No Red Sox in the Playoffs -- So Why Is She Smiling?
Because the Yankees aren't in it either!
Yes, that's right. That is how crazy baseball makes me. I love New York City, there are people I love who are Yankee fans, I even think Joe Torre is a good guy -- and yet, few things in this world make icewater run through my veins like the Boys in Pinstripes.
On an every day basis I'd like to think I am a kind person. I study Buddism.I do community work. I've never been arrested. And yet, it is as if a well of unexpressed anger at all things dominant fills endlessly when it comes to this team. One whiff of the "Yankee Mystique" can honestly make my throat close.
Am I proud of this? Not particularly, but I have never been at a point of questioning it until this year. My 6-year-old jumped ship from being a Red Sox fan to being a bold faced (gulp) Yankee fan because his very favorite player, Johnny Damon, signed on Steinbrenner's dotted line. Damon is so hated for this act that certain Boston radio sports commentators refer to him as "He Who Must Not Be Named" or with the undercover tag of "Juan Damone." Red Sox fans have been seen chucking wadded up money at the man when he takes his position in cener field at Fenway Park. But my boy still loves him, haircut and all.
This has created moments of family tension, including the time in August when my husband called Damon a jerk in a moment of frustration (as in getting our clock cleaned for the third game in a row) and our boy burst into tears. Ah, the agony and the ecstasy that is baseball.
So, have we toned it down? Yes. We do not call players names anymore, at least when my children are awake. And when we feel satisfied, we let our smiles do the talking. But my 6-year-old doesn't read this blog -- so it is here that I am free to express my deepest feeling on the subject.
And it is this: nothing makes me happier than knowing that Juan, Jeter, A-Rod and the boys are stroking their Yankee Mystiques in the comfort of their own homes today.
Go Tigers!
posted by Mutha @ 10:41 PM
6 Comments:
That is quite the family dilemma! Reminds me of the time I told my parents I had registered with a political party that was not their own. I must confess (very quietly given my locale..sshh) that I took great delight in the Yanks demise. Somehow it made the drubbing of my beloved Dodgers at the hands of the Mets bearable. I second the "Go Tigers" notion!
Wow, I was thinking about you Joel -- double jeopardy it seems given your locale. Something tells me you won't be cheering for the Mets either. The '86 World Series takes a long time to die in these parts, so it will be hard for us to cheer the Mets on no matter what.
good thing the Tigers are fun to watch. I hope this momentum stays with them full force!
you're only a very short and slippery slope away from shaving your head down to the initials of your favorite team and chucking bottles of pee onto the field.
(go mariners!! i heart the ro!)
Don't forget that the slope is steep as well. You're on to me FN, as always. As for the bottles of pee -- I can't claim that, but I was on hand for the near-riot that cleared the field during the '99 playoff game btween the Yanks and the Sox. An incredibly bad call against Nomar made the fans go wild in Fenway and I will admit to chucking some cuss words -- but no beer. I was well into expecting the now-Yankee-fan-child and was sober Joan that night.
(whispering) will be rooting against the Mets but please don't tell the hordes around me. Funny thing...Mets going to the NLCS and yet the Yankee theatrics dominating the local papers...must be fit to be tied.
Your secret is safe with me Joel.
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