Red Sox fans - a poll.

[Ol'Gaffer]

So much of the Red Sox frustration is wrapped up and centered on their history with the Yankees. It sometimes seems like the World Series is secondary and beating the Yankees is the team's primary motivation. With that in mind, I pose the following scenarios.

Scenario 1: The Yankees and Sox meet for the ALCS. Series is really dramatic, sterling play by both teams. Home team wins every game. Game 7 is in NY. Mussina vs. Pedro. Both pitchers pitch brilliantly. Manny hits a solo shot in the top of the 9th. Pedro comes back out for the for the bottom half, faces Jeter, A-Rod and Sheffield and strikes out the side Sox win 1-0 (or something equally dramatic).

However, they lose the Series in five games to St. Louis.

Scenario 2: Sox roll to the Series beating Anaheim and the Twins (who beat the Yankees in the Divisional Series). They then beat St. Louis in five games to win the Series.

My question then is...as a fan would you rather see your boys cut down the mighty Yankees in front of their own fans but lose the Series OR win the series but not having beat the Yankees to get there?

[silenus]

#1 for me. Why go for the kill, when you can go for the Pain? It's not enough for the Sox to win.....the damn Yankees must suffer in the process. Ideally, the last game of the ALCS should be a blow-out. A total humiliation of the Yankees in front of their fans. 15-0.

[Casey1505]

I would hate to see #1. I've said before that Pedro should never again see the 8th inning unless he's pitching a no-hitter.

# 2 would be nice. Damn nice.

As far as:

win the series but not having beat the Yankees to get there?

They did beat the Yankees to get there. They won the season series, keeping them in the wild card hunt and making the AL East race a little interesting in the second half.

[Telemark]

Winning the WS is what is important. Much too much is made of the Yankees rivalry. I hate the "Yankees Suck" mentality, it's so petty.

A 7 game series against the Yanks, if we won, would leave us drained for the WS. Let's get a ring first and then worry about winning the AL East next year.

[Ol'Gaffer]

Originally Posted by Telemark

Winning the WS is what is important. Much too much is made of the Yankees rivalry. I hate the "Yankees Suck" mentality, it's so petty.

A 7 game series against the Yanks, if we won, would leave us drained for the WS. Let's get a ring first and then worry about winning the AL East next year.

Do you mean "much too much" is made of the rivalry by the Sox and Yankee fans themselves or by others? What I mean is that as an A's fan I could care less who they beat if they win the whole thing (actually I would settle for getting out of the first round of the playoffs) but Red Sox fans seem to have a need to beat the Yankees to validate their success.

[CBCD]

As a Yankees fan, all I can say is 'Nanny, nanny, poo poo!'

[KSO]

Originally Posted by CBCD

As a Yankees fan, all I can say is 'Nanny, nanny, poo poo!'

What does A Rod have to do with this???


As for the OP, I'll take Scenario 2 although I really, really, really want to go through the Bronx.

Scenario 1 is simply impossible to fathom because the only circumstances under which Pedro should pitch in the EIGHTH inning, nevermind the ninth, is if no other pitcher is available. Sorry, but this is my religion so I need some reality in the scenarios.

[Frank]

May an Orioles fan pipe in to say that his greatest pleasure this year would be to see the Yankees and the Red Sox both lose their series in the Metrodome?


No?


Oh, well.

[iampunha]

Series. Not even a close vote.

[WordMan]

Yankees fan here. If the Sawx beat us but lost the Series, I would find some room to chuckle. If they win the Series regardless of whether they beat us, I would give them respect.

'nuff said.

[fusoya]

I'm not a baseball person, so I can't claim to be a fan of either team, but I've lived my entire life in NYC, CT and RI, so I've been hearing this Red Sox vs Yankees stuff since I was a toddler. I really really really really want #2 to happen, so that both sets of fans can finally get on with their lives. I really really really really DON'T want #1 to happen, because that'll just be throwing more fuel on the fire. I'd prefer that the Yankees and Red Sox not play at all this year, just to keep both sets of fans quiet, but if they do, the Red Sox had better beat the Yankees in one way or another and go on to win the world series, otherwise 2004 will be yet one more year that the Yankees fans will have to taunt Red Sox fans.

[ElvisL1ves]

Win the Series. Beat whoever you have to to do it. Get those rings. That's what every other team is playing for, isn't it? Lots of them accomplish it, too.

The obsession with the Yankees is a large part of what has held the Sox down all these years. If they, and their fans, could see them as just another good opponent, the mental blocks and all the curse shit would melt away.

[Exgineer]

Winning the Series is the only thing that matters. I don't care who they beat to do it just so long as it gets done.

[Trunk]

the series, and it's not even close.

That's the point.

That's the drought.

That's the curse.

We've been to the series before, which means (in some way) the Yanks were beat, even if it was for the division title.

However, second in satisfaction is seeing the Yanks lose at any time. I'm really rooting for the twins. It's playing with fire to root for the Yanks to beat the twins just so the Sox could beat them.

It's especially satisfying to see the Yanks get embarrassed like last year, losing at home to a wild card team.

Next best thing would be seeing Bernie Carbo mushroomstamp George Steinbrenner.

[fruitbat]

The series without question. But . . . in a karmic sense I don't believe the Sox will win the series unless they do it through New York. Which leaves me hoping (tepidly) that the Yankees beat the Twins.

[Honey]

Originally Posted by Ol'Gaffer

......Manny hits a solo shot in the top of the 9th. Pedro comes back out for the for the bottom half

This makes my blood run cold.

Winning the WS is the most important thing.

Off topic: Does anyone know the schedule for the WS. I know AL won the All-Star game so an AL team will have home field advantage. Will it be 3 at Al 2 at NL then (if necessary) 2 at AL?

[Trunk]

Originally Posted by Honey

This makes my blood run cold.

Winning the WS is the most important thing.

Off topic: Does anyone know the schedule for the WS. I know AL won the All-Star game so an AL team will have home field advantage. Will it be 3 at Al 2 at NL then (if necessary) 2 at AL?

It's always been

2
3
2

as long as I can remember.

[Honey]

Thanks Trunk.

It would be sweet if it happened at Fenway. But, I'll take it anywhere.

[Miabella]

I absolutely prefer to win the World Series. We've already beaten the Yankees in the season series, that works for me.

[silk1976]

Scenario 2.. beating the yankees is nice, but thats been done more (and more recently) then winning the world series. The fact is that the yankees have had their strings of success, and they've had their times - just like the pats are having their time in the NFL at the moment.

[ftg]

Speaking of sequential thread titles (?????)

Red Sox fans - a poll.
Ever Known a Psychopath?

The question answers itself.

[DKW]

Hey, I've never dreamed of being a Red Sox fan, and I'm rooting for #2 all the way, and I'd prefer it to beating the Yankees en route to the championship.

Look, this is the team that lost the World Series to the Arizona freaking Diamondbacks due to their utterly invincible closer blowing the save in the 9th inning...less than two months after Niney Levin. If that couldn't take the wind out of their sails, nothing will. Stop clinging to the myth of Yankees fans ever not being cocky. It ain't happenin'.

For me, the Red Sox winning it means one thing: THE END. (Same deal with a football team going 16-0 in the regular season, so I don't have to hear about that one non-sucky era in Dolphins' history until the end of time.) They finally get title #2, and I can stop hearing about that ridiculous curse, 1915 or whatever freaking year it was, and the ridiculous neverending piling on Bill Buckner (I don't think I need to explain this anymore; anyway, you saw what I saw).

On a related note, it'd have been cool if Scottie Pippen had been able to win one more championship before retiring, which would've given him one more ring than Michael Jordan...man, I couldn't imagine how that would've gone down. But that's never happening, of course, so if I had to have a hope-against-hope sports dream come true, I'll gladly settle for the Red Sox free at last.

[MLS]

Of course you now all know that scenario #2 is impossible. Its Yankees vs. Sox for the American League championship. Go Yanks!

[Jackmannii]

Originally Posted by Ol'Gaffer

So much of the Red Sox frustration is wrapped up and centered on their history with the Yankees. It sometimes seems like the World Series is secondary and beating the Yankees is the team's primary motivation.

I think beating N.Y. is the motivation of numerous Sox fans. The team doesn't care all that much.

If it did, it would put a bit more effort during the season into winning its division. It has come in second to the Yankees something like seven times in a row. It has a wild-card mentality.

A Red Sox player was quoted during the team's stretch run this year as saying the last quarter of the season was what it was really all about. For the Yankees, the entire season is what it's all about. Which is why they win championships and the Red Sox do not.

I'd love to be wrong about this, but I expect the championship mentality of the Yankees to make the difference in the AL championship series again this year.

[Noone Special]

Oh, beating the Yankees could be nice, of course, but right now they must be taken as a detail, just The Next Opponent, on the way to the real thing - the WS... go over, under or through them ("around them" no longer being a possibility.)

But don't we just KNOW it'll all blow up in our faces in the 12th or 13th inning of game 7 (either series - take your pick... )

"Go Sox!" anyway!!

Dani
(still a Displaced Bostonian after nearly 40 years [])