What's great about rooting for the Red Sox

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08-29-2007, 07:20 PM
Bostondevil

What's great about rooting for the Red Sox

Apologies to Ozzie, but what's great about rooting for the Sox here in Boston is that nearly everybody else does too. Sure, there are a couple of fresh from college guys at work who are from New York and love the Yankees, but when you're out and about in Boston and a big series is coming up, you can feel the excitement and we're all on the same side. Win or lose, joy or misery, you've got a couple million neighbors to share it with you.

That's the one and only down side to rooting for Duke, when you're down everybody else is so happy and when you're up, everybody else is claiming the refs gave it to you. Sigh. And when I was growing up in Durham, one of only two Duke fans in my grade, going to school after a loss to UNC was tough to face.
08-29-2007, 07:25 PM
billybreen

On the flip side, it's really annoying to live in Boston when you don't like the Sox.
08-29-2007, 07:27 PM
hc5duke

Quote:

Originally Posted by billybreen

On the flip side, it's really annoying to live in Boston when you don't like the Sox.

Yet another reason I hated watching Jimmy Fallon on SNL...
08-29-2007, 07:41 PM
TillyGalore

Quote:

Originally Posted by billybreen

On the flip side, it's really annoying to live in Boston when you don't like the Sox.

Couldn't agree with you more!
08-29-2007, 07:52 PM
YmoBeThere

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bostondevil

we're all on the same side.

Ummmm, I going with no on this one?!?!
08-29-2007, 08:13 PM
dukehoopsgirl

One of the things I love about being a Sox fan in New England is that just about everybody follows along and, for the most part, knows what they're talking about. I love going to work in the morning and chatting in detail about the previous night's game (and I'm a primary school teacher so it's all women!). Plus, living in Portland, we have the Sox AA team, the SeaDogs, which is awesome, because we watch all the prospects before they hit the "big time".

Being a Dukie up here is rather difficult, because except for a couple of my closest friends who keep up just so they can chat with me, no one really knows a lot about Duke hoops (except for the big, obvious stuff).
08-29-2007, 08:44 PM
Bostondevil

Quote:

Originally Posted by billybreen

On the flip side, it's really annoying to live in Boston when you don't like the Sox.

Why don't you join us?

OK, maybe not everybody is on the same side, but we've got you so outnumbered we don't have to listen to the taunts. And Jimmy Fallon? Not a Boston guy, not even a Red Sox fan, and only did a passable Boston accent. He's from Brooklyn, for heavens sake. And I hated FEVER PITCH, if only for the scene where they actually explain the Curse of the Bambino, as if anyone at Fenway would ever do that! Especially someone sitting in a FIELD BOX! Yuck, yuck, yuck.

Hey, Boston area folks, while I've got your attention, my play Cloud 7 will be produced at the first PlaySlam this year, November 13th at the BCA Plaza theater (one of the two black boxes). It's a combined Another Country and Company One production. Save the date and remember, it is a competition (but not a sport).
08-29-2007, 10:03 PM
billybreen

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bostondevil

Why don't you join us?

Well, I don't really like baseball, so it's more that I don't like Red Sox fans (sorry, no offense :-) than an issue with the team. If you aren't a fan, it's easy to see Sox mania as annoying band wagonry. Also, like poker, it's so 2004.

(NB: The author is the least cool person on the planet, so his value judgments on the zeitgeist should be wholly discounted.)
08-29-2007, 10:20 PM
NovaScotian

personally, i think its pretty out of style to be a red sox fan now. now that they've finally won the series again, they're just another team of well paid mercenaries making the occaisonal run for the playoffs. even if you liked the 2004 team, what remains is just a shell - pedro (the real heart of the team, imho) is gone, damon was exposed as someone who really doesnt give a http://www.dukebasketballreport.comh...ballreport.com about anything but money, cabrera is gone, millar is gone, mueller is gone - so many of the 'idiots' have left. while varitek, schilling, manny and papi remain, that really seems to be it. julio lugo? wily mo? mike lowell? beckett? dice-k? am i supposed to like these guys?
08-29-2007, 10:38 PM
OZZIE4DUKE

What's great about rooting for the Red Sox?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bostondevil

Apologies to Ozzie, but what's great about rooting for the Sox

NOTHING! ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!

Apology accepted, and back at'cha.
08-29-2007, 11:04 PM
Bostondevil

Quote:

Originally Posted by NovaScotian

personally, i think its pretty out of style to be a red sox fan now. . . . mike lowell? beckett? am i supposed to like these guys?

Out of style? How can rooting for the same team year after year ever go out of style? I've been a Duke fan since before I was born and a Sox fan since April 29, 1986 (yes, I know the exact date and I didn't live in Boston yet).

Sure you're supposed to like Lowell and Beckett, those guys are easy to love, especially Lowell. Red Auerbach once said about Dave Cowens that he didn't care what position he played, he just knew he was looking at a Celtic. I feel the same way about Lowell, that guy is Boston baseball through and through.

And I don't really see any Sox mania, the same folks that cared before 2004 still care, the folks that were just on the bandwagon jumped to the White Sox the next year. And everybody who was anybody but the Yankees is still anybody but the Yankees. Of course, since I'm in Boston, it's not Sox mania, it's just run of the mill hometown team stuff. The kind of stuff you never get in Durham, at least not for Duke. That was my original point, there's a community feel about rooting for the Sox that I never got in Durham, except for the four years I was actually a Duke student.
08-30-2007, 04:08 AM
YmoBeThere

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bostondevil

Edited to reduce length, my apoligies to Bostondevil...

How can rooting for the same team year after year ever go out of style?

And I don't really see any Sox mania, the same folks that cared before 2004 still care. That was my original point, there's a community feel about rooting for the Sox that I never got in Durham, except for the four years I was actually a Duke student.

I am glad you found a team you can root for through thick and thin. My baseball loyalties will always be with the Dodgers, ever since my grandfather took us to games when I was 6.

The community feeling is because of who you know and associate with and then seeing/seeking evidence that supports your hypothesis. If you were to hang out with a different crowd here in the Boston area, you might not get the same feeling of community. Communities tend to have a way of overlooking those that don't belong. I think what you are getting here is feedback that a broad generalization is, at least on this board, not as broad as you might have expected.
08-30-2007, 10:12 AM
NovaScotian

clearly, someone from boston is going to remain a fan of the team, however as a baseball fan, i am frequently drawn to root for other teams not named the mets. this occured in 2004 when no one could help but get swept up in the alcs. however now, rooting for the red sox and not being from boston is pretty lame, and i dont think im the only one who thinks this. theyre not exactly the yankees yet, probably more on the level of the mets - lots of money being spent on mercenaries looking to make a run. not that either team doesnt have homegrown talent, but were not talking about rooting for the d-backs here or anything.
08-30-2007, 10:17 AM
wilson

Quote:

Originally Posted by billybreen

On the flip side, it's really annoying to live in Boston when you don't like the Sox.

It's also annoying to watch ESPN when you don't like the sux (or yanks). Death to both.
08-30-2007, 10:27 AM
tombrady

Quote:

Originally Posted by dukehoopsgirl

One of the things I love about being a Sox fan in New England is that just about everybody follows along and, for the most part, knows what they're talking about. I love going to work in the morning and chatting in detail about the previous night's game (and I'm a primary school teacher so it's all women!). Plus, living in Portland, we have the Sox AA team, the SeaDogs, which is awesome, because we watch all the prospects before they hit the "big time".

This is actually a very valid point that honestly sets Boston (and Mass. and New England) apart from nearly every other baseball town. Literally EVERYONE follows the team on a daily basis. From 7-10 PM, most people have a TV in the house tuned to the Sox game. Not that they are all sitting and watching it -- but its on and they check in on it. The next day, you can walk up to a random person in Mass (to a lesser extent other parts of NE) and they'll know what happened the night before. Its pretty wild, actually. Discussing the red sox games and players and current season (in depth) with my girlfriend's grandmother and her (the grandmother's) friends is pretty fascinating. The Red Sox really do consume that whole region.

Which is great.
08-30-2007, 09:37 PM
dukehoopsgirl

Quote:

Originally Posted by NovaScotian

julio lugo? wily mo? mike lowell? beckett? dice-k? am i supposed to like these guys?

You don't have to jump on the Wily Mo band wagon...he was released two weeks ago...Now, you'll have to like Bobby Kelty.
08-31-2007, 06:51 AM
YmoBeThere

Quote:

Originally Posted by tombrady

Literally EVERYONE follows the team on a daily basis.

I only follow them enough to take playful jabs at members of the Nation around the office. I am getting particular glee from the Yankee sweep. No, I am not a hater more indifferent than anything else, just enjoy seeing the popular psyche struggle a bit. I was a fan of the Dewey Evans era Bo Sox. My only beef with them right now is that Theo Epstein ruined a fantasy league trade I had for Gagne by moving him into a setup role. Given Gagne's history with the Dodgers(and I watched many a start of his when he was in that role)...I thought it a bad, bad move.