Yankees vs. Red Sox (The Rivalry is Very REAL)

As previously stated one of the main reasons for the NY trip was the Red Sox vs. Yanks matchup. Being a Yankee hater and Red Sox fan I was looking forward to going to the game and getting an up close and personal view of the greatest rivalry in U.S. sports. I guess I should add how a Utah boy became a Boston fan and Yankee hater. First off I remember growing up cheering for the Sox, my mom is from Maine and that was her team. I remember very well the pain of the'86 series. It was with much elation I watched as the Sox staged the greatest comeback in sports history and beat the Yanks, and then crushed the Cardinals. I had a Roger the Rocket poster hanging in my room when I was growing up. I had always been a Sox fan and always had disdain for the evil yankees.

All day before the game I wore my Sox hat and no one said a word to me. Believe me the Yankee hats are extremely prevalent in NY, in fact it seemed nearly everyone with a hat had the NY on it. When we got to the stadium there was a buzz, an electricity that you could just feel. This wasn't the Tampa Devil Rays vs. the KC Royals. This was the Evil Empire, Gotham City, The Bronx Bombers, the start of the curse, vs. the until recenlty vindicated lovable losers. My first impression was there was a lot of Yankee fans and a whole lot of cops. I would say when we were walking along the street that there was a cop every three feet, I am not exaggerating. I have never seen that many cops in any one place ever. It wouldn't be long before I found out why. After snarfing down some pizza we went to watch batting practice. As we walked in we saw Manny and Big Papi (Ortiz) hitting. Ortiz nearly hit one out to me, it was a few feet short, but it was right on line. Then the rain came. And came. And kept coming. I was very worried that the game would be canceled. That would have been a travesty. I can't even begin to explain how bummed I would have been. Janalynn with the broken ankle was bad, but this would have sent me over the top. Luckily I had good luck and the rain stopped right at 7pm. The game started on time.

Our seats were in the bleachers in the outfield. Normally ten dollar tickets had become forty because of the rivalry. I had no idea then that we were sitting in the rowdiest section in the whole building. I would quickly find that out. Still I wore the hat, declaring my allegiance and no one had provoked me or attacked me. I must say I really liked how the game began. The fans in our section all stood and chanted "Johnny Damon" over and over until he turned to the section and pointed, they did the same for each position player save the pitcher and would keep chanting until the player acknowledged them. It was pretty cool. Then the focus left the Yankees and went to the Red Sox, especially the fans. A few Red Sox fans filtered in only to have Yankee fans stand up and jeer them. Then they began to chant "A-Hole" over and over until the person was seated. At this point I was very aware I was wearing a Boston hat and wondered if I too would face the Yankee wrath. A few women wearing the B were called "Boston Bimbos" that wasn't so bad, two young guys around 20 wearing B hats were called Brokeback Boston among other lewd remarks. It was at this point I realized no matter how bad I had to pee I wasn't going to leave my seat and face that.

The Red Sox took an early lead when Big Papi smacked a home run in the upper decks. This brought on a new cheer. The fans in my section called out the fans in the seats yelling "Box Seats Suck" of course the box seaters called back "Bleachers Suck". It went back and forth for a while. There was a lot of passion in my section, I think they would have taken up about any cause at that time, they just needed something to attack. They had to look no further than anyone in Boston gear. About this time the true owners of the seats next to us arrived. They were tanked up and rearing to go. When they saw I had on Boston gear they collectively licked their lips. I wasn't too worried, I knew how to diffuse any situation, I teach Jr. High. In all I never had any trouble with them. They teased a little bit that a Utah boy would like the Sox, but at the end of it the guy next to me said, "you seem like a decent guy I'm not gonna give you any crap." Whew!

Any time a Sox fan came back from concessions or the bathroom they were mercilessly attacked with all sorts of profane comments. None of which I will repeat. I will say there were a lot of vulgar shirts one of which I did like went something to the effect, "There was no curse, for 86 years the Red Sox just plain sucked." I have to admit that was a good one the others were pretty bad. We had a fan run out on the field and get crushed by about 30 people. The game was close and good. It was 2-1 for the Yanks in the 8th when Manny got a hold of a pitch and knocked it out of the park. Except Melky Cabrera jumped and pulled it down as it sailed over the fence. Lets just say the place went absolutely nuts. Crazy. It was pretty cool to see. Nothing could prepare for when in the next inning the entire bleachers yelled "F U Manny" except there were no abbreviations. For about two full minutes everyone and I mean everyone in the bleachers joined in the cheer. I wonder what they would have said if he had hit it out. By then I had heard every swear word I knew and some new ones. It was a little much. The yanks went on to win and the place went crazy. We took the subway home, which was a great way to leave the game. No parking or taking an hour leaving the park, we were gone in about 10 minutes. Overall the experience was really rather cool, but the yankee fans are tough. real tough. I wouldn't ever sit where I did again if I ever go back. But seeing the rivalry first hand was way cool. Too bad the Sox didn 't win, oh well, just so long as they do it in the playoffs.