Rivalries

I’m going to go out on a limb here and officially shoot myself in the foot regarding my readers. This entry is inspired by a recent post over on River Ave Blues which asked the question of how we (as Yankee fans) wanted the Red Sox to lose.

I never quite got into the “hate” part of a good rivalry. If you are a Yankee fan, it is commonly expected that you hate the Red Sox. A few crazed fans take this hatred to an extreme and once or twice a year you’ll read a story in the news about a fight or assault happening where the motive was trash talking by fans of either the Yankees or the Sox. Earlier this year a person was actually run over by a car in a Yankees/Sox related incident.

When the Yankees play the Red Sox, I root for the Yankees. I get on the phone and call up a good friend who is a die-hard Red Sox fan and frequently taunt him. During the regular season, if the Yanks and Sox are vying for first place or a wild card, I’ll cheer for any team that beats the Sox, improving New York’s standings.

If the Yankees get eliminated, or if the Sox play some one other than NY in the playoffs, I’ll usually root for our long-time rivals, the Red Sox. I’ll even join my friend (who makes a wicked home-brew) to watch the game. That’s right. On occasion I’ll root for the Red Sox (but only if it does not adversely affect the Yankees in any way).

Here are two reasons: First, I lived in Boston (and very close to Fenway) for about two years and have some connection with the area.

Secondly, and most importantly, If two teams have a rivalry and one team completely stinks, it’s not much of a rivalry. If the Red Sox never make the playoffs or always exit early, the rivalry starts to lose some of it’s luster. When both teams are competitive in the regular season and in the post-season, then the rivalry really starts to take on meaning and have some history. Some of the greatest NY-Boston games have happened in the playoffs. If Boston never makes it there, after a while the rivalry becomes an afterthought.

Also, if teams in your division do well, it makes you look better. The Yankees 2008 season isn’t quite as bad in retrospect when you consider that Tampa and Boston were two of the best teams in the league.

This theory doesn’t apply just to my favorite baseball team. In college hoops, I’m always 100% behind my alma mater Syracuse University. In the NCAA tournament, I’ll frequently root for other Big East teams, even Georgetown, when they are not playing SU. As far as hoops rivalries go, SU-Georgetown is about as big as Yankees-Red Sox.

There’s nothing better than seeing my team beat our rivals, but when a game doesn’t involve my team, I give the rivals a little love. College football is a classic sport where you definitely should root for your competition to do well. Many of the polls and rankings consider strength of schedule directly or indirectly and having the teams you play win a lot of their games can have a big impact on your team’s ranking.

I’ve been called out by a few people who claim that “I’m not a true fan” and have heard other, cruder replies as well. I can somewhat understand those who root against a team’s biggest rival, but I don’t necessarily agree with it. Oftentimes, having a rival do well makes my team look better and as a true fan, it’s always about having my team on top. If you want to disagree with me that’s fine, but if you think I’m not a “true fan”, then you’ve got a lot to learn.

Yankee Fans Are Pitiful at Times

This is a rant about one thing I can't stand - fans who boo their own team. This phenomenon is especially prominent with many New York teams and has been plaguing the Yankees quite a bit this year.

There are a few times when I could be convinced it's OK for a quick boo, for instance if your team makes a boneheaded play call, or a player who doesn't put forth any effort. There really isn't an excuse to boo a guy who is out there honestly doing his best to help the team.

Joba Chamberlain, the team's best young pitching prospect received a few boos from the stands last night after blowing a save and costing the team a win. Joba is a class act. He tried hard, he's pitched extremely well, he's a nice guy and most likely is a key piece in the future of this franchise. There's absolutely no reason to boo a guy like this. After his unfortunate outing, Joba immediately returned to the locker room and very patiently and politely answered a host of questions from the reporters gathered there. No avoiding the questions, no avoiding the reporters, no ill-tempered remarks, just a guy doing the right thing. It's  a shame that a few fans decided to lessen the game by booing a decent kid.

The other incident that really gets me is the booing of LaTroy Hawkins. Early in the year Hawkins was abysmal and I frequently suggested he should be cut, sent down, or traded. New York fans seemed to care less about his poor performance and more about the fact that he wore number 21, which some misguided fans think should be retired because Paul O'Neill wore it. No way does Paul O'Neill deserve to get his number retired. A very good player, but not "number retired" great. The saddest part of all of this was that the number was chosen to pay tribute to Roberto Clemente. I'm still shaking my head that O'Neill trumps Clemente in anyone's book.

Eventually Hawkins switched numbers and the booing stopped. His performances at Yankee Stadium improved quite a bit after that as well. I wonder if the fans know what a nice guy Hawkins is? If you follow the team in the media, you'll know that he's a stand up guy who goes out of his way to support his new teammates. This isn't behavior that deserves booing.

This behavior isn't limited to just the Yankees, it's common for most NY sports teams, and some other big city teams as well. It just doesn't seem right to me and can't be helping matters any if the team is struggling. Maybe next time these so called fans feel like booing, they'll just get up and get a hot dog instead and cool off a bit. Yeah right.