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Tuesday, August 03, 2004 |
"The Best Fans In The World"
One often hears how Boston has the best fans in the world, but consider this: several analysts, including Rich Lederer at all-baseball.com in their post-trade-deadline roundup, have mentioned that supposed sabermetric genius Theo Epstein "had no choice but to trade Nomah". And why might that be? Because Nomah looked south and saw Derek Jeter and his $189 million, 9-year contract and figured he was worth more than the four years and $60 million offer the Sox gave him. So, ultimately, the fans decided he was an ingrate and pushed him out the door. That is, Epstein caved to popular opinion and unloaded a guy whose offense will most assuredly be missed.
There are times I'm grateful we here in SoCal aren't quite so, um, passionate about our ballplayers. Since the majors moved to the west coast, we've gotten six rings, most of those of course by the Dodgers, but second only to the Yanks in the bigs. Maybe having won so much in the recent past, we can afford to take the longer view, but if the result of having "great fans" is the ejection of exceptional players during a run at the postseason, maybe we're better off with mediocre ones who are just happy with Gagné shutting down the other guys in the ninth, ecstatic if we win the division, and overjoyed should we make the World Series.
Comments:
Yeah.. and I could care less about what other parts of the country think about socal fans. It's jealousy. they're living in tundra wastelands, and we're out by the beach. Not to mention that we're second in championships to any metro area not named New York.
besides.. I breathe baseball, you bloggers breathe baseball, what does it matter to me if a family with 2 kids wants to have a good time on a friday night, but couldn't know Bengie from Jose?
and re: best fans in baseball.. that's not Boston. That's St. Louis. Boston has the passion, but not the class.
mattkew
besides.. I breathe baseball, you bloggers breathe baseball, what does it matter to me if a family with 2 kids wants to have a good time on a friday night, but couldn't know Bengie from Jose?
and re: best fans in baseball.. that's not Boston. That's St. Louis. Boston has the passion, but not the class.
mattkew
# posted by 
: 8/03/2004 06:06:00 PM
: 8/03/2004 06:06:00 PM
I think it's an unconscionable exaggeration that Nomar was traded due to fan demand. A noisy minority of fans were unhappy with Nomar, but most are sad to see him go, even if they understand that at this point, a trade was a worthy gamble.
That said, I just moved from Boston after having lived there 12 years and falling in love with the Sox. Being a baseball fan there is great, and if one loves baseball, it's a wonder to experience. (In fact, they replaced the void the Dodgers left in me. I grew up in LA, but the post-O'Malley Dodgers just didn't do it for me, and there's *no way* I'd ever be an Angels fan.)
It's amazing how many people there follow the Sox on a daily basis; it's amazing how many people are up on the latest roster move the next day. Baseball season doesn't end in late July as football camps open, as it does in many cities. Boston/New England is baseball first, football second, even though it's getting closer with the Patriots' recent performances.
The fans follow lower-level ball as well: the Sox short season A ball team, the Lowell Spinners, regularly sells out. The AA Portland Maine and AAA PawSox do well. Independent league teams have sprouted in Brockton and Lynn (I think), MA. And of course there's the famous Cape Cod summer league.
However, I'd hold off on naming Boston fans the best. Perhaps they're the most fervent, most fanatical, most engaged--most per capita. But the well-known anxiety and even obsessiveness of the BoSox fan probably dooms them to 2nd place at best behind Cardinals fans or something. Fans are bipolar, and the periodicity of the disorder is based on how well or poorly the team is doing at the time. I probably don't need to remind you how utterly annoying that phenomenon is.
In the end though, I can't imagine a better place to be a baseball fan, even with the excruciating losses. (And no, most BoSox fans *don't* like to wallow, it really is painful.)
That said, I just moved from Boston after having lived there 12 years and falling in love with the Sox. Being a baseball fan there is great, and if one loves baseball, it's a wonder to experience. (In fact, they replaced the void the Dodgers left in me. I grew up in LA, but the post-O'Malley Dodgers just didn't do it for me, and there's *no way* I'd ever be an Angels fan.)
It's amazing how many people there follow the Sox on a daily basis; it's amazing how many people are up on the latest roster move the next day. Baseball season doesn't end in late July as football camps open, as it does in many cities. Boston/New England is baseball first, football second, even though it's getting closer with the Patriots' recent performances.
The fans follow lower-level ball as well: the Sox short season A ball team, the Lowell Spinners, regularly sells out. The AA Portland Maine and AAA PawSox do well. Independent league teams have sprouted in Brockton and Lynn (I think), MA. And of course there's the famous Cape Cod summer league.
However, I'd hold off on naming Boston fans the best. Perhaps they're the most fervent, most fanatical, most engaged--most per capita. But the well-known anxiety and even obsessiveness of the BoSox fan probably dooms them to 2nd place at best behind Cardinals fans or something. Fans are bipolar, and the periodicity of the disorder is based on how well or poorly the team is doing at the time. I probably don't need to remind you how utterly annoying that phenomenon is.
In the end though, I can't imagine a better place to be a baseball fan, even with the excruciating losses. (And no, most BoSox fans *don't* like to wallow, it really is painful.)
# posted by : 8/03/2004 10:01:00 PM
: 8/03/2004 10:01:00 PM
Me again, the ex-Bostonian.
Ok, "unconscionable" is too strong a word--sorry to get all serious. I'm actually lucky I spelled it right. At least it looks right to me.
Ok, "unconscionable" is too strong a word--sorry to get all serious. I'm actually lucky I spelled it right. At least it looks right to me.
# posted by : 8/03/2004 10:45:00 PM
: 8/03/2004 10:45:00 PM
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