Aggravation 101 (5/2)

There aren't many sporting events that draw my ire like a Yankees-Red Sox games. Last night was another blood pressure elevator. To watch David Ortiz come up with a big hit again and again and again and...You get the idea...Makes my blood boil. I haven't thrown the remote control since Game 5 of the 1994 Stanley Cup Eastern Conference finals, but these games make me want to break something. Thankfully my wife didn't say, "they still collect their paychecks at the end of the day" or I would have had to bite through my lip to keep the peace.

Now don't get me wrong, I know that the Yankees have been on the positive side of these match ups more times than not, and I'm not one of these young spoiled fans who think it's written in some holy book that the Yankees should win the series every year. But you want to stomp on these bastards every chance you get, just like they want to do the same to the Yankees.

Things have definitely changed over the years though. In the '70s I truly hated the Red Sox players. Fisk, Yaz, and Lee just to mention a few. The '80s brought Clemens and Boggs, but a watered down rivalry since both teams were scuffling for wins. Things heated up again in the late '90s and culminated in the craziness of the 2003 and 2004 playoffs. Outside of Schilling, Millar, and Arroyo though, I didn't feel the same loathing for the Sox players. The fans are a whole other matter. Johnny Damon may have said his team was a bunch of idiots and he was the head idiot, but that doesn't compare to the 35,000 idiots that fill Fenway. I have no problem saying that these people are the biggest morons in all of sport. I don't want to hear some kiss ass announcer talk about how knowledgeable or passionate they are. They are definitely the latter, but knowledgeable? That's funnier than any Seinfeld routine. These are fans that gave up on their team year after year even when they had a sizeable division lead. They're just "wicked" stupid.

Most of the talk before last night's game centered around the return of Johnny Damon to Fenway. Believe me I have no compassion for Johnny Damon returning to a chorus of boos last night in Boston. Damon made his bed. He said he would never play for the Yankees and then changed his mind when the Yankees upped their offer. So what. Damon's no different than any other athlete. Money talks, first and foremost. If Damon had signed with the Twins or Royals, the Sox fans would still be cheering him right now. Finally to the Sox fan who held up a sign aimed at Damon that said, "TRADER", get a dictionary...You idiot.