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Volume CXXXIII, Number 16 |
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Red Sox fans should understand disparity
CRAIG GIAMMONA
I think that this is an important time for Boston sports
fans. With a Super Bowl victory from their beloved Patriots still fresh
in mind and spring training just around the corner, Boston fans are faced
with the important task of developing a sense of humor.
The other night, I was having a few drinks with a some Boston
sports fans. We were reminiscing about the Super Bowl and discussing the
upcoming baseball season. Feeling a bit drunk and completely comfortable
I quipped, "I hope you guys remember that field goal when Giambi
sends home run #55 over the right field fence. It will probably be a game-winner,
putting the Yankees up 11 games over the Red Sox in mid-August."
The mood turned sour. One of them started sobbing. Another
insulted my mother, then went to the bar, downed three shots of Jack Daniels,
and passed out. Another slapped me in the face.
It was apparent to me that this most recent Super Bowl triumph
has not succeeded in loosening up Boston fans. They are still filled with
hatred, and it's unlikely that this will change anytime soon.
But why? Why are Boston fans so incapable of enjoying themselves
or a joke about their team? Why are they such hateful people?
The next morning I lay in bed contemplating the events of
the previous night, and I came to the following conclusion. Years of losing
at the hands of the Yankees have done serious damage to the mental state
of Red Sox fans of all generations. They are not lighthearted sports enthusiasts,
and clearly have no sense of humor with regard to their team. It is also
clear that no amount of success enjoyed by other Boston teams will mitigate
this. The Red Sox have to win.
I rolled over and continued to contemplate the complete
and utter indignation that Boston fans feel for the New York Yankees.
This hatred is interesting because it is decidedly one-sided. Yankees
fans like to beat the Red Sox, but we aren't consumed with this rivalry
the way the Red Sox fans are.
Much of this is largely due to the conception that the Yankees
buy championships. While this question is not as black and white as Red
Sox fans would like to think, it is indisputable that the Yankees have
more money then most franchises, enabling them to build teams in a way
that is not available to most teams. However, this is the not the fault
of the Yankees, and is instead a reflection of baseball's economics, which
are, interestingly enough, similar to the economics of American politics.
The most important misconception to shatter is that professional
sports are anything but entertainment. The games are real, but at the
end of the day, professional sports are about the fans who are willing
to pay big money to watch athletes perform. Owners pay players to play,
essentially making players the products and fans the consumers-with money
as the ultimate motivation.
Football and baseball have developed markedly different
ways of dispensing their respective product. Football has adopted a salary
cap, and by limiting the amount of money for each team to spend, emphasis
has shifted to personnel decisions, coaching, and actual player performance.
The sport functions because fans in all 31 NFL cities love their teams
and have playoff hopes. The revenue from television contracts is shared,
removing any competitive advantage to playing in, say, New York versus
Cleveland.
This is not the case in baseball, a sport with no salary
cap and limited revenue sharing. There is no limit to how much a team
can spend on players-reflected in the escalating payroll of the Yankees.
The Yankees also have the most lucrative television contract
in the league, basically indicating that there are more people who want
to watch, and are willing to pay to watch, Yankee games then there are
for Kansas City Royals, Pittsburgh Pirates, or Boston Red Sox games. This
means that advertisers will pay more for time, and so on.
The NFL has institutionalized equality with the hope that
rabid fans in each NFL city will provide economic health and competition
for the league. I happen to agree with this move.
Baseball has not institutionalized a good degree of competition,
however. Major league baseball has allowed the free market to run its
course, and only a handful of teams can afford to compete as a result.
There is a direct correlation between revenue and success-the more money
a team spends, the better it will be.
Most baseball fans recognize that there is something fundamentally
wrong if a direct correlation between money and a team's ability to succeed
exists. However, why haven't more Americans, specifically fans from smaller,
money-deprived markets, spoken out about the influence of money in politics?
In politics, the money-power correlation is as direct as it is in baseball.
The cost of running for office is prohibitively high for many Americans
and limits access to public office. Then there is the fact that through
large soft-money contributions, corporations influence the political process.
Companies with more money have more influence. The correlation is clear.
Back to baseball. Regardless of competitive disparities,
Boston Red Sox fans do need to lighten up and enjoy themselves a little.
When the Yankees start winning games again, they should remember their
heroic Patriots, have a glass of wine, and relax.
It is these Red Sox fans that must champion the cause of
campaign finance reform. No one understands the competitive disparity
that money creates better then them, and hence it is those surly New Englanders
who must lead the crusade to purge politics of big-money influence.