ACTON, Mass. -- Tensions were running high on the Merriam School playground.
Yankees fans and Red Sox fans were relentlessly taunting each other, and the fun of Boston's comeback win in the 2004 ALCS was being lost.
As school officials worked to calm the students, they had a radical idea: Why not extend their peacemaking efforts to the big league level?
Their project to get the Red Sox and Yankees to shake hands before the opening-day game April 11 at Fenway Park has since been endorsed by Yankees owner George Steinbrenner.
Red Sox manager Terry Francona called the school to tell officials he liked the "The Merriam School Handshake Project," though he added he won't force it on the players.
"If our guys want to go shake some hands, they're going to do it," Francona said. "I'm not going to make them."
Before I go off on a complete rant: Doesn't this idea just make you pray that there is a full-scale brawl at Yankee Stadium the week before so this idea will die the death it so rightly deserves?
Now, onto my various and sundry complaints on this idea:
1) I really think the death of Otto Graham has caused George to have his mental capabilities begin to diminish.
2) At least Francona isn't forcing his players to do this.
3) The school officials are commies. Boo-hoo, the Red Sox and Yankees fought. Maybe instead of competing, they can just go out and throw the ball around, not keep score and then go out for ice cream after the game, this way no one's feelings are hurt. This namby-pamby mentality is one of the reasons why the American educational system is falling into ruins.
4) The kids. You are 10-11 years old. Speaking as a Red Sox fan(and I'm sure many Yankee fans will agree with this sentiment): Children are meant to be seen, not heard. This idea only strengthens my belief in mandatory leach and muzzle laws for children. Competition at its highest level breeds contempt and loathing. That is one of the beauties of it. If you weren't alive for the Kevin Maas/Stump Merrill Yankees or even the Matt Young/Butch Hobson Red Sox, you're opinion is worth less than the paper I just flushed down the toilet.
IN the 70's when the Red Sox and Yankees would have brawls that made the last few years seem like tea parties, there weren't children weeping about how feelings might be hurt. Of course, that was before the Oprahization of this country occurred.
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Considering it was Jason Varitek's Vulcan-death-grip-with-a-catcher's-mitt-thing on that punk b*tch A-Rod that turned the Sox's season around, taking away NY/Boston's "right to fight" might sink Boston's title defense.
That, and it always makes me smile when somebody in pinstripes gets punked.
Star wipe, and...we're out. Thrillin' ain't easy.
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Originally posted by redsoxnationBefore I go off on a complete rant: Doesn't this idea just make you pray that there is a full-scale brawl at Yankee Stadium the week before so this idea will die the death it so rightly deserves?
See, this is another reason why I would be the worst role model EVER if I were a major league ballplayer. As soon as I heard about this, if I played for the Red Sox, I'd be planning how I could freight-train A-Rod into next week while "trying to break up a double play." With the spikes high, of course.
Originally posted by redsoxnation This idea only strengthens my belief in mandatory leach and muzzle laws for children.
Redsox is like an old-school doctor! But it's LEECH
Hey, I prefer it when the Yanks and Sox hate each other. I prefer it when the White Sox and Cubs hate each other. Even though I'm a Cubs fan, when WGN has a Cubs/Sox game on and Hawk Harrellson is announcing, if he says "Sox go down in order, bad guys coming up" (before he pisses me off and I turn it down), I don't mind a bit.
The Yanks (and their fans) are supposed to hate the Sox (and their fans) just like the opposite is true. Same way for the Cubs and Sox. Other rivalries - well, I can't speak for them. I am sure the Dodger and Angel fans just eat Sushi together before they watch the games from their hot tubs.
It's not the fault of the kids at all..it's those darn hooligan ballplayers. Riiiiiight.
The Yankees and Red Sox are profesionals. As Gorilla Monsoon would say, "there is no love lsot between these two", but they're NOT the street gangs the school believes them to be.
I'm guessing the "school officials" broke up the fight/altercation, then met in the breakroom, felt good about themselves and decided to hop on their fictional Moral High Horse in an attempt to get some free tickets, their 15 minutes, or autographed crap.
Originally posted by redsoxnationIf you weren't alive for the Kevin Maas/Stump Merrill Yankees or even the Matt Young/Butch Hobson Red Sox, you're opinion is worth less than the paper I just flushed down the toilet.
For the record, we prefer to refer to that dark time as "The Lee Guetterman/ Bob Geren Era".
My own loyalty reaches back to a time when two words rolled off a Yankee fan's tongue filled with the hope for the future of a franchise. The two words that would spell a surehanded oufielder and backup first baseman. Those two words... "Dan Pasqua".
Hell yes.
The frozen banana maker is out. Current celebrity crush: Anne Hathaway
Originally posted by redsoxnation This idea only strengthens my belief in mandatory leach and muzzle laws for children.
Redsox is like an old-school doctor! But it's LEECH
Hey, I prefer it when the Yanks and Sox hate each other. I prefer it when the White Sox and Cubs hate each other. Even though I'm a Cubs fan, when WGN has a Cubs/Sox game on and Hawk Harrellson is announcing, if he says "Sox go down in order, bad guys coming up" (before he pisses me off and I turn it down), I don't mind a bit.
The Yanks (and their fans) are supposed to hate the Sox (and their fans) just like the opposite is true. Same way for the Cubs and Sox. Other rivalries - well, I can't speak for them. I am sure the Dodger and Angel fans just eat Sushi together before they watch the games from their hot tubs.
There is no Angels/Dodgers rivalry. There is, however, a Giants/Dodgers rivalry, and while not intense as Yankees/Sox or Cubs/Cards, it's still pretty good.
Originally posted by redsoxnationIf you weren't alive for the Kevin Maas/Stump Merrill Yankees or even the Matt Young/Butch Hobson Red Sox, you're opinion is worth less than the paper I just flushed down the toilet.
For the record, we prefer to refer to that dark time as "The Lee Guetterman/ Bob Geren Era".
Speak for yourself, I call it the "Wayne Tolleson/Andy Hawkins experimental years."
Ahh, Dandy Dan Pasqua. Remember when he and Mike Pagliarulo were supposed to be consistent 30 HR guys?
Originally posted by David AdamsAhh, Dandy Dan Pasqua. Remember when he and Mike Pagliarulo were supposed to be consistent 30 HR guys?
Pags gets a pass from me. Here's why.
4th grade, my mother and I go to a game with my friend and his dad. Sawx Yanks at Fenway. Boston started Clemens. Yankees had... geez, I think it was Tommy John. Hell, it could've been Scott Nielsen. Mattingly's hurt, Henderson's hurt. My buddy Dave tells me the Sox have this won before it starts.
Heart of the Sox order comes up. Boggs, Evans, Rice. Three line drives to 3rd. Three unbelivable catches.
Yanks end up winning on the bat power of the greatest mercenary in the history of the game, Jack Clark.
Anyway, back on topic. Let whoever shake with whomever. But don't force it, and don't pretend it's the Paris peace talks. It is, after all, only a game.
The frozen banana maker is out. Current celebrity crush: Anne Hathaway
Originally posted by MARTYEWRIf they're going to shake hands, the Red Sox should make a point of wearing their championship rings while doing so.
Those rings might make quite the clinking sound as they come into contact with Jeter, Bernie, or Mariano's handful o' rings.
Not so much with Arod's hand though! Ha!
I just had to chime into any thread that merely mentioned the glory years (lean glory years albeit) of Dan Pasqua. He, Pags, and Bam Bam Muelens, were supposed to lead the Yanks into a dynasty, along with the Big Three (the late 80s to early 90s Yankees version) of Wade Taylor, Jeff Johnson, and Scott Kamienicki, with the former two replaced in Yankee hopes with Sam Militello and Bob Wickman.
Just for good measure, I must now drop the names of Bobby Meacham, Steve Balboni, and Cecilio Guante, for no good reason.
Originally posted by MARTYEWRIf they're going to shake hands, the Red Sox should make a point of wearing their championship rings while doing so.
From the standpoint of being a complete Yankee fan, the year the Redsox won it all was just another year the Yankees didn't.
The Yankees/Red Sox rivalry is far to sacred to be erased by a simple handshake at the start of the season. If kids are pummeling each other on the blacktop over it, so what. I'm sure that kids will always find things to fight over, no matter how many causes you eliminate, and passing the buck on your own responsibility to control their environment is not going to teach them anything other than fighting is okay, just not when it comes to Yanks/Sox. People are quick to look out their windows for solutions when the answer's on the kitchen table. In short, fuck the parents and the nimrods who can't believe that their means aren't working when raising children. Oh, and fuck the Sox, and fuck Red Sox Nation. You had your day in the sun, but Yankee Stadium was built for night games and dusk is rolling in.
(edited by Lexus on 30.3.05 1720) Hold nothing sacred and you'll never be dissapointed. Especially not this statement.
Hell, when I was in middle school there were a couple of kids who got into a knock-down, drag-out brawl over a package of ketchup. And they were probably older than the kids who got into a Yankees/Red Sox "disagreement" on the playground.
But I don't see the Heinz ketchup guys and the Hunt's ketchup guys lining up in a circle and singing "Kumbaya".
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I hate saying anything nice about the Mets, but the Mo Vaughn trade wasn't a complete fiasco. They dumped Kevin Appier's albatross contract (which the Angels waived for the largest waived contract in major league history up to that point)