This was my first Yankees-Red Sox game and I was pretty excited. Last
year's ALCS , A-Rod saga, and war of words escalated the bitter feelings by
both sides. As soon as I stepped inside the stadium I knew it was going to
be a special game. You just saw a sea of Jeter and A-Rod clothing: girls
were sporting Yankee blue baby t-shirts or hip huggers while the fellas
rocked the jerseys. I was very pleased to see this. New Yokers root for
their team to do well. We don't root for other teams to do poorly. My
friends in Boston have been telling me that Fenway has been becoming more
anti-Yankees recently; t-shirts that read "Yankee Hater" and "Jeter has
AIDS" selling like hot pancakes. Perhaps it's easy to be gracious when
your team always wins but I find such behavior unnecessary.
We were late to our seats because we had to wait for the other half of our
party to meet us. It was unfortunate for several reasons. First, I read
that VP Cheney was at the game and was thoroughly booed when he appeared on
the jumbo-tron. Hey, no one ever said NY wasn't a tough town. Johnny
Damon also hit the second pitch he saw out for a home run. The first shot
was fired and Boston made it clear they were not taking prisoners.
I wont bore you with game details as such information is easily
accessible. But the game played out as I expected. I told everyone in the
group that the Red Sox would make at least 2 to 3 errors that would cost
them the game. Vazquez needed to keep his mistakes to solo shots and that
if he ever gets Ortiz into a hitters count, that he should just give in and
walk him instead of giving up the homer. The Yanks did what they needed to
do. They played like a team ready to contend for the World Series. They
played like a team that is revving up for the post season. They played
like a team ready to defend their home turf. The Red Sox played like, well
they played like the Red Sox! Much like many other Red Sox teams that had
to venture into the house Ruth built, they looked confused and
defeated. If my seats were better I'm certain I could have seen the deer
caught in the headlight look on their faces.
The best part of going to this series is the fan interaction. The Red Sox
have a lot of fans and some of them even live in NY. Some of them even
come to Yankee Stadium. I try not hassle any of them because it's not
their fault they are Red Sox fans and they paid good money to get in
too. I guess in away they are helping George pay for Jeter's
contract. Other Yankee's fans aren't so forgiving although hardly ever
malicious. Right after Sheffield hit 3 run homer a young man, carrying a
tray full of food and wearing a Red Sox jersey, walked up the stairs
toward our section. A Yankee fan casually said, "Hey you dropped
something" and pointed behind the Red Sox fan. He quickly turned around
looking for his dropped food and it took him about 30 second to realize he
had been duped. We all laughed at his expense but it was harmless. Good
times had by all.
The highlight of the night was easily when a Red Sox fan (RSF), after
Clark hit a home run to straight away center, literally slapped someone in
the face with the middle finger. The slap wasn't vicious at all but to
physically touch someone in the face while flipping him off was uncalled
for. For the sake of disclosure, I will report that the Yankee fan did
scream "Boston sucks!" toward his general area. The Yankee fan jumped out
of his seat and pushed the Red Sox heathen. The RSF's girl friend started
to slap the guy on his back as he applied a perfect headlock to the
RSF. The police broke up the fracas and all parties involved were quickly
escorted out.
As I was leaving the stadium I saw possibly the most endearing (or perhaps
most nauseating for some) couple. A man wearing a Yankee's jersey holding
hands with a girl wearing a Johnny Damon jersey. I'll be honest, it was
quite a shock to me after watching the game and seeing the fans react to
each other. I wasn't quite sure what to think when I first saw the
couple. I realized that sometimes we take sports too seriously. But then
again this is Yankees-Red Sox.
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