As a die-hard Yankees fan deep in the heart of Red Sox Nation, I’ve become used to the attacks aimed at the Yankees and anyone who professes to have anything to do with them. Unlike the stereotypical Yankee fan, I remember lean years. I’m a Yankee fan because my father was a Yankee fan, who was a Yankee fan because my grandfather was a Yankee fan. My first game at Yankee Stadium was in 1989, which was hardly a landmark year. I remember crying tears of joy after the Yankees won the ’99 World Series, because it occurred just after my father’s death and gave me a permanent connection to him.
However, upon reading Monday’s editorial (“Boston Loves Sox Dreamers”), I became compelled to write in and answer this author, because he clearly doesn’t have his facts straight in many crucial areas.
1. The trade of Alfonso Soriano – First of all, Soriano’s 2 years older than we originally thought, which only makes him 8 months younger than A-Rod…Second, Soriano simply didn’t fit into a lineup that was trying to eliminate free-swingers such as the lanky second baseman. The author decries the “thanks” the Yankees gave Soriano, but I’m forced to remind the author of the “thanks” the Red Sox gave to Nomar Garciaparra, who gave his heart and soul to Boston until the organization quit on him.
2. The author holds up the demand of a forfeit last Monday as an example of Yankee arrogance. However, he misses two crucial details. First, Major League Baseball ORDERED the Devil Rays to fly to New York for the doubleheader, but then never gave the Yankees a straight answer as to when the Devil Rays were actually supposed to arrive. The Yankees were under the impression that a game was to be played, so they showed up, and the Devil Rays hadn’t even left Tampa. MLB dropped the ball there, not the Yankees. Furthermore, another detail nobody remembers is that the Yankees were forced, under penalty of a forfeit, to play a game in Baltimore last September despite the imminent landfall of Hurricane Isabel…This is just convenient Yankee-bashing by someone who’s willingly ignoring the facts.
3. I won’t even dignify this crap about Jason Giambi being “silenced” by the Evil Empire because he shaved and cut his hair with a detailed response. If he didn’t like Steinbrenner’s rules, he didn’t have to sign with the Yankees. Everyone who joins the organization knows what’s expected of them.
4. I quote from the author:
“They’re dirty and unshaven. They smell bad. They’re a dangerous crowd. They ain’t too pretty, they ain’t too proud. They might be laughing a bit too loud. But that never hurt anyone, right?”
Here, the author is glorifying the Red Sox by using a quote from “Only the Good Die Young,” by Billy Joel. The irony’s not lost on me. Like me, Billy Joel’s a Long Island boy. Like me, Billy Joel’s a Yankee fan.
Now, unlike the author, I’m not subject to blind hatred of anything that has anything to do with the Red Sox. I think the world of Kevin Millar. He plays hard every day and is really a man of the people. Doug Mientkiewicz is a hell of a first baseman who changed the Red Sox’ whole infield dynamic and made them a much stronger team. I admire the passion of SOME Red Sox fans, but I think the overall depiction in this perspective is a tad too rosy.
I’ll be the first to admit I’m not perfect, nor is any Yankee fan. However, I find it hard to root for Red Sox fans, and I find it even harder to believe that they deserve a World Championship. The constant chanting of “Yankees suck!” isn’t the tortured cry of a generation; it’s a sick obsession. The three very large construction workers who jumped me outside SMG last November didn’t evoke much sympathy in me. There was nothing heroic about the people outside the Cask n’ Flagon who threw beer bottles at my 8-year-old cousin as we exited a Yankees-Sox game at Fenway Park. Red Sox fans have unbelievable passion, but they’ve yet to put it to good use…maybe they’ll push their team to greatness when they finally harness that passion.
As for me, I’ll continue to wear my Yankee hat proudly around the BU campus and around Boston. Attack me if you must, but at least be willing to participate in an intelligent discussion of the subject. If “Yankees suck!” is the most intelligent thing you can think of, just keep it to yourself.
Nick Giglia SMG ’07 DFP Staff (Sports)
(516) 993-4124
