Red Sox Chick goes all medieval on your behind; she's had quite enough of Sox fans complaining about Sox fans.
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Red Sox Chick goes all medieval on your behind; she's had quite enough of Sox fans complaining about Sox fans.
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Comments
It is a generation gap
By DirtyWater
Mon, 06/30/2008 - 1:05am
I went to my first game at Fenway in 1956 and Ted Williams hit a home run that night. I was there in 67, 75 , the Bucky Dent game and I know it was Gedman who was the goat in 86 not Buckner.
In the 70's older fans hated us 20 somethings because we wore painters hats that said YAZ, DEWEY and LUIS instead of the team cap.
I paid my dues.
Commercialism started to sneak in around 1978 when Ned Martin and Jim Woods were fired by WITS which you couldn't even hear at Fenway at night the signal was so bad. Then they moved the games to WPLM which was ridiculous.
Now? Fenway has become a theme park as bad as Disney. Fans that went to 20 or 30 games a year are now lucky to go to 2.
To pay $50 to sit in Section 7 is insanity.
What gets me is how visiting Red Sox fans make complete fools of themselves in other ballparks. Boston fans are despised by White Sox fans for how they have behaved at US Cellular Field.
But the bottom line is we love our team.
I am curious on what will happen when the team has some lean years which is sure to happen at some point. I remember in 1967 when only 8,000 were at Opening Day. When Roger struck out 20 in 1986 only 14,000 were there. If the Red Sox ever collapse people will stop paying top dollar for seats.
Still this season is shaping up as a very interesting one. Who would have thought that on June 30 we would be behind Tampa Bay.
But please no more NASCAR or Jerry Remy nights.
Slightly Different Now
By Suldog
Mon, 06/30/2008 - 12:13pm
I'm more-or-less of your generation, many of the same memories/dues-paying experiences. I think, when the Sox do hit that down period, it will be slightly different than the pre-1967 days.
Fenway Park itself is now seen as a shrine of sorts. In the 60's, it was appreciated by the hard-core fans, but certainly not seen as the last of its breed in the AL. Now it is, so the edifice itself will attract a couple thousand more, even in lean years.
The ownership has tried to position the surrounding areas - Jersey, Yawkey, etc. - as party zones. So, the games themselves may rightly be seen as part of an overall fun experience. A losing team may not matter, to some.
They won't sell out every game, for sure, but I think we're well past the days when 8,000 will be the crowd at the opener.
Just my two cents, of course.
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
Red Sox
By anon
Mon, 06/30/2008 - 12:45pm
I agree with Dirty Water and Suldog, with some additional comments. I think the real source of the divide between pre and post 2004 is the lack of tickets, especially purchased directly from the Red Sox. So, the older fans aren't happy that "newer" fans have snapped up all the tickets, although who gets what tickets and how is unclear. I agree that pink hats is a sexist term in this context. I wouldn't care if fans are wearing trash bags if I could get tickets. (I'm a fan who goes back to to 1967, so that makes me a "bandwagon jumper" for 42 seasons. I also have had civilized conversations and no fights with Yankees fans inside and outside Fenway Park).
It's not only baseball...
By Route 66
Mon, 06/30/2008 - 12:50pm
It seems as if there's a sort of Disneyfication of late with all sports - I cringe at the thought of a team of dancers on the court at Celtics games. But, if that's what people want, who am I to say?
I must confess that for most of my life I was ignorant of the rules of the game; I didn't grow up with baseball in my house. In northern New England we paid more attention to hockey. But, I started going to Red Sox games after I moved to Boston in the early 90s and I enjoyed it. Even ticket prices then were such that I could only afford to go once or twice a season; I was poor!
But it wasn't until about 2002 that a girlfriend took pity on me and began to tutor me in the finer aspects of the game. It was mainly because I needed something to tide me over until the Pats season began. But I learned and asked questions, and watched as the team's fortunes seemed to turn. I rode the wave right up to the crash and burn on that fateful night in October '03. That hurt - bad.
Since then I have followed the game intensely, even relishing the sometimes soap opera level of nuttiness by both the team members and the fans. That certainly explains why I'm anxious to see how the little ongoing rumble with Tampa Bay will play out over this series.
Maybe I haven't paid my dues, so to speak, but I consider myself a fairly knowledgeable fan and when I've been lucky to get tickets over the past couple of years I have treasured the experience. Now, on the west coast, I'm shelling out for tickets here, too!