Monday, May 17, 2010

When Rivalries Go Wrong

It's been a while since my last post, as I have adjusted to dealing with New Yorkers.  It's not easy.  Spending a whole day commuting and working with them takes a lot out of you.  Normally I take about an hour each night just isolating myself from their point of view.

And while it has been exciting to plot my next post to revel in the Mets' recent (and predictable) tumble from the top of the NL East, I have opted to forgo that topic.  At least for now.  Instead, I look toward the media machine that habitually hypes rivalry games between New York sports teams and their foes.

In this particular instance, I take a look at the most notorious of all rivalries, the Yankees against the Red Sox.  If ever there were two teams that were built for such a bitter feud, it's these two.  But if you're reading my blog, then you are a sophisticated enough fan to already know their back story.  Tonight, the two open a quick two-game series in the Bronx that is being billed as a potential playoff preview.

I will take this moment to remind you that it's mid-May.

I am the biggest fan of baseball and passionately miss the sport for half the year.  When the season comes, I watch every game and scrutinize the details of every pitch.  But aren't spring baseball games meant to be a little more, well, fun?  A lesson I learned early on is that you'll wear yourself out if you try to make every game feel like a playoff game.  It's a long season.

One Yankees fan I know even lamented that these types of rivalries have impeded on his other interests.  With the NBA and NHL playoffs in full swing, he was hoping to catch some games at the restaurant where he bartends.

"Oh man, I hope the Yankees and Red Sox aren't playing this week."
"Why not, I thought you were a Yankees fan?" I asked.
"No one will ever let me even check the score of the hockey games," he said.
"I'm sure you can catch it on the ticker."
"It's just not the same.  It's like people have to watch the games, even though they really don't care."
"Don't you care though?" I mused.
"Sure I do, but at what price?"

His point is right.  I don't suggest that we abandon baseball until the meaningful games.  I probably won't even watch the other sports this week, myself.  But it's almost disheartening to see such hype over a rivalry to manufacture interest in the sport.  It's almost like the fans feign more of an interest than they really have.  Do Yankees fans really care if they are playing the Red Sox or the Athletics?  I think all that fans should really care about is that their team wins.

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