By Mile High Mouth
BaseballBigMouth.com baseball news   

I don’t know if I can vie for the title of laziest writer at Baseball Big Mouth, but it’s definitely been a while since I’ve written for you guys. In case anyone liked my articles, my apologies. I’ll hopefully be writing more as my school year winds down (I’m a P.E. teacher in my day to day life). The school year ending is not all that’s been changing in my life. I’ve finished all my classes for my teaching license, and field day is now behind me. I’ll also be starting my summer work soon (maintaining trails in the foothills of the Rockies). However, the biggest change I am making to my life is the subject of today’s article.

Here at Baseball Big Mouth I have identified myself as a Red Sox fan. I can’t identify myself as that anymore. Yes folks, after taking up with the Red Sox upon my arrival in New England in September of 2000, I am renouncing them as my favorite team. The reason why can be summed up in one trip to Coors Field.

Red Sox nation now minus one, says Mile High Mouth

I get a text message during class. It’s my good buddy Dan. He wants to know if I want to come see the Rockies tonight. Of course I do! I love going to Coors Field, and nothing is as much fun as seeing a live baseball game regardless of the park. I check the schedule. The Twins are in town to take on the 2007 NL Champs. Being a man who has two favorite out of town teams, there are rules I follow. They went like this. Cheer for your favorite teams over the hometown team. If one of the favorite teams isn’t in town, you cheer for the home team. Since I had no particularly strong feelings about the Twinkies, I go home and put on my Rockies cap. I do like the Rockies after all.

I meet Dan at a bar just outside of Coors field and we hang out. Dan tests my intestinal fortitude as far as alcohol is concerned, and the group we’re with heads off to Coors Field. This is where it begins. As I’m walking I see them. Red Sox fans. How do I know they’re Red Sox fans? Hats. Shirts. And they’re talking about Fenway Park. They might have been wearing Red Sox underwear for all I know, but I didn’t check. I have to back track for a second here.

Since I moved to Denver, I kept on hearing (but not believing) the same line. Red Sox fans now are just as bad, if not worse, than Yankees fans. I hate Yankees fans. I consider them rude, callous, and obnoxious. I still do. To be compared to a Yankees fan is not something I take kindly to, but I just talk myself out of the idea. The 2007 World Series comes along, and the stories keep coming. I even have a friend who tells me he has to host his next door neighbor during Red Sox games because her husband (a Sox fan) becomes so obnoxious, that she can’t take it. I think that’s where this all started.

So there I am watching these people in their Sox gear, and Dan asks me a poignant question.

“Are the Twins in the same division as the Red Sox?”

“No,” I say “The Twins are AL Central. The Sox are AL East.”

This is when it hits me. These Red Sox fans are not nice fans. Here they are at Coors Field wearing the colors of a team that has robbed this town of it’s only potential World Series victory, and the team isn’t even in the same state that night. It’s rude, callous, and obnoxious. It dawns on me. They are just as bad as Yankees fans. But it gets worse for me. As the evening winds on, I see only a handful of Yankees hats in the stands that night. I see lots more people wearing the garb of the Fenway faithful. Then something else occurs to me. When I wear my Red Sox shirts….this is what people see. They don’t see someone supporting a team they love. They just see a jerk.

Frankly, I don’t view myself as a jerk and I have no interest in hurting other people’s feelings over baseball. I love baseball, but at the end of the day, it’s a game. It’s a great game, but it’s just a game. Baseball is something that’s supposed to make me happy. If it doesn’t it’s pointless. After the game I realize, being a Red Sox fan doesn’t make me happy. It just lumps me in with a crowd of people I can’t relate to anymore. So I renounce the Red Sox, but the aftermath to me is even funnier.

I tell a few friends, a fellow baseball writer, my sister, and some co-workers. I get a range of reactions. Some friends tell me that it’s interesting, others don’t care, most act like I was renouncing my religion. How do my friends in Boston feel? I haven’t told anyone. I have a serious fear that some people will stop being my friend over this decision. But to me, it doesn’t deter me from making the decision. In fact, it just reinforces it. Most people ask who will be my top team now. The Atlanta Braves of course. I’ve always loved the Braves, but I just liked the Red Sox more. However, I don’t feel like a Braves fan. I don’t feel like a Red Sox fan either. My sister asked me (without me mentioning the above part) “Are you in baseball limbo right now?” I guess I kind of am.

I don’t feel like a Red Sox fan anymore. I had a whole wall of my house dedicated to the Red Sox. Baseball hats hung on the wall surrounding a picture of Jason Varitek leaping into Keith Foulke’s arms after the 2004 victory and a wanted poster with the face of Johnny Damon on it. All of it’s gone now. I just hung Colorado sports hats up there (CU Boulder, Broncos, Avs, Rockies, and a hat from the school I work at). Why didn’t I make it a Braves wall? I’m not there yet. It’s an odd feeling. It’s like I lost a friend who got too into something they shouldn’t have. I don’t even recognize the Red Sox anymore. They aren’t the fighting underdogs with the hearts of gold. I remember Otis Williams of the Temptations said “Success makes you the person you really are.” The Red Sox fans have shown their true colors. I guess the same is true for me. We’ve parted ways, and all good things must come to an end. I just hope the Red Sox fans remember that when they are at the bottom again. All baseball teams go there sooner or later.

photo used with permission of Early Era Baseball Photos.com

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By Beltway Boss
BaseballBigMouth.com baseball news   

In the early going, as we near the end of April, several MLB teams have yet to distinguish themselves. With an eighth of the baseball season in the books, three teams, however - the Arizona Diamondbacks, who I wrote about last time and the red hot defending champions, the Boston Red Sox, plus, the surprising Chicago Cubs - have done just that, putting the rest of their division mates on notice of their intentions to take their respective top spots.

As sun sets on April ‘08 MLB, Red Sox have game faces on

The Boston Red Sox, recent winners of 8 out of 10, have a two game lead on the supposed to be rebuilding Baltimore Orioles; the retooled White Sox are clinging to a slim 1-1/2 game lead ahead of the rest of the AL Central; the Oakland Athletics, who like the Orioles, are supposed to be rebuilding, are a tied with the Los Angeles Angels. For the wild card, the Angels and Oakland lead the Orioles by half a game.

In the National League, the low budget Florida Marlins lead AL East powerhouse New York Mets by a game and a half and last year’s champion Philadelphia by two and a half, while the Chicago Cubs lead the Milwaukee Brewers by two games and the St. Louis Cardinals by two and a half in what could be the best divisional race.

The Baltimore Orioles and Oakland Athletics, always batting it out for alphabetical superiority, both traded their best position player and best pitcher away citing the need to rebuild. Someone forgot to tell the players. Houston, who took on the suddenly 33-year-old Miguel Tejada from the Orioles, might wish they had that one to do over. Before their five game win streak, the Astros had one of the worst records in the majors despite Tejada’s strong play and having Lance Berkman and Carlos Lee in residence and strong performances in the rotation from everyone not named Roy Oswalt in the Astros fans might have hope for a turnaround in the next 140 games or so.

The Detroit Tigers who took on refugees from Florida, have shown some signs of a resurgence, going 8-2 in their last ten, but still rank near the bottom in the majors in runs allowed. The New York Yankees, still sporting a 200 million dollar payroll, areare two games out of last place. The team near last place in the American League East, despite all the recent noise about them showing some signs of something positive, is still - as always - the Tampa Bay Rays, saved only by the slumping Toronto Blue Jays now occupying the cellar.

Cleveland is another surprising last place team. Expect a turnaround, however. Their runs scored/runs allowed distribution is not what would be expected for a 8-12 team. Something closer to .500 should be expected. They have been tough to take the last 10 games, with just four wins in that span.

The third last place team in the American League is the Texas Rangers. Unlike some other struggling teams, the Rangers are the real deal. They have recently lost seven in a row and their runs allowed are near the bottom in all of MLB. Washington at 6-16 has the worst record in the majors. Like the Rangers, they are the real deal. It is a shame for Washington fans who have waited for so long that they do not have a winner to put their support behind.

Rounding out the league, the Pirates are near-last and Giants dead last the NL Central and West, respectively. There is some historical significance here. The Pirates are on the verge of their 16th consecutive losing season. The Giants meanwhile, now without Barry Bonds, were picked by this writer to set a record for most losses in a season. Nothing they have shown thus far is cause for any rethinking of that prognostication.

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“People will come…They’ll watch and it’ll be as if they dipped themselves in magic waters. The memories will be so thick they’ll have to brush them away from their faces. The one constant through all the year has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This game, this field, this ballpark: It’s part of our past. It reminds us of all that was once good and could be again. Oh, people will come my friend. People will most definitely come.”

-James Earl Jones “Field of Dreams” 1989 

What once seemed a distant, dreaded vision is now down to days: Tiger Stadium today truly stands within the shadow of death — not to mention the wrecking ball — as the contract for the Tiger Stadium demolition has been officially awarded.

As soon as work crews are organized, the former home of greats Ty Cobb, Hank Greenberg, Charlie Gehringer, Mickey Cochrane, Hal Newhouser, Harry Heilmann, Al Kaline, George Kell, Willie Horton, Mickey Lolich, Alan Trammell, Jack Morris, Lou Whitaker, Kirk Gibson and Cecil Fielder — not to mention visiting grounds for Cy Young, Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Lou Gerig, Joe DiMaggio, Bob Gibson, Bob Feller and virutally every other Major League Baseball Hall of Famer who ever played the game between 1895-1999 — will be no more.

Even saving a corner of the stadium from dugout to dugout is now in peril, with no guarantee even that will be left standing once the dust settles. For those that live in the Metro Detroit-area, it might not be a bad idea to take a drive over to the corner of Michigan and Trumbull to get one last look at her. This time, the end is truly nigh for the former Bennett Park, Briggs Stadium and Navin Field.

Forever in our hearts, you will never be forgotten. Like a fine wine, your memory will grow ever-sweeter within the confines of our nostalgic rembembrances. Time stands still for no man, or stadium. Long may people remember. Long may they remember . . .

- The Heckler

Top photo used with permission of Early Era Baseball Photos.com

All other photos copyright Baseball Big Mouth and The Heckler
- All rights reserved -

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