Aside from the painful length of the game last night and the pitching that made Joe Borowski feel a little less like putting his head in the oven, there was one other lousy aspect to last night's Red Sox loss to the Yankers: The fans.

We've come to expect little in the way of class or decorum from many of the folks with seats in Yankee Stadium*. Last night was only one in a long line of examples, albeit a pretty pointed example, at that.

OK. So Manny gets booed for showing his temper over the "Rain Man" sort of method that home plate ump Tim McClelland used for calling balls and strikes. I understand that this will not endear anyone to NY fans, let alone Manny. But what the room temperature IQ's missed, was that Manny was not arguing the call, but the slowness of the call. That was an issue for several hitters on both side during the evening. Either way, had the hooting an hollering been limited to situation like this one, so be it.

Before too long, though, those of us watching on ESPN found our just what a challenge it can be to do live TV. When Manny got back out to left field, you could hear the resounding chant of "Manny is an A#%-Hole" clearly over the play-by-play. Now, is that doesn't say, "New York at its finest," what does.

Another wonderful moment was when Kevin Youkilis struck out, the camera caught squarely a older gent in a Yanker cap shouting "F##k You!" at Youkilis as he walked back to the dugout. Now, keep in mind, this is the same Kevin Youkilis that is batting .368, or, in other words, he's batting 41 points higher that any of the Yankees. Well, any of them with the exception of Chad "I'm hitting so far over my norm that I'm getting nosebleeds" Moeller's 4 out of 10 for the season.

I know that there is always extra passion when the Yankers host the red Sox. Just look at Cano and Cabrera after one of the shakiest wins in recent Yanker history...

Labels: baseball, obnoxious fans, Red Sox, Yankers

10. Living in the past - Yankee fans were always the first to yell about how the Sox hadn't won a series since 1918. They're all "here and now" when it suits their purpose. But in every other argument they resurrect artifacts with more fervor than Indiana Jones. Just to name a few... Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and every mention of about 21 of their 26 World Series titles.

9. The pinstripes - I'm sorry. I just don't like the look, on anybody. Pinstripes don't symbolize speed, grace, or anything related to sports. They symbolize staunch, stuffed-shirt, pomposity.

8. The emblem - Again, Yankee fans may argue that it is the most popular insignia ever, almost as universally recognized as, well, the swastika, but I fail to see the beauty. Who the hell came up with that font? Take a look at it broken apart:



7. New York City - I know it hasn't been cool to complain about NYC since 9/11, but for every good/great thing about that metropolis, there is at least on bad/horrible thing. The last time I was there, I stood next to a man pissing in a bottle at 2 in the afternoon. We were in front of FAO Schwartz. Any questions?

6. RDD - Retail Delusional Disorder - You see, Yankee fans talk about a how the Yankee emblem and Yankee gear is the most popular of all teams. While this is certainly true, the fans never talk about just why. Sure, they have a huge fan base. No argument there. But the Yankee logo has become a fashion statement. There is a rather large segment of the population that wears the logo not because they know anything or care in the least about the Yankees. They have as much loyalty to the Bronx Bombers as they do the Dolce & Gabbana, or Fendi. Then you need to add in the rapper crowd that wears Yankee colors as a statement, but not the statement, "New York Yankees are the finest in baseball." I believe that if you could round up every person in the country that owns an article of officially licensed Yankee gear, that less than half would be able to tell you who the current manager is, how many rings the Yankees have, or what song is played at the end of games at Yankee stadium.

5. No Heart - While many teams (especially the Red Sox) have high priced talent, the Yankees players, more often than not, seem like hired guns. They smile little and they seem more like 1960's FBI agents than guys who get paid a ton of money to play the wonderful game of baseball.

4. No Loyalty - Yankees have no objections to taking the high-priced, high talented player that they ridiculed and screamed profanity at the season before. They took Damon, they tried for Martinez (after all that who's your daddy crap.)

3. The Rules - No, not the Joba Rules, though they annoy me, too. I'm referring to the no facial hair, no long hair, no personality, no style, no fun rules. Like I said, 1960's FBI.

2. The Steinbrenners - I always get asked the question about why I can stomach the Red Sox $146 million budget, but the Yankees payroll annoys me. The answer is the ownership. I can't impugn the business sense of these lads. They've created one of the most successful businesses in the world. But I'm not particularly interested in the business side of baseball. To me, it is the downside, to be sure. But if there is any doubt that business is the prime motivator for the Steinbrenners, I need to be versed. Sure, they make moves to win. But these moves are made with all the passion of an Exxon board meeting. Success is what they crave. Defeating the foes. Making as much money as humanly possible. Being able to pat themselves on the back. There is no love of baseball exhibited. There is absolutely nothing done in the name of fun. But worst of all, it is the ownership that is 50% responsible for the hatred that many feel for the Yankees. It's not the fact that they win so much. It's stories like that of Billy Martin, and now Joe Torre, showing the true hearts of the men at the helm, that sour so many to the Yankees.

1. The fans - Finally, the other 50%. The reason why the Yankees are hated is the people who love them. This vulgar group of sophomores that spends more time jeering at the Red Sox than they do cheering for the Yankees when the two teams play. The real reason the rivalry stays so heated no matter what. The way they can never, ever admit that anything the front office does was a mistake. The way the lambaste Sox fans for doing some of the same things that are accepted in Yankee fan circles. (Accents being the first thing that comes to mind.) While nothing could ever ruin the game for me, these folks come the closest. The constant ranting about 26 rings, blah, blah, blah. They try to sell you their team, ,talking about how wonderful and winning it is, then cry and moan about the "Pink Hat Brigade", the neo-Sox fans who have become Sox fans because of the team's recent success. Isn't jumping the bandwagon exactly what they'd like us to be doing? The issue isn't jumping on the bandwagon, its the wagon that gets chosen. Most of all, I get the impression that most of these fans are truly happiest when they are actively making some other, non-Yankee fan miserable.

Labels: baseball, fan, obnoxious fans, Red Sox, Yankees, Yankers

Even with the demise of the Red Sox large lead in the A.L. and the surge that the Yankers have been having, I'm still watching the Sox on MLB.tv and grimacing all the way. While I do so, most times I log onto TalkSox.com (TS) and make/read posts on the thread for that days game. I like the idea of being able to interact with other members of RSN, of which there are not many in my locale. But peppered in this forum are a handful of Yanker fans, and as much as I want to be magnanimous, I wish they would leave.

You see, I have never been one for either trashing someone's team, nor have I ever gotten much joy out of raving about my own team's successes and jamming them up the nose of people who don't like my favorite teams. My enjoyment has always come from reveling in the teams' successes with other fans and the camaraderie that comes with those successes as well as the losses we comfort each other through. That is why I go to TS.

The appearance of Yanker fans there sometimes makes for spirited debate about real baseball issues. Usually though, it degenerates into the discussion thread version of a shouting match. Not my style.

Many of the posters on TS assert that Yanker fans are welcome to post just for the debate and mention how it makes things more interesting. I can see their points, but I truly feel that the Yanker fans bring too little to the table to merit their detractions.

First, I really get annoyed at how quiet the Yanker fans are when the Yankers are losing. This is, of course, especially true when it is an actual game between the Red Sox and Yankers. One the Red Sox fall behind, or the Yankers surge ahead in their game, all of a sudden the Yanker posts grow exponentially. Couple that with the idea that while many exhibit a true wealth of baseball knowledge, their comments always come back to name calling and stock epithets about 26 rings and such.

What puzzles me the most is that a Yanker fan would want to spend so much time (some with thousands of posts since joining) on a Red Sox discussion forum. Aside from not understanding why they would not want to hang out and trade comments on a board set up for Yanker fans, it also seems to me that their mere presence would indicate less that honorable intentions. I mean, truly, why else would you step into enemy territory other than to pick a fight?

While I really can not stand the Yankers at all, I have no desire to explain to Yanker fans why. I feel no need to argue the virtues of my team or why I love them, mostly because they aren't easily explained reasons. As I have mentioned before, I believe your team chooses you, not the other way around.

I'm willing to make a deal. If you guys leave the Sox forums alone, I'll leave the Yankers forums alone. I'll even do you one better. I'll promise not to grow a cheesy moustache and shorten my name so that it ends in a "y".

Deal?

Labels: baseball, fan, obnoxious fans, Red Sox, Yankers

I'd never heard of Jim Caple until I stumbled upon his recent "article" on ESPN.com's Page 2. He is asking the pointless question of "Who's fans are the most Obnoxious?". He then goes on to state his belief as an ex-Red Sox fan, that the Red Sox fans who don't bail on the team are the winners of the award.

First of all, Jimmy, I really don't have a lot of respect for an ex-fan of anything. Abandoning your team, especially to root for their main rival, shows an elemental lack of spine and trustworthiness. Now that you have immersed yourself in Italian-American pseudo-toughs with cheesy mustaches and exquisitely monosyllabic vocabularies, your compelled to switch (like all Yankee fans) from chanting cerebral epithets like "1918" and "Who's Your Daddy", to now explaining the the Red Sox Nation has magically transformed from pathetic to obnoxious after one World Series. If this particular "logic" isn't proof of who's the most obnoxious (not to mention pathetic) group of fans, nothing will ever prove it!

So, along with the Sox, who makes for the most hated fan-base? The Yankers, Duke, Notre Dame, Cowboys, and Lakers. So let's see... Notre Dame has 11 national championships (football). The Yankers have 26 World Series. The Lakers have 15. Duke has 3 national championships (basketball). The Cowboys have five Super Bowl rings, and the Raiders have three. Can you follow me on this? How does one World Series since 1918 automatically qualify Sox fans for this list?

Caple goes on to compare Red Sox Nation to the Cowboys claim of being America's Team. I can see why he'd go this route since the only team hated by more people that Dallas would be the Yankers. But the elemental flaw in his logic is the fact that by calling yourself America's Team, you insinuate that the country is behind you and that rooting for others is some how unpatriotic. The term Red Sox Nation indoctrinates or drafts no one. It merely signifies that the fan base extends across the country. Only a fool would argue the geography.

Perhaps the clearest evidence of bias and stupidity is Caple's assertion that Red Sox Nation only exists when they are winning. Considering the total history of the Red Sox franchise, has there ever been a more shocking dumb-ass comment? Ever?

So lets talk about true obnoxiousness. Yanker lemmings complain (at least Jim does) about the playing of "Sweet Caroline" at the Fens like there has ever been anything more trite and nauseating that hearing the late Frank "Johnny Fontaine" Sinatra belt out "New York, New York" after games at The Toilet. Next, I'll mention the fans that truly blend into the woodwork when the falls short. And notice I do not use the words "suck" or "stink". It's been a long time since the Yankers were that bad. But their fans become quieter than Marcel Marceau on a putting green if the Yankees don't win the World Series every year. They also become rather quiet when the subject of the teams maniacal, mentally ill, and monstrously wealthy owner comes up. They live in the past more so than any team with 5 championships in the last decade would be expected to (although that has waned a bit since the whole "1918" thing has become pointless.) They refuse to admit that outside of the 5 boroughs, Yanker fans in the 25 to 35 year old range cease to exist because all of the out-of-town Yanker fans are such for one reason - they jumped onto the band wagon of the hot team (circa 1977 and 1998). How many guys do you know who were middle-school age on 1985 who are Yanker fans? They even have a TV series that explores the dysfunctional 1977 championship team, making total asses out of Billy Martin, Reggie Jackson, and George Steinbrenner, and they love it!

"Yo, did you see The Bronx is Burnin' last night?" says Mikey.

"$#&@ing-A right, I saw it!" says Sal.

"Awesome!" says Mikey.

"$#&@ing-A!" says Sal.

I know that Yanker fans are not supposed to like Red Sox fans. I understand that Red Sox fans aren't supposed to like Yanker fans (don't worry...we don't). But lets stick to realistic arguments about tangible things remotely based in reality. (Perhaps like who was the bigger disappointment, Damon or Drew.) The whole you're-more-obnoxious-than-us thing is A) Not remotely plausible, and B)Whiny and annoying, even as compared to your usual nonsense.

As for you, Jimmy? My mother always told me not to say anything if I didn't have something nice to say, so...

You're a twit, Jim.

Sorry, Mom.

Labels: baseball, ESPN, Jim Caple, obnoxious fans, Red Sox, Yankers