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Why should an Other 28 fan care about The (so-called) Greatest Rivalry Ever?
BROCKLESBY
THE WISE FOOL
15 September 2000
22 September 2000
29 September 2000
6 October 2000
27 October 2000
3 November 2000
10 November 2000
17 November 2000
2 February 2001
16 February 2001
23 February 2001
2 March 2001
30 March 2001
30 March 2001
6 April 2001
27 April 2001
4 May 2001
I closed my eyes and imagined myself at Olympic Stadium to watch the Expos do battle against their hated archrivals, whoever they may be. |
THE CRUSADER SPORTS SECTION
Requiem for the ‘Other 28’
By Michael J. Ballway
CONTRIBUTING COLUMNIST
N
omar Garciaparra is the best shortstop in the American League, and despite injuries he's going to lead the Red Sox to an A.L. pennant. No, wait, the Yankees have the best hitters in baseball and are a cinch to repeat. No, try this instead, Hideo Nomo is going to carry the Sox to 100 wins. No, strike that, it'll be Scotty Brosius batting for power and average, guaranteeing another ring for George Steinbrenner. Believe it or not, gentle reader, but there are people here who would actually agree with the statements above. As the 100th season of American League baseball begins this week, and the age-old question remains a Crusader staple: "Are you a Yankee fan, or a Red Sox fan?" The question is so deeply ingrained in our school's social life that even page 73 of the College Handbook plainly states: "[E]ach student shall be required to state a preference for either the New York Yankees or the Boston Red Sox." Or not. But it seems that way. Why do we focus on this question so much? Hardly a day goes by when we don't see at least one Wahoo or S-O-X cap, yet there is no mention of the heated A.L. Central rivalry. Other teams -- Blue Jays, Tigers, Cubs, Braves, Pirates -- have sizeable fan bases on campus as well. As the curtain rises on another April, the Other 28 Teams have just as good a shot at winning it all. Why should an Other 28 fan care about The (so-called) Greatest Rivalry Ever? The Greatest Rivalry Ever can be a hazardous minefield for the uninitiated. A Padres fan can have a calm conversation with a friend who bleeds Dodger blue; not so when pinstripes clash with crimson hose. A homer who latches on to the Olde Towne Team risks the ire of New Yorkers (some of whom claim also to be Met fans) who loudly affirm Admiral Steinbrenner's monopoly on junior-circuit pennants and pooh-pooh the BoSox. Meanwhile, contrarians who jump on the Bomber bandwagon cause fits of rage in New Englanders who insist that we students made a choice to live in Worcester, Massachusetts, part of Red Sox Nation, and don't you dare say "Buckner" or "Bambino" or even "postseason" unless you're in the middle of an obscenity-laced tirade against the Damn Yanks. For the outsider, picking sides is a difficult decision, fraught with the possibility of alienating one's friends and the difficulty of justifying one's choice. To support one is to embrace the most fundamentally evil franchise in the history of sports. To support the other is never to win. Crying for help (and for Vlad Guerrero's due respect) in a world gone horribly, horribly mad is the student who -- gasp -- roots for neither New York nor Boston. They may not be visible, but they do exist. The most interesting story I've ever heard came from a New Englander who refuses to cringe at the title "No, No Nanette" (or, worse, turn Benedict Arnold and lavish praises on "Jetah"). "Well," he said, "I don't think there's really much more to say -- I love everything about baseball in Montréal: the smell of freshly-vacuumed AstroTurf, the roar of a 3,000-fan crowd, the Kevlar roof above me and the bilingual announcements on the antiseptic JumboTron. If that's not baseball, I don't know what is." I closed my eyes and imagined myself at Olympic Stadium to watch the Expos do battle against their hated archrivals, whoever they may be. The people cheering -- dozens and dozens of them -- as Milton Bradley steps up to the plate: "frappez la boule dure!" they exclaim. "Mais pas plus dur que vous pourrez signer pour plus d'argent avec une équipe américaine!" This, I thought, was baseball's pinnacle as it had been envisioned back on that hot summer day in 1839 when Abner Doubleday didn't invent the game. This was the epitome of sport that had not even been attainable until 1960s expansion into the Great White Secessionist North. How could The Greatest Rivalry Ever hope to match this thrill? Soon the season will start for the Other 28, and as always local attention will focus on The Greatest Rivalry Ever. C'est la vie. Please, though, as you go off to denigrate each others' left-fielders, remember that one of your neighbors may not be as interested as you. He or she may be one of the select few who holds out hope for a savior from the West, or appreciates the National League game, or may just be a fan who grew up rooting for one of the Other 28. He or she may not enjoy taking sides in the Faustian Yanks-or-Sox question. Not me, though. Gagnez votre division, Chaussettes Rouges! C'est l'année que vous gagnez la Série du Monde! This article ran in the 30 March 2001 edition of The Crusader, on page 17 (second page of Sports section), under the rather unweildy title, "Hold On, the Sox and Yanks Are Not the Only Teams in Baseball?"
S'il vous plaît, ne me direz que la grammaire c'est incorrect; je ne prétendre à parler français.
TRANSLATIONS. The quote about Milton Bradley is supposed to mean, "hit the ball well, but not so well that you can sign for more money with an American team." The ending quote theoretically says, "Win your division, Red Sox! This is the year that you win the World Series!"
I realize that the Red Sox did NOT in fact win the World Series in 2001, but then, neither did the Yankees, so I was happy enough about that. |