An Open Letter To Red Sox Fans

May 26, 2005 in Uncategorized
«
»

Life is short. Life is fleeting. It’s important to savor every moment you can. I urge you Sox fans, to right now savor the next 15 minutes. After losing to the powerhouse that is the Toronto Blue Jays, the Yankees and Red Sox are now tied in the AL East. In just a little while, the Yanks will close out the Tigers, putting the Sox officially in our rear-view mirror for the rest of ’05. Just wanted to point that out.

Editor’s Note: At first this was an open letter to the city of Boston as a whole, but then I remembered about all you poseur, bandwagon-jumping Sox fans out there, and didn’t want to leave you guys out.

9 Comments to An Open Letter To Red Sox Fans

  1. You do see the irony of a yankee fan looking down on the Red Sox because they have bandwagon jumpers.

    2. doug on 31 May 2005

  2. Uh, anybody wanna go see Fever Pitch?
    Hey, anyone Tivo the Queer Eye where they madeover the Red Sox?
    Just checking…

    3. Mark on 31 May 2005

  3. Uh, have you not seen or heard of the many many movies made about the Yankees? Pride of the Yankees, just for example, is propaganda on the level of goebbels.
    And I don’t pay any attention to queer eye. Maybe that’s just me.
    All I’m saying is that there are far more bandwagon yankee fans than any other team in baseball, and you’re in no position to be talking about this.

    4. doug on 1 June 2005

  4. Bah! Everyone has heard of the plays and movies that have been made about the Yankees. Damn Yankees came out in the 50s! And it wasn’t about “one year” of the Yankees, it was about years and years of frustration.
    There is a difference between being a fan of something and being a one-year bandwagon jumper. I’m sure if you looked at the numbers, sales for Yankees apparel in consistent. I am positive that there has been a huge spike over the last 12 months, and I’m sure it’ll drop again when the Sox don’t even make the playoffs this year.
    And being Brooklyn born and raised, how in the world am I in no position to talk about it?

    5. Mark on 1 June 2005

  5. I’ll agree with you that there’s most likely a spike in Red Sox paraphenalia being bought in the last few months, but you can’t say that this is because of bandwagon fans buying gear to make them look like true fans. Might it be that long-suffering fans are buying up all the world-series champion shirts and dvds and pennants and whatever else they can get their hands on? I know I’ve been buying things left and right. I think that’s natural. Maybe I got a bit excited at seeing something my grandfather never got a chance to see.
    I don’t know how you’d go looking up these things, but I think you’re wrong. I’d bet that less Yankee gear was being bought in the 80s when they were terrible than in the late 90s when they were a very good team and winning championships. Can I use this to prove that there are bandwagon fans out there? No. But when I run into someone in a yankee cap who will start to give me shit over my sox cap and who knows almost nothing about baseball, that irritates me.
    And yes, I’ll admit that this probably happens in reverse – some people see nothing wrong with buying the cap and jersey of whatever team is playing well. There are bandwagon jumpers on both sides – and that’s why you’re in no position to look down on the sox over a few retards who blindly follow the winners, whoever they are at the time.

    6. doug on 1 June 2005

  6. Definitely wrong. Have you ever lived in the Boston area? The average Boston person _already has_ all of the apparel they could ever need. They are a special breed–they wore their sorrow like a badge of honor in the same way that Cubs fan do. It’s awful twisted if you ask me.
    I’m not postulating just back to the 80s. If you’re going to bring up plays that the Yankees were involved in, you need to look at the run rate going back decades. I’m sure if you looked at it from that vantage point (despite small dips), the rate has been constant.
    I’m not looking down on anyone, I’m just making an observation. Of course there are Yankees bandwagon jumpers and they suck too. But to think that the current number of bandwagon jumpers for the Yankees is close to the Red Sox, or the number for ANY major US team is even close to the Red Sox, is just ridiculous.

    7. Mark on 3 June 2005

  7. No, I’m right. I grew up in framingham, and every person I know who is into baseball has bought a ton of crap after the WS win. Yes, we all had a ton of crap before. But none of it had ‘world series champion’ written on it.
    And don’t go off on this ‘boston fans are somehow proud to be known as the losers who hadn’t won in forever’ nonsense. I never wanted to go through some of the bad times I went through, but it’s all in the past now and I couldn’t be happier about it. If you want to typecast the boston fan, well, I can’t stop you. But going on like you know how a group of people (one that you’re unconnected to, no less) think is just ridiculous.
    I didn’t bring up plays the yankees were involved in – I was bringing up a film that is pure yankee propoganda, plain and simple. And I maintain that sales of yankee gear have not been constant – just as sales of any team’s gear have not been. You think the Yankees’ merger with manchester united hasn’t affected sales? Or how the world seems to view the yankee logo as an american symbol? I’ve never seen a cap with any american baseball logo other than the yankees in a foreign country, and I used to live in Japan, where there is almost no loyalty to teams who don’t do well. Wouldn’t that make a fair amount of the world made up of bandwagon jumpers?
    Go back and re-read your opening post – you boast about a series of events you’re certain will happen, and then you slam bandwagon fans. That’s outside the bounds of making an observation.
    Speaking of which, even if I accept that there are an equivalent number of fairweather sox fans as there are fairweather yanks (which I won’t), the number of laker fans out there who have faded bulls gear in their closets outnumbers them by far.

    8. doug on 3 June 2005

  8. You can’t see the forest for the trees my friend, if you honestly believe that there aren’t more fairweather Red Sox fans than Yankees fans. My read is you’re just a frustrated Red Sox fan working in New York City and you have no perspective.
    First off, you need to take it easy with this propoganda stuff. Comparing any film starring Gary Cooper to Goebels is silly. Calm down.
    Secondly, the Yankees did not merge with Manchester United, they just signed a marketing agreement. Very different.
    Thirdly, you were wrong about me being not connected to New York as I gre up there, and you are wrong about me being unconnected to Boston because I lived there also. I lived in Kenmore Square in the shadow of Fenway for four years, so I do know what I’m talking about.
    Fourthly, seeing the Yankees logo across the globe proves my point. The Yankees have awesome marketing and that’s why their apparel sells like hot cakes. Always. Everywhere. While apparel for the Yankees has stayed constant, there has been a huge fad-like spike for Boston.
    The Yankees are members of pop culture regardless of their performance over a period of years. Take for example George Constanza on Seinfeld—his character was written to be working for the Yankees before they started their run of championships in the late 90s.
    Can you think of anything having to do with the Red Sox in popular culture before winning the World Series last year? Can you name anything before the current _spike_ giving us such fine films as Fever Pitch?

    9. Mark on 3 June 2005

  9. Well, you’ve got every right to take a read on a situation, but it’ll remain a matter of opinion until someone goes to the mattresses to find the numbers.
    How could you logically claim that demand for yankees apparel has stayed constant despite recent “awesome marketing” across the globe? They didn’t advertise in Asia fifty years ago – how can demand be the same? The only way it could be is if there was a drastic dip in domestic sales that equalled new sales in every foreign country the yankees advertised in – and that makes no sense.
    And you’re right – there is a ton of yankee related material in pop culture. But on the hand pop culture isn’t devoid of sox-related content.
    Halberstam’s book, and subsequent espn special, the teammates is an extremely well-selling book. All of Steven King’s books take place in New England, and nearly all of them have some reference to the Sox. So do the Farrellys’ movies. Bill Simmons is by far the most popular columnist on espn’s page2, and he writes about the sox constantly. And Sam Malone was an ex-Sox pitcher, just as Costanza was a one-time employee of the Yanks.
    Like I say, this will go back and forth until we find the sales numbers, but I firmly believe there are many more bandwagon yankees fans than sox. And as for my read, well, I may have lost perspective (devotion does that sometimes) but I think you’re out of touch.

    10. doug on 3 June 2005




Leave a comment




Find Mark