, 2007 #
If you think it’s bad between Yanks fans and R-Sox fans, just imagine living here not too far away from the house that the Redbirds built and hearing Cardinals fans bemoan the fact that they lost 3 of 4 to the CUBS.
Of course, as I’ve never liked baseball, I’m just counting down the days ’til I can see tall men in shorts on TV (otherwise known as the start of the pro basketball season).
Comment by Kim Hampton — September 19, 2007 #
You are right. totally. (I am from Boston though, so I’m a bit biased) one of my friends has a shirt that says “real women don’t date yankees fans”.
Comment by Flo — September 19, 2007 #
I, for one, was glad when the Red Sox finally won a World Series so y’all would stop carping.
Yankee fans are not all vile.
-m
Comment by Michael — September 19, 2007 #
I love the post. I have become philosophical about the Red Sox this year, perhaps as an extension of my love for philosophy in general. But I began to be concerned that I was, for so many years, having this vitriolic reaction to the Sox messing up - which by the way, as you have well articulated, is their history. It suddenly occurred to me that my love for the game was being conditioned to the Sox winning. But I love baseball the sport - which is much bigger than the Red Sox! I like watching young struggling teams improve an build.
I despise the Red Sox operations, inasmuch as for too many years, this team has had two priorities-winning, and soap opera. The distraction of management permitted individual persona/celebrity/goof ball syndrome makes a mockery of the kind of balance and discipline that the sport requires.
And, forgive me, I think the Yankees/RedSox rivalry is silly if you actually like baseball. I have coworkers ready to kill me because I praise the skills of Derek Jeter, or comment in the well oiled, well disciplined approach to coaching that makes Joe Torrey one of the most interesting figures in baseball history.
Compare that organization to the RedSox clubhouse, who after losing 2 of 3 to the Yankees, this Monday participated in their annual “make the rookies dress in drag” day in the locker room. Dice K dressed as a stinkin telatuby! I am sure that the Yankees were not doing likewise, they were concentrating on catching the division.
So, while I am a life long Sox fan, they are becoming more of a “preferent” to me than a team to die for.
In closing, love thy Yankee as thyself!
Comment by Patrick — September 20, 2007 #
If I’m to prove my bro wrong, everyone should be VERY NICE to KRS, okay! Even if she stands in the middle of Kenmore Square and says, “I LOVE ROGER CLEMENS AND WANT TO HAVE HIS CHILDREN!”
I believe this. I hope you can experience the sane part of Red Sox Nation (if there is one). Beyond that, I must hold to my theological certainty that Joe Torre has an element of the satanic about him.
Comment by PeaceBang — September 20, 2007 #
I can’t condone what Duncan wrote, but, come on, are we channeling Capt Renault–Shocked, Shocked that there is vulgarity in this rivalry!
This kid and his parents have been at Fenway and have heard the “Yankees Suck” cheers that go up every other inning. His delicate little ears and eyes have heard/read the odious “Jeter has AIDS” chants and “Gay-ROD” t-shirts and he’s managed to live. And some of my fellow Yanks fans in the Bronx are just as guilty of such hateful lack of perspective on the game. Point is, incivility is sadly the norm.
As to your assertion that your “team keeps monumentally screwing up”, I think it’s amusing how many Sox fans continue to live in the pre-04 world. It was my Yankees, sadly, that had the most unprecedented choke/letdown of all time up 3-0, and the Sox who were the victors. This was a true sports apocalyptic moment, and we’re living in Year 3 of the new era. The old Curse narrative is over and history was upended. But a lot of Sox fans still cling to the devil they knew, rather than embrace the new, better age of the Epstein/Henry Red Sox. Prophets are always misundertsood in their own land.
As for me, the Yankees after 2004 are actually more fun to root for. No longer can we say we always beat the Sox when it counts. We’ve proved ourselves capable of monumental fallibility. I feel liberated from the weight of history.
Yeah, I’d love it if the Yanks took the division, but both teams are october-bound anyway and we could be headed for another, epic ALCS. Maybe the fourth in nine years–gotta’ love what the wild card has done for the greatest rivalry in sports.
Comment by revksb — September 20, 2007 #
I know, Revksb, but it’s just so jackassed for him to write that on a kid’s autograph. I mean, c’MON, man!
Comment by PeaceBang — September 20, 2007 #
I will do something perhaps unprecedented for a Yankee fan, and agree with a Red Sox fan’s criticism of a Yankee.
What he wrote on the kid’s autograph was just wrong.
Baseball rivalries are fun and good, and a little vulgarity amongst consenting adults is fun, but c’mon, folks, it’s a game that parents are supposed to be able to share with their kids.
That’s where I get this Yankee thing, for crying out loud.
-m
Comment by Michael — September 20, 2007 #