Saturday, November 03, 2007

Swimming Upstream

Unexpectedly, thanks to poet and journalist Susie Davison, there was a voice of discontent about Red Sox fever.

The kind of response she got, unfortunately, is the kind you would expect.

3 comments:

Dale M-C said...

I'm a BoSox fan, born and raised. I understand there are close friends and family around me that aren't. I respect that. Just like I expect them to respect my fandom of Red Sox.

I think the responders were out of line, lashing out defensively and without thinking.

Someone was going to make cutting comments at our wedding about the TV in the sitting room for Game 3, and I was warned ahead of time. I replied if they did, they would be asked to leave, because that was disrespectful of MY wishes.

Can't we all just get along?

Chad Parenteau said...

It's the "repbulic" comments that got me the most on that linked post.

As I said to Susie, I have nothing against Sport fans of any kind, just fanaticism of any kind, and craziness for the hell of it. Why the hell are the greatest problems caused by people who a) are on campuses and therefore b) might not even be from New England, let along Boston.

Team grudges never made any sense to me given that a) team members are traded and switched (Jerry Seinfeld said once that you're just rooting for a uniform because you like the logo), b) few if any ever "local" heroes and c) in the cases of (thankfully) a minority of people I've met, if the players were just regular citizens, they would be scorned by the very same "fans" for their race or hairstyle.

With the curse gone, and the Red Sox on their way to a Patriots-style dynasty, maybe the drek of Boston's fandom can be phased out after a generation or two. Then we can just enjoy Baseball, period. I actually like watching the game itself from time to time.

Chad Parenteau said...

Attacking anyone for being a fan of any team major league team with any genuine scorn (playful banter aside) always struck me as the epitome of immaturity.