Anyone who remotely follows sports knows the depths of the Yankees/Red Sox ‘hatred’ toward each other, and I think that a case could be made that some level of bitterness has developed over the last few years, between the Giants and Patriots.
As a life-long Texan, I’m curious if the majority of citizens of the two cities “look down” upon each other? For instance, if you grew up in Boston, and are applying for a job on Wall Street, do you try and hide that part of your upbringing?
If you’re from New York, and find yourself in a bar in Boston, among a bunch of drunk “regulars”, do you neglect to mention where you’re from?
(Stupid examples, yes, but it hit me that - from a sports perspective - you hardly ever hear a person in the media from one of the cities, say anything remotely complimentary of the other one).
I’ve lived in proximity to these cities for a long time. I don’t really see much rivalry that wouldn’t correlate to the sports rivalry. Perhaps there was some once upon a time. At some time in the past these cities must have been competing to be America’s most important city.
Sort of. The two cities aren’t that close together (4 - 5 hours driving) but there is enough cross-feeding to keep a rivalry going. NYC is what it is and will always be the biggest and most important city on the Eastern seaboard. However, Boston is fairly wealthy in general and has much better colleges and universities overall (tops in the world on that). Boston is often the #1 sports city in the U.S. as well. I don’t think New Yorkers like losing in those categories too much.
Boston is just big and important enough to win some categories that New Yorkers would like to have and New York is cosmopolitan and influential in a way that lots of wealthy Bostonians living in areas like the Back Bay and Beacon Hill would love to have. It is just similar enough to create some rivalries but not enough to create hostility.
I wore a Red Sox jacket into work (in Manhattan) last week, and within five minutes three people had commented on it, two negatively (“Wrong jacket!”, “Don’t wanna wear that HERE”) and one positively (a girl from Boston helped me out checking my laptop into IT: “Wow! Beautiful! You from Boston?”)
I lived in and around Boston growing up, and my experience is that we get sick and tired of New Yorkers telling us how great NYC is and how Boston isn’t a real city. Well, fuck you and go back to NYC! And it’s a population thing. I can remember cringing at every NY license plate I would see driving up to ski in the winter. Of course, we were from MASS, so the NH folks probably thought the same thing about us, but at least we were actual New Englanders.
So, yeah, there is tension between the two cities. But it’s mostly about sports. The other stuff is fairly low level.
Original New Yorker here. The funny thing is that Boston is a lot more interested in the rivalry than we are. What’s more important to us is whether you (as a fellow New Yorker; outsiders don’t matter ;)) are a Giants/Jets or Yankees/Mets fan.
Most of us tend to laugh at how seriously Boston takes the “rivalry.”
Yes, there is an undercurrent of competition between the cities going all the way back to Revolutionary times. The Yankees/Sox stuff is just current branding. If you wear your colors, it gets commented on, but regardless it’s there below the surface. I say this as a Californian living in NY for over a decade.
But you don’t have worry about that because they both hate Texas
I wouldn’t call that much of a rivalry. Even in New York they wouldn’t touch that Manhattan Chowder crap. Which would be improved by adding some actual tomato soup.
The only way a New Yorker would neglect to mention where he’s from, is to have his mouth wired shut.
This is for two reasons. First, he’ll have an accent that any Bostonian will recognize. Second, New Yorkers can’t help but mention NYC in conversation.
