The "Greatest Rivalry in Professional Sports" is Dead - The 2010 Red Sox Are Not

Jon Lester pitched like Jon Lester yesterday in the Bronx. (AP Photo) The Red Sox were able to salvage their series with the Yankees yesterday afternoon, propelled by a strong outing by Jon Lester. The 2-1 victory earned the Red Sox a 2-2 split with the Yankees, which I deem a certifiable success for the Red Sox. When you're on the road against the team with the best record in baseball and you split, you can't be disappointed. Especially when you've gained in the Wild Card race during the process. As the Red Sox have proven over the past decade, winning the division means nothing, it's just a different colored flag at Fenway. Making the playoffs is what matters, and winning the World Series is what matters most.

 I honestly don't look forward to games between these two teams anymore, as a gross amount of hyperbole is thrown around ferociously by both the fans and media alike. The thunderstorm that was created when these two played each other in 2003 and 2004 has long since passed, and the streets have since been dry, and the games are simply no longer as intense. We've turned into these sad rivalry junkies since those games, clutching at the importance of each series to try and reach the glorious high that was obtained in those historic seasons. But instead of quenching the thirst of our competitive blood-lust, the "Greatest Rivalry in Professional Sports" has become a woeful parody of itself.

This is over-saturation at its best. I do believe in 2003-2004 the country as a whole was genuinely interested in the games between the Sox and the Yankees. But with the grand over-production by the Networks, and with seemingly all of their 19 regular season on National TV, the taste of the rivalry turned bad. I equate it to eating Cool Ranch Doritos. Unless you're hand-in-hand with the Taliban, it's a universal fact that they're absolutely delicious. However, there's a tipping point with them, and if you eat too many in one sitting, the taste changes from spectacular to chemical, and becomes repulsive in nature. That's what happened to the rest of the country, we fed them too many Cool Ranch Doritos. You couple this with the over hyping of the games on ESPN, as they cashed in on the hype of the rivalry, and a different kind of storm was set in motion.

This is when the bandwagon fans really started jumping on-board, and that's when Sox fans turned from lovable to loathsome. Yankee fans have been hated for years, but this hate was new to the "true" Sox fan, and it's something we'll have to deal with from here on out hopefully. I say hopefully because a large part of all this is due to the Sox success on the field. Which brings me back to my original point - this Series was far from a failure. The split actually ended up allotting the Sox to gain ground in the Wild Card, and kept them in sniffing distance of the Yanks. Think about it, if the Yankees could have swept or won three out of four they would have, for all intents and purposes, clinched the division. They would have gained four games on the Sox AND the Rays. Instead both teams jabbed at each other, and things are as uncertain in the AL East Tuesday morning, as they were on Friday night. The Red Sox as of this moment, have the 6th best winning percentage in all of baseball. Despite everything going against them in this strange year, they're still winning, and have never really had a stretch where they strung a bunch of wins together, and because of that, other teams should be a little scared.

Last time I checked the regular season ends on October 3rd (against the Yanks), and right now it's only August 10th. Four and half and Six games are nothing to scoff at, but as the Rays have shown - any team can get cold, and any team can get hot. There's no reason to believe the Sox can't string enough together to make a run at the playoffs, as their record proves, they're not a bad team. As far the Yankee's go, that final series, or possibly the one on September 24th may actually be worthy of hype - but until they play each other again in the playoffs, they're just baseball games - and wish other people could enjoy them as such.

Comments

[Erik]

While there are a few positives to grasp for you as a Boston fan... I still have to say from a completely unbiased perspective... I doubt the Rays will crumble and allow you to get the wildcard... and there's a better chance of Jesus reincarnate throwing the first pitch of the World Series this year then the Sox winning the division. I mean sure... it COULD happen, but it wont. Especially not when the stuff like the Yankees scoring 5 in the 8th to beat the Rangers, and Papelbon blowing last nights game happen. It sems things like that have been happening at a rate this season that simply cant be seen as coincidental... or chance.
Catching the Rays is certainly, as you said what your primary objective should be... but I do feel the task will be daunting. Sure the Rays have hit a skid... but I thnk they are for real... and the Sox dont match up well with them.

In regards to your point about the rivalry... well let me tell you HOW RIGHT you are... this is the first time ever, for me... that I was not fixated to the screen. I was on the internet... I flipped to different channels on occasion. I simply was not drawn in this time. I think their are dual reasons for this. One... I simply dont fear the Sox anymore(Not trying to rub anything in... just sayin) and Two: As you said... it's just WAY overkill. Ranch Doritos all the way. The 70's? Rivalry was HUGE. 80's not so much. Late 90's slightly... 2000's of course... I predict for at least 4 or 5 years these games simply wont have near as much punch... unless its down the stretch and we are very close in the standings.
If it wasnt for Girardi... we would have taken 3 out of 4... but unfortunately we have a nitwit as a manager... leaving Posada in to run etc. The Yankees always have to make things a bit more exciting. They can never just crush the opponents soul like they used to.

Anyway... I miss the days of brawls... and hatred. I miss cursing at my screen when I saw Manny... up. The only guys I really really hate on the Sox is Beckett. I think he's a class A) Jerk. He should do more winning against the Yankees and less flapping his big mouth against the Indians etc. Youk I dont like either... but its more from an annoyance perspective. Beckett I just hate.

Not sur why I chose to write so much, as it prob isnt interesting to you. But its late and I just rambled. Chock full of typos... surely.

[Erik]

Oh and PS. Can we make a friendly deal right now? If the Sox drop more than 7 back int he Wild Card chase... I want a "White Hot - PLASMA" Terror level. That's right.. I want it to skip right over severe red... Can we please make this happen? Only if it goes past 7 games. You'd make all my dreams come true in one fell swoop.