Stop being so happy, would ya?

Bill:
Anothah day, anothah "Why I hate Red Sox fans" blog post.

 

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Doug:
Ah, well, you know how it goes — Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative.

 

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Bill:
What nevah fails to crack me up with this stuff is the implicit patronizing.

 

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Doug:
Yeah, It's always some variation of "we didn't hate them until they won."

 

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Bill:
Like this dude writes, "The Red Sox weren’t really hateable; just rivals. They were a good team, with long-suffering fans and a history of painful losses. But once the Red Sox won in 2004 and then again in 2007, it seemed as if some – and I’m not saying all or most, because there are a lot of classy Red Sox fans out there – forgot that history."

 

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Doug:
Love that bit about there being "a lot of classy Red Sox fans out there" as if some dickweed from Baltiore is a ultimate arbiter of "classy."

 

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Bill:
But the thing I don't get is why do so many people, like this guy, assume we've forgotten everything that happened pre-2004 just because we take joy and pride ovah the World Series victories?

 

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Doug:
Yeah, how dare us for being happy.

 

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Bill:
Seriously, you know if you'd just be a lot more mopey and melancholy, it'd make fans of losah teams like Baltimore feel a lot bettah about themselves.

 

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Doug:
You've gotta wondah if these dips carry the same sort of grudge beyond sports … "Look at the sonavabitch Mr. Recovery ovah there all smiles and enjoying life. I liked him so much more when he was dying from cancah."

 

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Bill:
Really, it's like he's forgotten he was evah sick and hairless from the chemo.

 

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Doug:
And just because he's fine now doesn't mean that shit can't come back, you know.

 

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Bill:
Yeah show some class and stop acting like you're bettah than us "Mr. Isn't It Great Just to be Alive!" ovah there because you're still going to die one day.

 

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Comments

[Harwich Rich]

Now that's something fun to yak about,yikes

[Kaz]

They're complaining about a guy who wrote a column stating that he'd rather keep Markakis than trade him straight up for Pedroia.

You just aren't ever going to solve the logic of a person so lost up their own ass.

[louclinton]

All I can think about is Tim Russert after reading that strip.

And O'Bam Berocca

It's cold, how about something in the hot stove variety.

lc

[h.b]

Supposedly the stove will heat up in Vegas? Not holding my breath...

[da kine]

cf., "The Wire".

[ParkerStPete]

Wait! I think I know that guy from Baltimore! Wasn't he the one eating dogshit in "Pink Flamingos"? You know, the fat one in the dress. No one from what John Waters called "The Hairdo Capital of the World" deserves this much attention.

[Mike E!]

This strip is absolutely brilliant.

[Bob]

"I used to like cousin so much better before he won MegaMillions. Sure, he was always broke and had a hard time feeding his family, but now he's just so happy and carefree. Jerk."

[yazbread]

Santo today.
Rice in January.
Betting is now open.

[Jeff in NC]

As George Carlin used to talk about... everyone driving faster than me is an idiot, and everyone driving slower than me is an asshole... So everyone who cheers for my team like I do is cool, and everyone who doesn't is some kind of pussy or obnoxious ass or out of town shitface journalist feeding his drivel to his 4th place Oriole loving audience.

The observation is simple - we all have a problem with how other folks go about their fandom. But I'm happy to play my part and prove the observation - I like the Sox, I'd rather win than lose, lovable losers are still losers, and while my team is on top I'm gonna enjoy the hell out of it no matter how much the 4th place team's fans don't like it. They are cheering for the wrong team so... they are assholes. Unapologetic.

[Kaz]

Nah, Jeff in NC, I disagree. I will completely tell anyone who wants to know (and many who don't...ask my friends) when the Red Sox are playing like crap. I'm a fan, and I want them to win, but I'm not a "fanboi". There have been times where Yankees fans told us we were awful and I agreed. I think O's fans are fine to root for their team. I love the ones that protest Angelos (he's the reason they're in the gutter). I couldn't care less if they hate the Red Sox. What makes them assholes or otherwise is when they caricaturize or generalize me in order to prove their false conclusions about "Sox fans".

That having been said, I think the Sun columnist has a different problem and it goes back to me not being a "fanboi" (and him being one). He would rather have Markakis in RF than Pedroia at 2B. That's just stupid and can only be defended as "fanboi"-ism.

Then again, where would we be without crappy columnists.

[h.b]

If you recall, there were people (cf. Frank Deford) who hated Red Sox fans *before* the 2004 WS victory because we were either 1) whiners or 2) masochist Puritans who secretly wanted to lose because we found perverted pleasure in it or 3) we still rooted for the team even though we hadn't won anything since, as they were always quick to point out, 1918.

As for the post-victory hating on us, to use the colloquial expression, I think it's perfectly fine, and perhaps deserved, to hate us for being winners, for being Massholes, for being obnoxious, for being parochial (i.e, we see everything from a narrow Boston/NE p.o.v.), for being snobs, etc.

But the whole "we used to like Red Sox fans until they forgot their history!" meme is absurd. (Have any of you forgotten what it was like before? Of course not. Indeed, it's the memory of before which makes us so juiced on victory presently. The two things before (losing)/now (winning) are inseparable. Hence the absurdity of that line of reasoning.)

And pointing to that absurdity was meant to be the point of today's strip rather than just a bitching over general "Red Sox fans suck" animosity from others.

[Jeff in NC]

Kaz - You and I actually agree completely. I have fun folowing the logic of Carlin's idiot/asshole relativity. It makes me laugh at myself when I go over the edge and start seeing the world that way. I appreciate any fan of a team who is actually a fan of the team and not a fan of the popularity of the team (pink hatters, too many of the NYY fans, ...). That being said, overly obnoxious Sox fans are overly obnoxious - period (aka assholes - they were here before and after 04). Same for O's fans - I kinda like the O's, or maybe at least have sympathy for them (Angelos issues).

...back to the "cheer for the wrong team and your an asshole" thing, they aren't really assholes (at least not due to who they cheer for) any more than I should be an asshole to an O's fan because I cheer for the Sox. But in the same way I have fun flipping the bird in greeting to a good freind, I have fun referring to fans of others as assholes - maybe odd humor, but joke if they can't take a fuck.

hb - I also agree on the absurdity of the whole Red Sox fans have lost their history BS and aren't cool anymore. I was never a fan becuase it was cool, or honorable, or sympathetic. Its nothing more than a poor attempt to rename a basic have/have not disparity. For all those who think happy red sox fans are absurd, I ask how absurd it would be to be unhappy about winning - then we truly would be the most pathetic creatures on the planet, or whatever Fallon's actual line was.

BE LOUD AND BE PROUD!

[Steve in MD]

Peter Angelos is not an asshole because he won't spend money to buy players to make his team better. Because he has spent a lot of money trying to do so. He is an asshole because he apparently won't invest in a scouting/player assessment program that adequately evaluates talent. The club has made free agent mistake after free agent mistake. This is the club that brought Sydney Ponson back! How stupid can you be? Perhaps they are listening to columnists that wouldn't trade Markakis for Pedroia...

[Devine]

Amazingly good strip.

[soxdownunder]

Great strip and I spent 20 minutes reading the comments on the Sun article (that would be 20 minutes of my life I will never get back).

Somewhat on point to the debate that developed in that esteemed journal, mrs sdu just gave me my birthday eve present (I alway get ONE present late the night before cos I'm a spoiled little shit) and it is two v. old baseball cards of Ruth & Gehrig which mrs sdu secured from some auction on the net. Well I teared up even though they are each wearing those awful caps with the NY logo. So I guess you can hate the team, hate the fans (or most of em) hate the concept, hate the ballpark, hate the owner and yet, still respect, ney love, the legends.

And The Babe has the sweetest face.

sdu

[h.b]

*** NEXT STRIP - FRIDAY, 12/12 ***

Still not much going on, so sticking to the reduced schedule.

Glad to hear you are enjoying the strips even when they are infrequent.

[Bob]

Cool, SDU.

[Matt of CT]

So, what the hell is with this new proposed logo and uniform crap?

SDU - nice score!

[soxdownunder]

Hey - the official birthday present is even better: Fenway park official programmes from 1939, 1944, 1945, 1946 (2), 1947, 1948, 1949, 1961, 1964, 1967 (2) signed by people like Johnny Pesky, Dom DiMag, Dave "Boo" Feniss (gotta look it up), Mel Purnell (ditto) and some guy called Williams. And a Willie Mays signed baseball.

I love mrs sdu.

[Bob]

Matt, here's what I could find:

Proposed2009Uniforms

[NolaSox]

hb, I remember you being amused awhile ago at that comment I posted about a local sportscaster being arrested for the murder of his wife after police found a to do list in his FEMA trailer - the list was presented in court today and includes "Gun - River on way to mama." There is also hand drawn map on the back of the parking lot where he shot her.

It turns out that he was a bigamist as well. It also came out that he accused his wife of beating him (at one point he called an attorney he knew and told him he had to buy a new hairpiece cause his got blood on it).

[yazbread]

mrs sdu just gave me my birthday eve present (I alway get ONE present late the night before cos I'm a spoiled little shit) and it is two v. old baseball cards of Ruth & Gehrig


Have to admit the cards are better than what I thought she gave you.

[soxdownunder]

NolaSox, my assessment http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/family/vince_marinello/5.html "> of this would be that he has some serious legal problems!

[Steve in MD]

With $126K in fradulent loan money, he could've moved to Chicago and bought a Senate seat...

[NolaSox]

damn it all to hell, my work blocked your link, SDU, but Bob still wins for posting the most blocked links.

[Bob]

They're only blocked because they're explicit donkey-on-lady midget porn.

C.C. for $22.85 million over seven years? Great pitcher, but isn't he about 5 C.C.s of pork fat away from a massive coronary?

[sonomasox]

SDU - next visit to the states I insist on a mrs. sdu spending some quality time w/ mrs. sonomasox.

I wish CC had pushed MFYs over 200 for the 7 yrs...interesting out clause.

[Ray]

I hope CC enjoys burning Yankee money on his way to mediocrity. . .

[Harwich Rich]

Does this constitute the hot stove heating up?

[Kaz]

It is a bit warmer here today, Harwich Rich...

I hope the Yankees take a real SaBATHia on this investment.

Hehe. Ok, it wasn't that funny.

[Ray]

The Yankees may never draft another first rounder, if The Buzz (Globe) can be believed that they are "close" to signing both Lowe and Burnett.

[Genghis Ortiz]

Let me ask just one question: How the FUCK can Sox fans 'forget their history'? Excuse me??? Some of us still cry like a Kennedy without a Jameson nuk-nuk toy when they see Classic Sport replays of the 1978 debacle, or 1986. No one else has that cross to bear...

[NolaSox]

The stove might be heating up, but it's snowing in the French Quarter. Not flurries but actual big, fat, fluffy flakes. I'm getting a little homesick for MA looking at it.

[Harwich Rich]

Don't be too homesick Nola,all we're getting is rain and lots of it :( - at least on the Cape.

[buckner was framed]

anybody win an invite to Christmas at Fenway or the new laugher, the Red Sox 'yard sale'?