Yankees / Red Sox...Who cares about 1918!

In My Humble Opinion
1

Do we have any die hard Yankees fans out there? How about Red Sox? I was born into a Red Sox family and sold into (by marriage) a Yankees family. Well Actually after I said “I do” my father-in-law came up to me during the receptions and gave me a big hug! It was at this moment that he whispered into my ear…“You are now, officialy, a Yankee fan”. :eek: :frowning:

The wedding featured a cast of Red Sox ties, cumber buns, tie clips, cufflinks and on the other side ties, cumber buns, tie clips and cufflinks of the Yankee variety.

Not being a huge fan of any organized sport I was amazed at how dedicated the two families were to their respective teams. Anyway, back to the OP I was at a BBQ this weekend where there was another dueling group of Red Sox/Yankee fans. Mind you these fans were people I had only met a handful of times, they were friends from my wifes place of work, having a pre-summer party…

Well, my FIL had explained to me that when a Red Sox fan was getting slightly out of line…or basically being an Ass that the best, unbeatable come back was to calmly say 1918. Symbolizing the last time the Red Sox won the Pennant…and the downward spiral of that fateful team…resulting in the loss of Babe Ruth in 1920.

So I was talking with a gentleman at the BBQ and he was saying how dedicated a fan he was to Boston and how his son (due in a month) was definitely going to be a Boston fan…And I said well what if he likes the Yankees… his stare got blank and his eyes drew half way down…and he said, " There is no way and child of mine will like the Yanks!"

Thinking he was kidding a laughed and pushed the issue a little bit more…to make a long story short he was not pleased and told me so. Another gentleman to my immediate right had been listening and he of course was a Yankee fan…and he mentioned 1918…

Needless to say…I was on my wifes shit list in the car on the way home, as I started a small argument that resulted in a small low key shouting match…and a wedge driven deeper between the annals of rivalry between the fans of these two fateful teams…

So where do dopers who subscribe to either team stand on the subject of 1918…is it a great defense or a horrible shot down…? And just how dedicated are you to either club? Ties, cumber buns and the lot…or just an idle fan due to geographic location?

2

I’m A Red Sox fan as I was born in Boston. My dad and brothers are all Red Sox fans. (My mom doesn’t like baseball.) I am pretty unusual in the sense that I don’t hate the Yanks. They even have some players that I like. We moved to Philadelphia when I was 4. WHile I am a fan I draw the line way before ties and cumber buns :eek: I do own a Red Sox cap but that is all. The 1918 thing is way over done IMO. It gives the media something to talk about and Yank fans something to hold over our heads. My experience has been good natured ribbing rather that a real argument. Of course Philly is a National League city so there is not much of a rivalry there and I live pretty far removed from both places now and that could be why.

3

Nitpick - the term is ‘cummerbund’. One word.

I grew up in the Boston area and liked watching baseball, but as I’ve gotten older I’ve come to be more of an avid Red Sox fan than I was previously. I’ve even considered some arguments I’d never heard before and finally, in my heart of hearts, forgiven Bill Buckner. These days I follow the division standings (glad to see they’re up by a game and a half, though I know the season’s only a quarter finished) and engage in some good-natured trash talk with the local Orioles fans, but the serious trash talk is reserved for the Yankees fans. Even then it’s clear neither side means a word of it and it’s just a way to kill time while consuming beer.

Anyone who takes their Sox fandom so seriously that he can’t take guff from Yankees fans and would rather fight than laugh is a knucklehead. So is any Yankees fan that would rather push a Sox fan’s buttons than shoot the breeze. They’re sports teams, for God’s sake, and nothing more. Yeah, the Sox have gotten a bum deal for the last 85 years - if they’d won in '19 or '20, maybe they would have held on to the Babe and things would have been different - but that was then and this is now. The Sox are doing a hell of a lot better than they have been for quite a while, and it’s really only a matter of time before they get their tickets to the Big Dance and waltz away with that pennant. And until then I’ll continue to banter with the Yankees fans and tell 'em to stay the hell out of Boston. :smiley:

4

I was in Manhatten recently for an outing, and had lunch at the ESPN Zone in time square…Everything was great…TV on the table…game stats everywhere, and a huge platter of Chilli Cheese Fries and a Pint Stella Artois…then it happened. A drunk man in the upper bar…said in a loud voice…" NINTEEN EIGHTEEN"…and from there is escalated to security being called and a few men escorted out. I shook my head and said to my FIL " can you believe those guys…?"

He looked me right in the eye and said…if we didn’t have to be home for dinner I’d have had a few words with that prick…

Then I remembered he was from New York and was a voracious fan.

5

I’m a lifelong Yankees fan, but I’m also a fan of baseball. I don’t like the Red Sox, but it’s only because they are divisional rivals. The Red Sox do have a rich tradition, with some pretty impressive ballplayers having worn the uniform. Hell, I’d love to see a game at Fenway - the place is truly a baseball shrine - but I sure wouldn’t wear my Yankees cap. The current Sawks team is very good, and any serious Yankee fan will admit that.

Now, I realize that it’s easier to be good-natured about the rivalry when you’re on the winning side, but when it comes right down to it, it’s still just baseball. It’s not so much the team that I don’t like, but some of the fans. Yeah sure, there are some obnoxious Yankee fans, but it seems that it’s ingrained into the psyche of so many Red Sox fans to not just despise the Yankees, but to be real assholes about it too. It’s almost like they thrive on that whole losing mentality, wallowing in self-pity and using some bullshit “curse” as a crutch. If the Red Sox ever won anything, they wouldn’t know what to do with themselves.

Last month the Sox took 7 of 8 from the Yanks. I certainly wasn’t thrilled, but if I was going to piss and moan about anything, it would have been the poor play of the Yankees, not that the “Red Sox Suck!”. Just like Red Sox fans that boo Clemens are schmucks, so are Yankees fans who chant “1918”. I think that the difference is that the Sox fan is fueled by a true hatred, while the Yankee fan is just pushing buttons. Of course, I’m sure that if I were a Red Sox fan, I’d truly hate the Yankees too.

A (very) small part of me (almost microscopic) wouldn’t mind seeing the Red Sox win it all. That way their fans could finally shut the hell up. Except they wouldn’t, and would probably take every opportunity to gloat endlessly about a championship. That’d be ok, though I wouldn’t take it seriously until they won 20 more :smiley:

6

Skelji - I was watching the bleacher creatures (fans who sit in the outfeild $13 bleacher seats) at the last game I was at in Yankee Stadium. Some were outright disrespectful to other fans…I was not too impressed…

Then again that experience was better than when I got beer spilt down my back in the 2nd inning at Fenway… :mad:
BTW - I just got back from a behind the scenes tour of Yankee Stadium…very very impressive. The locker rooms, Steinbrenner’s office. the $400,000 luxury suites we got to see it all! Hey for $25 it was a great deal!

7

It’s NOT 1918.

It’s 1919-2003.

8

I’m a Bronxite and a Yankee fan. One of my best friends is a Red Sox fan. But there is no need to use “1918” in ribbing him – there too many much more recent wounds available to rub salt in.

A few years ago we went on a five-day trip together.

He proudly wore his “Boston Patriots - Superbowl Champions!” sweatshirt.

The first day of the trip I wore my “NY Yankees 1996 World Champions” cap.
The second day I wore my “NY Yankees 1998 World Champions” cap.
The third day I wore my “NY Yankees 1999 World Champions” cap.
The fourth day I wore my “NY Yankees 2000 World Champions” cap.
He showed surprising fortitude . . . he didn’t really start cursing me until the fifth day, when I wore all four at once . . . :slight_smile:

However, when the Yankees won the seventh game of last year’s playoffs, even though I was sorely tempted to send him the message: “The Babe, Bucky, Buckner . . . BOONE!,” I knew it would be just too painful and refrained from gloating. He wrote me with congratulations a few days later, and thanked me for holding off.
To tell the truth, I would actually like to see the Red Sox win a series - but only if they didn’t have to eliminate the Yankees to do so.

9

My wife and I are rabid Red Sox fans. We watch almost every game, and if there is a good pitching matchup our social calendar can most certainly be affected. We are of the generation where 1986 is much more powerful than 1918. I will be honest and say that it is painful. As irrational as I know it to be I hate the Yankees.

Someday (this year?) the tide will change. I would hope I wouldn’t carry a sports prejudice into real life relationships, and as far as I know I never have. I would say that there is a psychological kinship with other Red Sox fans though. I spent several years in Boston, but did not grow up there. I have always had an affinity for the underdog, thus it was easy to be sucked in as a Sox fan.

Yankees fans who are not from New York strike me as an alien breed. Those who root for teams knowing they will be satisfied year after year seem to be less stalwart in some way. Its like rooting for the Lakers, you aren’t taking any risks with your sports leanings.

10

I married a rabid Red Sox fan, so I feel for them. Of course, my team has won the big one more recently than Boston. :smiley:

OK, so it wasn’t that much more recently…I’m a Cub fan!

11

Say what? The Cubs last won in 1908.

The only teams that have gone longer than the Red sox without winning the Series are the Cubs and the White Sox, who last won in 1917.

12

I can’t believe that people actually have arguements about which team they’re fans of. It’s a friggin’ sport! There are more important things to do than be concerned that your son likes a different team than you do.

13

Yep. You’re right. I was trying to block that out. :smiley: The last time the Cubs won the National League pennant was 1945.
“There are more important things to do than be concerned that your son likes a different team than you do.”

HERETIC!!!

14

Heck yeah! I’ll disown the little bugger if I ever find out he voted Republican.

15

Don’t look at them! You’ll turn to stone! A really obnoxious type of stone. I think most of them are descended from the same lineage that produces soccer hooligans. :smiley:

16

I care more about 2004. New attitude for Red Sox fans, I hope…

17

He was humoring you. If it had gone on for more than a week he would have broken out the Celtics’ paraphenalia :stuck_out_tongue:

And the Sox will go all the way someday. It’ll happen as soon as… as… as the US goes metric and the Brits start driving on the right. Yes, that’s the ticket!

Dani
(genetically half-Bostonian through my mother. Other half bostonian through my father’s college days :D)

18

Nah, that won’t work either. The Celtics have won a mere 16 championships, to the Yankees 26.

19

In fairness, there’s only been an NBA championship to win since 1947. By 1947 the Yankees had already won ten World Series titles.

As to the OP; being a Red Sox fan is like being a fan of Wile E. Coyote. Prepare for a lifetime of pointless, futile misery.

20

If anyone mentions 1918 to me, especially if it is someone considerably older than me (I’m 34), my standard reply is, “Oooh, that was a good season! Were you there?”

I agree with fruitbat that there is definitely a kinship among the Red Sox Nation. We have been building character for so many years, it brings us together.

I went to two games last week, Sunday against Toronto and sigh Thursday, fiasco night. That was the first game I EVER went to completely by myself. When I got home, my dad called and said, “Um, you’re no longer allowed to go to Fenway unsupervised anymore.” Sorry, everyone. Sorry, Bronson. I did not know that I was such a distraction!