The Looming Storm

Justin Thrift

On a hot and muggy summer night, you can sometimes step outside and literally feel a storm approaching. You do not have to be told by the weather man or informed in a passing conversation: you can just sense it. Similarly to the way farm cows instinctively lay down prior to rain, you can predict a raging electric storm even before the dark clouds arrive and the first drops of rain fall.

In Boston, the Yankees are that approaching storm that everyone is aware of. In the wake of the next classic series between these two heavy weight teams, the next confrontation with the Yankees is on every Sox fan’s mind.

Summertime in downtown Boston really is the best time (apart from October) to get a sense of the city’s love for their team. You can’t enter a restaurant or bar without seeing Red Sox related TV, walk 5 feet without seeing another Sox cap, or drive around the block without seeing numerous team-related bumper stickers, signs, and memorabilia. Every man, woman, and child wants to talk about player happenings and last night’s ballgame. It’s electric to be around.

But an interesting scenario unravels year after year that only illuminates more clearly why the Red Sox and Yankees are caught up in America’s premier sports rivalry. Even though Boston is filled with fans who would rather lie down in front of an Amtrak train than pay homage to the dreaded Yankees, the Bronx Bombers are a consistent topic of conversation across the land. Eavesdrop into any conversation between Red Sox fans and you’re sure to hear the line, “Did the Yanks win last night?” You could say it’s because New York is Boston’s biggest division competition, but the truth is, rooting against the Yankees is a full-time position held by every diehard Sox fan.

And this reality is alive and well in Beantown right now. Though the Sox and Yanks haven’t crossed paths in over a month of play, the two teams are fixed in a daily battle atop the AL East that feels like a game in itself. The presence of the Yankees is so strong in Boston folklore that at times it can feel as if some Boston fans are pleasured more by a Yankee lost, than a Boston win. I can attest to feeling upset and angry after the Red Sox lose a game, only to be thrilled and completely elated upon finding out that the Yankees lost too. Furthermore, nothing feels better than a day when the Red Sox win and the Yankees lose, just as nothing is more depressing than a Yankee win after a Red Sox loss. What a sting.

To outsiders, it may seem like a sickness, just over dramatic arrogant hype. But it shouldn’t. After all, we’re not only rooting against the Yankees so our team can win the pennant – Red Sox fans have a genuinely real fetish for seeing the Yankees do poorly. We enjoy seeing New York players make errors and run into walls, and we live for the feeling that comes when the Sox beat them at Yankee Stadium. It gives us pleasure to see Yankee fans miserable. I actually get gleeful.

And I’m sure it’s one hundred percent mutual.

But all the awareness of the Yank’s day-to-day updates is just an example of Red Sox fans anticipating the storm. There’s a building tension around both fan bases before any Boston-New York series; a palpable energy that manipulates everything on the local sports scene. It’s an historic relationship, a constant battle between rivals that never really allows each of the teams involved to hide, even when they’re playing on opposite sides of the country.

The rivalry picks up where it left off every time these two teams meet, but as every Yankee and Red Sox fan knows, the rivalry is never really paused in the first place. Endless discussion, trash talk, and opinions fly around the Northeast. The NESN and YES networks report the other team’s latest successes and failures to their fan bases that ceaselessly root for a loss. It’s an endless battle of two teams and their fans, and it’s going to resume on the field very shortly: August 6-9 in the Bronx.

Last time these two teams met, the Yankees found themselves disgraced and overpowered by the Red Sox who carried out yet another sweep of their New Yorker foes. Since then, the Sox piled up a nice lead atop the AL East entering the All-Star break, only to give it up with a poor offensive start to the second half of the season. The Yankees have been streaking hot as of late, causing the Red Sox to grasp for life in the water as they desperately strive to keep pace.

As the MLB nears the trade deadline and the teams look to finalize their rosters going into the fall, these approaching rivalry games have the potential to be some of the most entertaining games yet. It’s almost time for the latest installment of the 2009 Red Sox/Yankee showdown. Can you feel the storm approaching?