Bandwagon fans?

They are all at it now. Eric Wilbur has ranted recently about what he calls the 'pink hat phenomenon'. Bill Simmons, the sports guys, has discussed it at great length. ESPN's Jim Caple wrote an acerbic, angry attack about it.

Everyone is having a go at 'Red Sox Nation'

Red Sox Nation - under attack

The general consensus amongst even the better sports journalists is a lazy, holier than thou, clique driven attitude that seems to say that you should only be allowed root for Boston if you have ticket stubs that pre date, say for example, the magnificent 1999 season (magnificent because Pedro was working on another level to the rest of humanity). Everybody else is a 'blow in', a bandwagon jumper. Everyone else should be derided mercilessly.

And hot women in Red Sox gear is a bad thing, why?

Lads, get a hold of yourselves. Cop on, or go back to the Victorian era in England, where snobbish behaviour was actually welcome. Who on earth died and made you guys the Pope of Chilli Town?

So what if a kid decided he is now going to root for the Sox since they won the World Series?

So what if some teenage girl from Dorchester wants to wear a pink Red Sox cap?

So what if someone gets excited about getting one of those RSN membership cards?

It may not be my cup of tea, and I can certainly see from the vitriol of your arguments that it's not yours, but so what? Let them have their day. This joyless, aggressive backlash against 'new' Red Sox fans is absolutely inane. What is wrong with welcoming new fans on board, and instead of ridiculing them for not knowing why fans sound like they are booing when Youkilis approaches the plate, explain it to them!

Where is the love?

What is the point in a miserable, aggressive attack on this new breed of fans? Jim Caple went above and beyond with his ridiculous rant on ESPN. His attack was focused on Red Sox fans cluttering up road stadiums. The funny thing to me is that in Europe, 'away' fans are a feature of any big soccer game. They bring extra noise, colour and an element of competition to each game. To say that it is a bad thing that Red Sox fans travel to road games is basically saying 'I want a sterile, boring game day experience, leave me alone, I don't like change!'.

The most obvious problem with Caples ugly and petty argument is that, if Sox fans had not travelled en masse on the recent road trip, many of those stadiums would have been pathetically empty.

Fellas, really, have you nothing better to write about?
Or do you just enjoy complaining?

My feeling is, enjoy the Red Sox whoever you are, and whatever way you want..


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