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

All other photos/content copyright Baseball Big Mouth and The Heckler
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This entry was posted on Monday, May 26th, 2008 at 11:21 am and is filed under Baseball History, MLB photos, Waxing Nostalgic, Baseball News and Views, Baseball. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.