"The evil empire extends its tentacles even into Latin America."
-- Larry Lucchino, Red Sox president, on the Yankees signing free agent Jose Contreras
Having been a Boston Red Sox fan for basically my whole life, I had lived through every part of the rivalry between the Sox and the New York Yankees, except seeing the Sox playing in Yankee Stadium. For years, I had carefully rooted against the Yankees from the protected confines of Boston's own Fenway Park, surrounded by 35,000 other citizens of Red Sox Nation . Continuously encircled by endless repetitions of "Yankees Suck", "Overrated", "The Wave", and the drawn out chants of the names of opposing players; all was well until I decided to take a trip to the Bronx, to finally experience the last part of baseball's greatest rivalry.
Driving in New York is definitely not suggested except if the color of your automobile is yellow, so I wore my Red Sox jersey with pride on the bus from our Manhattan hotel to the connecting train that leaves you off at the 161st Street exit, right in front of Yankee Stadium.
English: Boston Red Sox Cap Logo
English: Color photo of the Old Yankee Stadium bef...
Boston Red Sox retired numbersMy ride on the subway was an astonishingly insult-free journey, but after leaving the platform and heading down the street parallel to Yankee Stadium, the anti-Red Sox message was clear. There were many "Boston Sucks" T-shirts worn by the local morons, with the Red Sox logo X-ed out on the back of the shirts. A number of the local fans greeted Red Sox passerbies with the same message printed on their shirts. Even the guy selling his "Yankee pot" had a few words for me.
"F--k you, ya chowder head !" shouted the marijuana salesman, "When was the last time you won a world series? That's right, 1918! Go back to Boston...