Me, Myself, and I

Game 33 - Red Sox

Yankees 7, Red Sox 3
Record: 20-13

Yesterday, I quoted myself during a barside conversation about the Yankees and Red Sox, breaking out the Melky Cabrera as Zeppo Marx comparison from my previous post to mild approval. Today, in an effort to complete the circle of self-referential backpatting, I offer you a reprise of my take on Yankees fans from the same beer-aided discussion.

"Any man who is under 30, and is not a liberal, has not heart; and any man who
is over 30, and is not a conservative, has no brains." -- Winston Churchill

A little-known corollary to Churchill's famous quote (which, according to these guys, was never actually uttered by the legendary orator), is that any man who is a Yankee fan has no soul. And who am I, a humble internet scribe, to argue with that.

I only caught a few innings of last night's Sox/Yanks game, mostly at the aforementioned bar after a rousing doubleheader sweep by my softball squad. I was hunkered down with a cold domestic draft just in time to see the Sox turn a 3-1 lead into a 7-3 deficit, and happily ensconced in the company of a cadre of Yankee fans. Our softball squad has changed dramatically over the past year, with an infusion of much-needed new blood making us much more athletically competitive. Unbeknownst to me, it also made us much more Yankee-centric in our rooting interests. Take the good with the bad, I guess.

Jason Giambi's 3rd-inning blast off of Curt Schilling (who was decidedly unimpressive last night), and the subsequent "Giambino!!!" outburst it preceded was the impetus for my Churchill reference. Conflating the steroid-pumped Giambi with Babe Ruth is uniquely the province of Yankee rooters who completely miss the irony. In the case of my teammates, I'm gonna give them a pass because they're young (and clearly don't know any better) and because most of them can hit the snot out of a softball.

Timmy Wake gets the ball tonight to try lead the Sox to a series win in the Bronx. As friend of MLC Jerry from the Wheelhouse noted last night, it seems that Sox/Yanks fatigue has finally set in (no thanks to ESPN), with even fans of the 2 teams less frantic about the outcome. I know that's true for me right now - as much as I want the Sox to win and the Yanks to lose, the end-of-times apocolyptic atmosphere has faded, probably for the better. I certainly reserve the right to restate that position in Kerryesque fashion several months from now.

And ESPN Classic is showing Game 6 of the 2004 ALCS right now. Good time for me to be unemployed.