Take that, every place west of the Berkshires
Angela is in a good mood this morning:
... Knowing that so much of the sports-loving country hates Boston with a passion, it's fun to know that while yet ANOTHER one of our beloved teams is seeking a championship, countless fans around the nation are groaning. ...
Jim Sullivan, meanwhile, explains why beating L.A. is a noble cause - in a saga that involves the realization among Celtics fans in the last game of the 1982 Eastern finals that the 76ers were beating the Celts and would take on the Lakers for the championship:
... The Boston Garden crowd started chanting, with no prompting from a giant scoreboard, or from cheerleaders, or due to any sort of pre-packaged canned marketing.
What they started chanting was "Beat L. A.! Beat L. A.! Beat L. A.! Beat L. A.!"
In the midst of a heartbreaking defeat, they were cheering on their most hated rivals.
They were, at that moment, the classiest fans in all of sport.
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About the Berkshires...
Lots of NY fans. Even Yankees fans.
It's about equidistant between NYC and BOS, gets most of its news from Albany, and some dude named Steinbrenner went to school there. One of his World Series rings is on display at a local inn.
-Cosmo
http://boston.redfin.com/blog/author/cosmo.catalano
Thanks, Adam
The linkage is appreciated, as usual. Unfortunately, Google Blogspot is coughing up hairballs this morning, so folks might not be able to access it immediately.
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
And, Of Course...
As soon as I wrote the above, all became magically right again in Blogspot Land. Nevermind.
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
Sportsmanship
I like rivalries as much as the next guy, but I had to chime in here, and it's a positive chime.
I would way more rather here "Beat L.A." than "Yankees Suck." The former is a representation of support for our team, the latter is just saying the opposing team, well...sucks.
Cheering is a great way of psyching up the home team, and the fans, but when it becomes negative, it just creates an aura of unsportsmanlike conduct.
As I walk down Brookline Avenue after a Sox game and see a vendor peddling "Jeter Sucks" and worse, "A-Rod Swallows" t-shirts, and seeing parents buying them for their kids, I get depressed.
And being at an event completely unrelated to the Sox, a concert, say, and hearing a spontanious "Yankees Suck" chant begin, makes me equally depressed.
At least "Beat L.A." doesn't conjure thoughts of the opposing team being horrible people, it's a civil way to support the hometown team.
Ha
I wonder if the people wearing "Yankees Suck" or "Beat L.A" shirts can even remember a time when the Sox didn't sell out Fenway Park, or the Celtics weren't a contender?
Somewhere, Mike Bibby feels validated.
Such as last year?
Celtics were a last-place team last season, 24-58. Certainly not "a contender".