Tufts' baseball fan culture is polarized, and strikingly so.
Fans of the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox, easily the most visible on campus, bring the heated rivalry between the two clubs to the Hill, engulfing the campus in the Yankees-Red Sox mania that thrives everywhere. The rivalry is so intense that it attracts not only students from New York and Massachusetts, but also fans from across the nation.
"I think it has a huge role in drawing in fans and at Tufts in particular, with a lot of people from the [New York metropolitan] area and a lot of people from Boston and Massachusetts," sophomore Stephan Juergensen said. "For a lot of people, you're sort of forced to lean one way or the other even if you're from a totally different region."
One need not travel back to the days of Babe Ruth (the 1920s) or even Bucky Dent (the 1970s) to understand why the rivalry is so heated. Both teams are perennial World Series contenders, setting up classic postseason clashes that have only added fuel to the fire. In the last decade, the Yankees and Red Sox have met three times in the playoffs. New York took the 1999 American League Championship Series (ALCS) en route to their 25th World Series title, as well as the 2003 ALCS on a memorable walk-off home run by Aaron Boone in the seventh and deciding game.
But Boston exacted its revenge a year later, storming back from three games down in the ALCS to stun the Yankees and complete the biggest comeback in postseason history. The Red Sox then swept the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series to claim their first championship in 86 years.
Adding to the intensity of the rivalry is the star power on each roster. New York boasts a lineup with All-Star caliber players at nearly every position, not to mention some of the game's most recognizable faces in Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez. Boston counters with fan favorites Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz, the leaders of a group of established veterans.
With so much emotion on each side of the rivalry, it is no surprise that hatred for "the enemy" rages unbridled, and many Yankees and Red Sox fans will happily expound on the faults of their opponents.
For years, the Yankees have served as an easy target for grumbling and dissatisfied Red Sox fans. During Boston's 86-year championship drought, the Yankees won 26 World Series titles, the most in American sports history.
"Growing up in Rochester, I didn't have a baseball team," 2007 graduate Jeff Wojciechowski said. "I followed from a distance, but I hated that the Yankees won all the time and had a ton of money."
With owner George Steinbrenner, whose checkbook knows no bounds, New York has been labeled the "Evil Empire."
"In the '90s, people bandwagoned like it was an ice cream truck because everyone likes a winner," junior Korin Hasegawa-John added. "There's nothing wrong with winning, but Steinbrenner's entire system has been based on hiring overpaid veterans past their prime, like [pitcher Roger "Rocket"] Clemens, and complaining when they don't do that well. If you sign old people to contracts, don't expect them to play like the Rocket in [1993]."
Yankees fans are quick to retort. Although the first-place Red Sox have coasted this year, effortlessly beating a hard-hitting Yankees ballclub into second place, many Boston fans just can't seem to part with their underdog status. Cries of hypocrisy rang throughout Yankee country after the Red Sox dropped a cool $51 million just to negotiate with Japanese pitching phenom Daisuke Matsuzaka over the 2006 off-season.
"I think their fans are huge hypocrites because they are the second most expensive team in baseball," 2007 graduate and Yankees fan Faisal Alam said. "The Evil Empire' would make sense if they weren't spending so much on their payroll."
Many New Yorkers are also critical of Boston fans themselves, who at times seem so embroiled in the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry that their hatred for New York exceeds their passion for their own team.
"Living at Tufts for four years has left me completely frustrated with baseball fans there," Alam said. "I just find them barbaric. It's more like I'm being hated as if I were a different race. There are some cool Sox fans out there who are true fans of baseball, but there are a lot of guys out there who take it way too seriously."
"What I dislike most about Red Sox fans is the amount of time and effort they spend aggravating Yankees fans and wearing anti-Yankees stuff instead of cheering for their own team," junior Roni Herbst said.
Differences aside, one thing is clear: Yankees and Red Sox fans alike are serious about their baseball.
"The thing I respect about Red Sox fans is that they really love their team, and they care about baseball," junior Alex Blumenthal said. "I think a lot of Red Sox fans aren't just Yankee haters, and I feel like it's the same way with the Yankees. I think both kinds of fans care about baseball as a whole."
So sit back, relax and choose a side. You can start rooting tonight as the teams square off under the lights at Yankee Stadium.
