A few times on this blog I have bemoaned the fact that Boston Red Sox fan needs to check himself / herself soon or they would wear out their welcome (read my rants here and here). They are a rude, myopic, and downright unpleasant group of people. I don’t seem to be alone in this. Since their 2004 championship things have gotten worse. This past week I came across two great articles to this point from Page 2 of espn.com. I want to give you a taste of what others are saying so you know that this is not just my opinion First up is Jim Caple. The full article can be found here but this is what he has to say:
No one can stand to be around Red Sox fans anymore. And they're everywhere -- a recent USA Today article labeled the Red Sox baseball's new biggest attraction. Forget a fence between the U.S. and Mexico. What we really need is a wall, a moat and a minefield around New England to keep the spoiled citizens of Red Sox Nation from sneaking into the rest of the country and taking over seats in major league ballparks that should go to hard-working local fans. Everywhere the Red Sox play these days turns into a road version of Fenway Park, with Boston fans occasionally drowning out the hometown fans with their "Let's Go Red Sox!" chants. They were so over the top at a recent game in Seattle, I was surprised the Mariners didn't play "Sweet Caroline."
SportsNation Have fan rivalries gotten out of control? Give us your take, come vote in our polls. Whether this is an inspiring show of team pride by passionate fans or an annoying lack of manners depends on how close you have to actually sit to these people. They call themselves Red Sox Nation, the same arrogant way the Cowboys call themselves America's Team. And the whole thing is getting a little old. Could I get a little help here from Miss Teen South Carolina? Where the hell is Red Sox Nation anyway? It seems to me Red Sox Nation only exists when the team is winning, like a country that only shows up on U.S. State Department radar when oil is discovered. Wherever Red Sox Nation is, I just wish Bush would invade it.
Enough already. Get over yourselves, Red Sox fans. Better yet, follow the lead of White Sox fans. Their team went 88 years without winning a World Series. They went 46 years without even playing in one. Yet when they finally won in 2005, they had the decency to keep their celebration to themselves. And if their fine example isn't enough, then maybe this will be enough to sober you up: You're acting like Yankees fans.
AMEN, Preach it brother!!!
The second bit of literary gold comes from a lifelong Sox fan and fantastic sports writer. If you have never read a column from Bill Simmons do yourself a favor and click here. Here is what he has to say about Red Sox Nation, and the scores of post 2004 bandwagon fans (full article here):
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.
What a burn, a Sox fan said they were turning into the Yankees, Ouch!! If you were a Red Sox fan before 2004 please, please, please tell the guy in the brand new J.D. Drew jersey and clean retro cap to stop being a jerk. Real fans respect the game and those who play. Real fans respect a guests home. Now be nice, feel free to root for your team, but don’t bring your rude disrespectful behinds into visiting parks thinking it is the new Fenway.
Do yourself a favor. If you live near an American League park and the Red Sox are coming to town. Call a sitter, buy tickets to the game and don’t let Red Sox nation take your home field advantage from you.
