Role Reversal
By Cromwell Sox Fan
Red Sox Nation is waiting with great anticipation for a certain ring ceremony to take place on April 11 at Fenway Park. On that day, the World Champion Boston Red Sox open their home schedule against their hated rival, the New York Yankees.
Baseball tradition usually dictates that the World Series winner raise the championship banner and receive their World Series rings at the first home game. But a report published in the Boston Herald last Thursday has suggested that maybe the Red Sox would consider moving the ring ceremony off of the home opener so as not to rub it in the Yankees faces.
According to The Herald article, Sox management is "expected to meet at some point in the near future to discuss other options. They include a presentation ceremony at Fenway on an off day, a ceremony away from Fenway, and a ceremony prior to a non-Yankees game at Fenway. The first two scenarios would accommodate an extended event and could allow the team to turn the event into a fundraiser for the Red Sox Foundation."
Now I am all about good sportsmanship and raising funds for a worthy cause, but it seems to me that the only reason this subject is even being brought up is because the opponent is the Yankees. In my view, if this were any other team, this article probably would have never have been written and the ceremony would be a foregone conclusion.
But because it's the Yankees, people seem to feel they should be given the proper "respect." My response to that is "are you kidding me?"
The idea of this ceremony being rescheduled is just absurd if the real reason behind it is that Sox management doesn't want to "offend" the Yankees.
Does anyone honestly think that if the roles were reversed (as they were for 86 years) that the Yankees would have any problem unveiling their 27th ring in front of the Sox at the Yankees' home opener on April 3rd?
I can almost guarantee they'd have no problem rubbing it in the Sox faces. See, as much as Yankee fans want the rest of us to believe in the myth of how classy their team is, last year's Yankee loss has made us all a lot wiser to the disapperance of their "mystique and aura." When they lost their mystique, their image as the personification of class went out the window with it.
This is a franchise that had no problem rolling out Bucky Dent to throw out the first pitch of last year's deciding ALCS Game 7. As if a home run hit 26 years ago was going to affect these present day Sox. Yeah, real classy. Not to mention their wonderful fans who always made it a point to remind Red Sox fans everywhere the last time Boston won a championship before 2004. Again, real classy. Now they expect the baseball universe to be kind to them?
All of a sudden now the Yankees are the poor stepchild and we should feel bad for them? I'm not buying it for one minute. And the fact that Red Sox management is even entertaining the idea of not "embarrassing" the Yankees is ludicrous. More than anyone, Sox President Larry Lucchino should know that Steinbrenner would do anything to torture the Sox. Now that he has a chance to return the favor, Lucchino and his partners may take the high road? It's an idea that's great in theory but very disappointing in practice if it turns out to be true. Payback is not an easy thing and the Yankees should have to experience the other side of the coin in this rivalry. After all, Red Sox fans had to put up with all the "1918" and "Curse" garbage for so long that they deserve to extract their pound of flesh now that things are reversed. This isn't about sportsmanship on the field. It's about gamesmanship off the field and evening things out a little bit.
The bottom line is the Yankees and their fans have to take their medicine and deal with the Red Sox victory. Just like Red Sox Nation had to swallow 86 consecutive years of bitter medicine during Yankee wins.
As a Red Sox fan, I know I speak for many in the Nation when I say raising that banner and unveiling those rings in front of the Yankees at Fenway will be the final piece to make the World Series victory and its aftermath one of the sweetest moments in the history of sports. Please, Red Sox management, don't deprive Red Sox Nation this one last chance to laugh at the Evil Empire.
