Love And Hate On The Diamond

Yankee Stadium, New York City

It is a cliche, no doubt, but these truly are hallowed grounds. The Red Sox are family for whom I have nothing but love and a rabid rooting interest. However, the bigger cliche is that one's love for the Red Sox automatically means hatred for the Yankees - or vice versa. I want to see the Red Sox crush the Yankees whenever they meet, but that does not reduce my independent capacity to recognize that the Yankees are a first-rate organization for whom it would be objectively impossible not to respect and hold in high regard.

The "Yankees Suck" moron screeds and t-shirts are an embarrassment. The treatment of Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon's pregnant wife by Yankee fans at the All Star Game is even worse. And to think that there have been several murders lately in Boston and New York involving people wearing the wrong team's paraphernalia. In this bitter rivalry, as elsewhere in life, too many people buy into utter nonsense and do no work whatsoever at developing or even questioning their outlook or the verbal and even physical violence that it creates. It seems when we lack for "tribes" to hate, we create them.

Just looking at the field below one sees.....Spike Lee. Yes, he's here.....and feels the memories of Yogi Berra, Joe DiMaggio, Whitey Ford, Lou Gehrig, Goose Gossage, Ron Guidry, Catfish Hunter, Reggie Jackson, Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Babe Ruth and, yes, Derek Jeter. How can this place be anything but great? As the new Yankee Stadium rises here by Jerome Avenue, however, it must also be said that it is sorely needed. Yankee Stadium and its neighborhood are much less comfortable and convenient than Fenway Park. Without the winning tradition, this place would be mediocre at best.