It’s with great relief that an important item on my Boston “to-do” list can finally be checked off.
Roughly four years after relocating to this New England town, I’ve seemingly done all I can to understand its culture – a tour of its American Revolution relics, an autumn drive in the countryside and, of course, a duck-boat tour.
Little did I know there’s a crash course available for newcomers and potential Bostonians: a spring afternoon at Fenway Park, surrounded by representatives from all six New England states, watching the Boston Red Sox take on the New York Yankees.
Sure, I’ve read about the rivalry, listened to countless stories from Red Sox fans at Northeastern, as well as watched the remarkable 2004 World Series run.
And yes, I have always considered myself a representative of a rivalry, as my favorite teams have their own rivalries to be proud of.
Unfortunately, they just don’t compare with Red Sox-Yankees. All the reading, watching and hearing stories about the Sox didn’t do it justice. It’s been said that you can read all you want about the Sistine Chapel, to the point where a person can complete a paint by numbers set without the numbers, but nothing gives Michelangelo his due without standing and looking up toward it. Ditto for the Red Sox-and the Yankees.
Sitting directly behind the visitors’ bullpen in the right field bleachers, I was in the middle of special pre-game taunts toward Yankees pitcher Mike Mussina. The most common, and least volatile, were the elongated shouts of “Moose!” aimed directly at him. Some fans, however, were more colorful in their language – expressing their own opinions about the pitchers sexuality, so much that one fan was thrown out of Fenway Park for language that security decided was against the family friendly policies of the pistachio-colored stadium.
What makes this rivalry special, and standout, is how personal and attached to an identity it has become. Many rivalries rely on traditional geography – Mets-Yankees, Cubs-White Sox. Others are heated, such as Giants-Dodgers, but lack the distaste and ferocity of the Red Sox-Yankees.
Red Sox fans truly dislike the pin-striped ball club – and that’s putting it mildly. It’s not enough that the Sox currently hold a commanding lead so early in the season – the fans of the ball club, it seems, would like nothing more than to beat the pulp out of the Yankees.
These feelings are unlike anything I’ve witnessed and a sharp contrast to what I’ve become accustomed to when visiting a ball park. A Chicago native and an avid Cubs fan, a trip to Wrigley Field nets a different set of priorities – relax, have a beer and enjoy the game. The Cubs winning or losing seems to come secondary. Regardless of the outcome at Wrigley Field, you’re going to leave with a smile on your face.
Fenway, it seems, is different. What transpires on the field is greater than the game itself – it’s personal. To many, the Red Sox beating the Yankees is redemption for past wrong doings. A span of 86 years went by before the Sox won a World Series, a drought the Yankees had a hand in several times during the years. The 2004 World Series has come and gone, and the party that followed seems to still be in full tilt.
What could be better? Nothing! Every Yankee defeat at the hand of the Red Sox is a reminder of the past between the two teams – and a reminder at Fenway Park that the curses of the past are gone, and now they can beat the Yankees at their will minus the 400-pound elephant in the room.
The match-up itself remains a circus – celebrities still show (Christie Brinkley was at Friday night’s game), staff aces continue to dominate and fans will always find a way to rip on A-Rod (case in point: a group of fans donning blond-haired, blue-eyed masks of women in response to accusations of adultery against A-Rod.)
And it’s a circus that will last forever – as long as there is baseball, these two teams will be rivals. And I’m glad to have been a part of it, but once is enough. I can now run a pencil down my to-do list and gladly check it off. The lone remaining item? Unfortunately, it’s graduation.
– Matt Foster can be reached at
