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Men behaving badly

BY CHRISTOPHER YOUNG

Many of the Fenway Faithful have traditionally been a haughty lot, despite their team’s nearly nine decades of futility leading up to last year. The proximity of the patrons to the players, the fans’ never-ending quest for frothy beverages, and the deplorable lack of manners and sportsmanship exhibited by those barley-pop-sated attendees often contribute to a downright disturbing atmosphere for the players as well as for run-of-the-mill Sox aficionados. Where Sox fans get off being so obnoxious and prone to controversy is beyond me, but perhaps the years of frustration, coupled with the astute lessons in rude behavior taught by their Yankees-fan counterparts, have given them a sense of entitlement that often crosses the line between free speech and getting hauled off to the slammer.

Sometimes it’s not even the words that get the locals in trouble, but their deeds. Such was the case in the recent Gary Sheffield incident at Fenway, when the Yankees right fielder — apparently taunted mercilessly throughout the game — found himself chasing a ball down the right-field line and literally face-to-face with a population only one inning removed from having had the beer taps shut off. It was bad enough that nearly every patron sitting in the front row reached down and tried to grab the rolling ball, but two others clearly interfered with Sheffield’s efforts to cleanly field the ball. The worst offender seemed to reach out and try to slap the ball out of Sheffield’s glove (and in missing appeared to lightly cuff the player in the puss); the other managed to tip $4 worth of his $6 beer onto Sheffield’s jersey.

What is it about a dirty $8 baseball that turns ordinary citizens into rabid hounds who will flaunt the established rules to snag an ill-gotten souvenir? When the Jeffrey Maiers and other Yankees-fan evildoers of the world change baseball history with their obstructive antics, Sox fans point and say, "We would never do that." But more and more, they are.

Sox patrons should realize that they’re making their team, the assembled fandom, and the city look bad when they pull these stunts. A baseball captured in this way is not worth getting thrown out for or tarnishing a group’s reputation. Understand that even if you capture said baseball, it really means nothing to anybody in the whole wide world except for you — and even then it will slowly slip into the distant memory of your dubious life history. Who cares if you got a foul ball or a home-run ball or a fan-interfered double? It’s just a damn ball, and nobody else really gives a hoot about it — nor will they when it comes time to divide your worldly possessions upon your demise.

This Red Sox team does not deserve to have its good name sullied based on the antics of a few foolhardy individuals who can’t keep their damn-dirty-ape hands inside the arena’s perimeter.

Or does it?

Sunday’s game in St. Petersburg against the Devil Rays was certainly not one of the defending world champs’ shining moments. In an embarrassing display of machismo and unsportsmanlike conduct, the Red Sox decided to engage in a tit-for-tat battle of upper-hand madness by getting sucked into a bean-ball war with the likes of the putrid D-Rays. Think about it: can you imagine the Pinstripers getting into such a absurd tiff against a team like Tampa Bay? Sheffield’s show of restraint 10 days earlier was merely one example of how controlled the Yankees as a team have been against outside forces. In the opening-week series against Boston, the Bombers were consistently thrown at by Sox hurlers, yet they showed no signs of retaliation or sinking to the Sox’ level. Instead, they showed their class and went about their business.

The Red Sox should have done the same on Sunday, but instead, they felt the need to escalate matters when an earlier on-field brawl had dissipated and warnings had been issued to both dugouts. Instead of taking the high road, there was pitcher Bronson Arroyo — no stranger to these kinds of incidents — throwing the first pitch of the next inning at the immortal Chris Singleton. Forget that the Sox had somehow lost the first two games to the D-Rays and held only a 5-2 lead in the seventh; macho rules dictated that the enemy be hit with a pitch, even if it did result in the tying run moving to the on-deck circle with no outs. Not surprisingly, it was the Sox’ majors-leading 15th HBP of the season.

Ridiculous.

It’s time for the Sox fans to show some decorum and restraint, and for the team for which they root to do the same. They’re the world champs, for God’s sake, and should by now have supplanted the Yankees as the model MLB franchise in terms of how they carry themselves on and off the field.

Looks like Boston’s team and its fans still have a way to go in that regard.

"Sporting Eye" runs Mondays and Fridays at BostonPhoenix.com. Christopher Young can be reached at cyoung[a]phx.com


Issue Date: April 25, 2005
"Sporting Eye" archives: 2005 | 2004 | 2003 |2002
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