Another Writer Fed Up With Red Sox Nation

More discussion about the Evil Empires of the East

By Matthew Taylor

Jim Caple, meet Chris Heun. Something tells me you guys are going to get along well.

Caple, the ESPN writer and former Red Sox fan, has posted an angry, but accurate column that hits on the same theme that Chris articulated in a December Roar from 34 posting. In short, Red Sox fans have become what they hate. Consider Caple's words below.

It's true. While Yankees fans momentarily are neutralized by their recent embarrassing autumns and their current spot in the standings, Red Sox fans, sadly, have taken over the mantle as the most obnoxious fans in sports.

...

No longer. As soon as the Red Sox won the 2004 World Series, Boston fans took on a swaggering, entitled persona, acting as if they alone invented sports fandom and behaving as if nothing else in baseball mattered but them.

Some fans want to blame Boston's bandwagon fans for the change in Red Sox Nation, which of course is a bunch of bunk. "Everybody hates a winner" is another convenient excuse. Stated more accurately, "Everybody hates a winner whose fans come to town not to enjoy the game in a beautiful ballpark but rather to harass the locals."

Knowing and liking a few Red Sox fans, I can attest that not everyone who follows the team is quite so unbearable. What generalization realistically applies to 100 percent of any group? Neverthless, Caple's column illustrates that the obnoxious characteristics with which O's fans are so familiar have reached a critical mass in an increasingly self-important Red Sox Nation.

Here's hoping The Loss Column's "Take Back the Yard" event on Sept. 8 is a success.