My week in enemy territory
"When I was a kid growing up in Boston, I always heard that if you wore a Red Sox hat in Yankee Stadium, you would be murdered. Later on, I moved to New York and I realized that wasn't true. You don't have to be wearing any special kind of hat to be murdered at Yankee Stadium." -- Conan O'Brien
After spending the last three nights at the Stadium proudly sporting my Sox hat and sustaining no bodily harm, I can confirm that Conan isn't exactly right. If you're a loudmouthed, drunken Sox fan who taunts the crowd of 55,000 Yanks fans and gives them the finger and other obscene gestures, however, you will at least be shouted down and cheered when you're ejected by security. Not that I was doing that, but I saw it happen more than I perhaps expected. Some Boston people are idiots, and not in the fun '04 World Series way. But if you behave yourself, you can have a lovely time even in the Evil Empire’s Death Star. Pictures are here.
Before this week, I had only been to one Sox-Yanks game in my life, and that was Game 4 of the '99 ALCS at Fenway. The Sox lost, falling behind in the series 3-1, and were eliminated the next night in New York. After a lousy phantom tag call, people threw stuff on the field for about 20 minutes, and the next day on SportsCenter, the anchors called the fans a national disgrace. At least I got to see the worst call by an umpire in history! Anyway, the only reason I got to go to that one was because my dad won tickets in a contest and thus became the top story on the local news. (This was the first time the teams had met in the playoffs, before it became a semi-regular occurrence, so it was a big deal.) I won’t embarrass him by recounting what he said on TV, but he won two tickets, and gave them to my brother and I. He didn't go to the game at all, watching it in a bar across the street from the stadium. (Thanks again, Dad!)
The point is that Sox-Yanks tickets in Boston are impossible to come by, like Fenway tickets as a whole. You're not allowed to simply buy tickets for games against New York, you have to enter your name in a lottery and if they pick you, you're allowed to open your wallet. Even for just a regular game at Fenway, you have to go on the internet the day tickets go on sale in January and spend hours on end in the "online waiting room" until they let you in to buy whatever's left. (That is how I acquired $12 nosebleed seats to a game against Detroit last August 14, and I only had to sit in front of my computer for nine hours!) Even with all the hoops you have to jump through, every game at Fenway has sold out for the last four years.
That was the mentality I had regarding baseball tickets in general until last week. I assumed that anywhere with a good team would have a similar rigmarole to go to a game, especially somewhere as passionate about sports as New York. Then I was messing around on the Yankees site the other day and thought “I’ll see if there are any tickets for when the Sox are in town in a few days, ha ha ha.” And there freakin’ were! For all three games! I was so dumbstruck, I just bought them right there, worried they were the last ones and I’d miss my chance. A few minutes later, I realized that was sorta dumb, because I’d end up going to all of the games by myself, but whatever.
After a 10-minute subway ride from my apartment on Monday, I was at Yankee Stadium. Not bad considering every game I’ve ever been to at Fenway involves two hours in a car from either Maine or Northampton, then a T ride to the stadium. I usually have to go after work because only weeknight games have tickets available, so I’d often be late. Going to Yankee Stadium was the easiest trip to a baseball game I’ve ever had, and only my fourth major league stadium (after Boston, Toronto and now-defunct Montreal).
My seats for all the games were $19, and for the first one I was right behind home plate. All right, so it was in the absolute last row of the upper deck, but it was still behind home plate. I have to say that Yankee Stadium really is nicer than Fenway -- there was actual leg room! And I could see the game without binoculars! Apparently it’s not nice enough for New York, since they’re building a new $1.3 billion Yankee Stadium across the street for some reason. One of my Yankee-fan classmates put it thusly, “We need a new stadium because we’re not making enough money.” Uh huh.
I’d always kind of figured that The Rivalry wasn’t quite as intense on the New York side, since they’ve usually won throughout history. But the level of hate for Boston appeared to be roughly equivalent in The Bronx, judging from the T-shirts on sale outside the stadium and on the fans. “New York -- 207 miles on I-95: The only sign of life in Boston.” “2090 -- Know your history.” (I’ll admit this one took me a second to figure out -- 2004+86 years until our supposed next championship.) “There was no curse, Boston just sucked for 86 years. Reverse that!” (Uh, we did thanks.) Lots of people had shirts celebrating last years “Boston Massacre” where the Yanks won 5 in a row at Fenway. Bully for them, but then they were quickly eliminated from the playoffs weeks later, so a lot of good it did them. Then there was the always classy “Bahston Sucks Cack.” (Not that there aren’t similar shirts at Fenway.)
In general, the mood in the stands was fairly cordial. I didn’t have anyone throw D batteries at my head or even comment on my hat, apart from other Sox fans. The people who seemed to get in trouble were the morons shouting at Yankees fans, even when the Sox were getting killed, like tonight. When the Sox were way behind tonight, it was a veritable circus in the upper deck, with people throwing things at Sox taunters and fans getting thrown out as early as the first inning. I prefer watching baseball to acting like a jackass, but that’s me.
On the subway home, I saw an old man get into a heated debate with a college-age girl in a Sox hat about how the Yankees were a better team because they’re fans didn’t behave like that. Right, had the game been at Fenway, there wouldn’t have been a single drunken Yankee fan causing trouble. Bastions of class and decency, Yankee fans.
This was an interesting exchange I witnessed. A group of rowdy college-girl Sox fans were chanting “Yankees Suck!” during game 2. A group of 30-ish Sex and the City-looking female Yankee fans turned and looked at them with disgust.
Yanks girls: You know you aren’t making a good impression for your team with that foul language.
Sox girls: Whatever, fuck you bitch.
Yanks girls (looking at the Sox girls’ sandals): Oh yeah? Why don’t you try getting a pedicure for once in your life. (Then they stormed out of the stadium).
Sox girls (cracking up): Did she just say ‘why don’t you get a pedicure” as a comeback?
I’ve had my fill of a handful of songs after going to three games in a row. “This is Why I’m Hot” played every time A-Rod got up to bat, and “New York, New York” played on a constant loop after every game (win or lose). They play the Darth Vader music when the Boston lineup is introduced and the heroic Star Wars music for the Yankees. This despite the face that Yankees fans wear shirts that say “Evil Empire” on them. (Embrace the Dark Side, Yankee brass.) And for some ridiculous reason, they play “Cotton Eyed Joe” in the eighth inning of every game, introduced by noted hayseed Roger Clemens. People really seem to get into that one, dancing all around the stadium, because they apparently think they’re at an early ‘90s middle school dance.
There were also actual baseball games to be played, but I presume you know the outcome if you care. While they weren’t the most exciting I’ve ever seen, they were entertaining enough. On Monday and Wednesday, the Yankees jumped out to an early lead and didn’t look back, on Tuesday the Sox did. There wasn’t a whole lot of drama in any of them, but I had a good time. And the Yankees are still 9.5 games back, so I can handle the two losses. Who knows when I’ll have the time, money and ability to go to three Sox-Yankees games in a row again?
People who complained that I don’t write enough on the blog, be careful what you wish for...
After spending the last three nights at the Stadium proudly sporting my Sox hat and sustaining no bodily harm, I can confirm that Conan isn't exactly right. If you're a loudmouthed, drunken Sox fan who taunts the crowd of 55,000 Yanks fans and gives them the finger and other obscene gestures, however, you will at least be shouted down and cheered when you're ejected by security. Not that I was doing that, but I saw it happen more than I perhaps expected. Some Boston people are idiots, and not in the fun '04 World Series way. But if you behave yourself, you can have a lovely time even in the Evil Empire’s Death Star. Pictures are here.
Before this week, I had only been to one Sox-Yanks game in my life, and that was Game 4 of the '99 ALCS at Fenway. The Sox lost, falling behind in the series 3-1, and were eliminated the next night in New York. After a lousy phantom tag call, people threw stuff on the field for about 20 minutes, and the next day on SportsCenter, the anchors called the fans a national disgrace. At least I got to see the worst call by an umpire in history! Anyway, the only reason I got to go to that one was because my dad won tickets in a contest and thus became the top story on the local news. (This was the first time the teams had met in the playoffs, before it became a semi-regular occurrence, so it was a big deal.) I won’t embarrass him by recounting what he said on TV, but he won two tickets, and gave them to my brother and I. He didn't go to the game at all, watching it in a bar across the street from the stadium. (Thanks again, Dad!)
The point is that Sox-Yanks tickets in Boston are impossible to come by, like Fenway tickets as a whole. You're not allowed to simply buy tickets for games against New York, you have to enter your name in a lottery and if they pick you, you're allowed to open your wallet. Even for just a regular game at Fenway, you have to go on the internet the day tickets go on sale in January and spend hours on end in the "online waiting room" until they let you in to buy whatever's left. (That is how I acquired $12 nosebleed seats to a game against Detroit last August 14, and I only had to sit in front of my computer for nine hours!) Even with all the hoops you have to jump through, every game at Fenway has sold out for the last four years.
That was the mentality I had regarding baseball tickets in general until last week. I assumed that anywhere with a good team would have a similar rigmarole to go to a game, especially somewhere as passionate about sports as New York. Then I was messing around on the Yankees site the other day and thought “I’ll see if there are any tickets for when the Sox are in town in a few days, ha ha ha.” And there freakin’ were! For all three games! I was so dumbstruck, I just bought them right there, worried they were the last ones and I’d miss my chance. A few minutes later, I realized that was sorta dumb, because I’d end up going to all of the games by myself, but whatever.
After a 10-minute subway ride from my apartment on Monday, I was at Yankee Stadium. Not bad considering every game I’ve ever been to at Fenway involves two hours in a car from either Maine or Northampton, then a T ride to the stadium. I usually have to go after work because only weeknight games have tickets available, so I’d often be late. Going to Yankee Stadium was the easiest trip to a baseball game I’ve ever had, and only my fourth major league stadium (after Boston, Toronto and now-defunct Montreal).
My seats for all the games were $19, and for the first one I was right behind home plate. All right, so it was in the absolute last row of the upper deck, but it was still behind home plate. I have to say that Yankee Stadium really is nicer than Fenway -- there was actual leg room! And I could see the game without binoculars! Apparently it’s not nice enough for New York, since they’re building a new $1.3 billion Yankee Stadium across the street for some reason. One of my Yankee-fan classmates put it thusly, “We need a new stadium because we’re not making enough money.” Uh huh.
I’d always kind of figured that The Rivalry wasn’t quite as intense on the New York side, since they’ve usually won throughout history. But the level of hate for Boston appeared to be roughly equivalent in The Bronx, judging from the T-shirts on sale outside the stadium and on the fans. “New York -- 207 miles on I-95: The only sign of life in Boston.” “2090 -- Know your history.” (I’ll admit this one took me a second to figure out -- 2004+86 years until our supposed next championship.) “There was no curse, Boston just sucked for 86 years. Reverse that!” (Uh, we did thanks.) Lots of people had shirts celebrating last years “Boston Massacre” where the Yanks won 5 in a row at Fenway. Bully for them, but then they were quickly eliminated from the playoffs weeks later, so a lot of good it did them. Then there was the always classy “Bahston Sucks Cack.” (Not that there aren’t similar shirts at Fenway.)
In general, the mood in the stands was fairly cordial. I didn’t have anyone throw D batteries at my head or even comment on my hat, apart from other Sox fans. The people who seemed to get in trouble were the morons shouting at Yankees fans, even when the Sox were getting killed, like tonight. When the Sox were way behind tonight, it was a veritable circus in the upper deck, with people throwing things at Sox taunters and fans getting thrown out as early as the first inning. I prefer watching baseball to acting like a jackass, but that’s me.
On the subway home, I saw an old man get into a heated debate with a college-age girl in a Sox hat about how the Yankees were a better team because they’re fans didn’t behave like that. Right, had the game been at Fenway, there wouldn’t have been a single drunken Yankee fan causing trouble. Bastions of class and decency, Yankee fans.
This was an interesting exchange I witnessed. A group of rowdy college-girl Sox fans were chanting “Yankees Suck!” during game 2. A group of 30-ish Sex and the City-looking female Yankee fans turned and looked at them with disgust.
Yanks girls: You know you aren’t making a good impression for your team with that foul language.
Sox girls: Whatever, fuck you bitch.
Yanks girls (looking at the Sox girls’ sandals): Oh yeah? Why don’t you try getting a pedicure for once in your life. (Then they stormed out of the stadium).
Sox girls (cracking up): Did she just say ‘why don’t you get a pedicure” as a comeback?
I’ve had my fill of a handful of songs after going to three games in a row. “This is Why I’m Hot” played every time A-Rod got up to bat, and “New York, New York” played on a constant loop after every game (win or lose). They play the Darth Vader music when the Boston lineup is introduced and the heroic Star Wars music for the Yankees. This despite the face that Yankees fans wear shirts that say “Evil Empire” on them. (Embrace the Dark Side, Yankee brass.) And for some ridiculous reason, they play “Cotton Eyed Joe” in the eighth inning of every game, introduced by noted hayseed Roger Clemens. People really seem to get into that one, dancing all around the stadium, because they apparently think they’re at an early ‘90s middle school dance.
There were also actual baseball games to be played, but I presume you know the outcome if you care. While they weren’t the most exciting I’ve ever seen, they were entertaining enough. On Monday and Wednesday, the Yankees jumped out to an early lead and didn’t look back, on Tuesday the Sox did. There wasn’t a whole lot of drama in any of them, but I had a good time. And the Yankees are still 9.5 games back, so I can handle the two losses. Who knows when I’ll have the time, money and ability to go to three Sox-Yankees games in a row again?
People who complained that I don’t write enough on the blog, be careful what you wish for...
posted by Ryan Davis | 9:06 PM
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