New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox: Merger of the Empire and the Nation
December 12, 2010 · Stephen Grippo · Jump to comments
Article Source: Bleacher Report - New York Yankees
When you are a Yankees fan, there are only two possible outcomes: The Yanks win the World Series and reaffirm your belief that you indeed root for the best team under God’s blue sky, or the Yankees fail in their quest and you somehow begin to question the very existence of the Big Man himself.*
(*I never really question my faith, but it was the only effective metaphor I could think of at the time. I do however find myself questioning my daily obsession of following their every move. I swear off baseball and promise myself that I will never watch it again. So, that means I am probably going to Hell because about a week in I renege on that promise and find myself counting down the days to pitchers and catchers.)
Such is the mindset of these fans, myself included. No matter how often it happens, if the Yankees SOMEHOW don’t win the Series, it still comes as a shock. It’s sad, demoralizing and frankly, utterly unacceptable.
However, when you try to explain these mixed emotions you are experiencing to somebody else, they look at you as if you are somehow unfit to receive their sympathy. It is as if you are some disease-ridden individual to whom nobody wants anything to do with. Also, if you try to explain these unsettling feelings to anybody outside of the Yankee fanbase, they ridicule you as if you were George W. Bush sitting right before them.
It has been this way now for most of my 22 years and to be honest, I was beginning to think that we Yankee fans would be alone forever. However, in the spirit of Christmas, a true miracle occurred! The Red Sox actually spent money on a Yankee level! The winter skies opened up, the sun started shining and the birds starting chirping. Even though I despise them and their fanbase to the very core of my being, there are finally other people out there who can now understand what my fellow Yankees enthusiasts and I have been having to deal with our entire lives.
Is this a sign? Should I relent on my undying hatred toward a team that, in reality, has no effect on my actual well-being?† So yes, I took the Red Sox’ recent trade for 1B Adrian Gonzalez and seven-year, $142M signing of LF Carl Crawford as just that—a sign.
(†The Yankees shouldn’t have really any effect on how I live my life either, but let’s get real, they do. I mean yeah I get upset and revert to the emotional level of a 12-year-old when they lose, but maybe that’s a personal problem. Maybe I should look into this irrationality, but I digress.)
With these two huge, recent acquisitions, the Red Sox fans now have every reasonable expectation to believe that they should be considered World Series favorites. It is with this, and the underlying fact that they won the World Series in ’04 and ’07, that they are now in the same room as the Yankees. They are no longer just a team that Yankee fans love to hate, but a team that everybody will love to hate right there with the Yankees. The both of them are one in the same now. Now I have to listen to my roommate (Red Sox fan by the way, don’t ask) talk about this and that, and blah, blah, blah. (I am sure I never sound like that at all right? Yankee fans aren’t obnoxious whatsoever.)
Even though I hate to admit it, we Yankee fans need to realize the Red Sox are now just like us. They have the money to spend and they sure do use it. But now, as hard as it may be, we will have somebody else out there that finally knows how we feel. And maybe, it won’t be so bad.
Read more New York Yankees news on BleacherReport.com
Yankee Tickets
Shop Yankee
