What do 40,000 Red Sox fans at Fenway have in common? Hint: It’s not religion, politics, or favorite ice cream flavor—it’s a shared loathing of the Yankees. Unity, thy name is rivalry.
I grew up near Boston. I became a Boston Red Sox fan the moment I was born. And, the first lesson I learned was to hate the dreaded Yankees. The Red Sox have been good at breaking my heart,overmany seasons. When they play the Yankees, however, it doesn’t matter what there record is as long as they can beat the Yankees I’ve been to Fenway Park many times. It causes me to think how 40,000 people agree on one thing ,we don’t like the Yankees. Among the 40,000 in the ballpark are people of every race, gender, ethnicity, religious background, believers, and non-believers, and we all get along. You would think world leader could take a tip from sports fans. No matter where people are they have a favorite team. And they root for that team year in and year out. They will celebrate victories together, and they will suffer together when their teams are not doing well. It proves that at some deep level we don’t care about the superficial aspects that we often use to separate us. We see beyond superficiality and move to something deeper. That’s a good life’s lesson. Hope your team does well today as long as they’re not playing the Red Sox lol.
Three Engaging (and Slightly Snarky) Questions:
- Is mutual hatred of the Yankees the last true force uniting Americans?
- Have sports fans figured out world peace and just forgotten to tell the politicians?
- If you had to pick a team to end a family feud, who would it be (and why is it never the Yankees)?