VoyForums
[ Show ]
Support VoyForums
[ Shrink ]
VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, 2, 3, 4 ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 09:17:40 10/22/01 Mon
Author: Horizontal Harry
Subject: A New All-time Low for Boston Sports Fans

I heard on one of the radio stations I listen to in the morning that they were urging Red Sox fans to root for the Yankees in this year's baseball play-offs. The rationale of this radio crew was to hope that the people of New York would be a little happier over the Yankees winning yet another World Series, and take their minds off the World Trade Center incident, if only for a short while.

Granted, as horrific as this incident was to people in Dracut, it was probably much, much worse for those who were in the immediate vicinity of Ground Zero this past Sept. 11th. However, I think that's a poor argument for me, a devout Boston sports fan, to root for the Yankees even for one baseball season.

Earlier this year, another radio station purchased a highway billboard in Denver, commending former Bruin Ray Borque for his team's success and urging him to help win the Stanley Cup for his many Boston fans. Borque did help his team to the Stanley Cup championship, but it wasn't for the people of Boston, but rather the people of Colorado.

These people can go on and say we should root for Doug Flutie (a native of Natick and B.C. alumni) if his team is ever in the NFL play-offs, whether Flutie is wearing a Patriot's jersey or not. Ditto, Tom Glavine (Billerica native), who's Atlanta Braves have made the baseball play-offs every year since '91.

The problem I'm having here is our allegiance should be to the Boston sports teams, no matter how bad they might be or no matter how much they've broken our hearts over the years.

Granted, Borque, Glavine and Flutie are all gentlemen and are truly class acts on and off the field. I would much rather see guys like these win a championship than someone like Dennis Rodman or Mike Tyson.

And in all probability the Yankees, who are undoubtedly the most successful professional sports franchises in history, will most likely win yet another World Series this year. As of this posting, the Yankees have a 3-1 lead (one win shy of the American League pennant) over the Seattle Mariners, and then they'll get to play the Arizona Diamondbacks (a four year old franchise that just won the National League pennant over Glavine and the Atlanta Braves) in the World Series.

It's rough to be a die-hard Boston sports fan. Not since the Celtics had some players named Bird, Parrish and McHale, has Boston won a world championship in any major team sport---and that was almost 20 years ago. And cliches like, "Wait till next year" or "At least we gave 'em a good run for their money", seem to get old real quick.

Probably a good analogy here would be praising your neighbors kids for doing so well in school and then, subsequently, so well in life; while your own kids are just floundering by trying to make ends meet while you, as their parent, aren't offering them any encouragement whatsoever.

Do I watch professional sports games other than with Boston teams? Of course. I may root for the underdog (perhaps it's in my blood as a Boston sports fan), but I usually don't get overly excited over the success or failure of teams based in these other areas because of my allegiance to Boston.

Go Patriots!

Go Celtics!

Go Bruins!

Wait till next year, Red Sox!

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Replies:

Post a message:
This forum requires an account to post.
[ Create Account ]
[ Login ]
Forum timezone: GMT-5
VF Version: 3.00b, ConfDB:
Before posting please read our privacy policy.
VoyForums(tm) is a Free Service from Voyager Info-Systems.
Copyright © 1998-2019 Voyager Info-Systems. All Rights Reserved.