Home Run Derby

It seems like maybe Kimmel’s PSA should be directed at the sports media, not at Red Sox fans. I guess I don’t understand why rooting for your team makes you an asshole. People react negatively to “Red Sox Nation” because the media insisted on pushing the story on the country for months and months after the 2004 win. What did you want the fans to do, though? Not be a fan anymore? And, what, now we’re blaming the true fans for some people who hopped on the bandwagon?

Of course I realize this PSA is a “joke” from Jimmy Kimmel (I’ve always found it hard to classify anything he says as funny, so it’s hard to use the term “joke” without those quotes), but I guess it just speaks to a broader situation that I don’t really understand. If you like a team, cheer for that team. If the media want to write about it incessantly, well, then, that’s not really the fans’ fault, is it?

I’m glad someone else set out to prove that other people besides Red Sox fans can be dicks, too. Congratulations, Beau.

My experience is that the behavior of fans is about the same as the behavior of the media. I lived in Boston for a number of years, and the thing that wore me out was how pervasive the sports “rooting” was. If the team won, it was unbelievable news that dominated conversation. If the team lost, it was unbearable news that dominated conversation. If the team didn’t play, then some experience about how the team had recently or historically done seemed to dominate the conversation. My reaction was always: let it go, get some perspective, talk about something else. Grow up. You’re suffocating me with your reactionary, home-team-only crap.

If you’ve ever read Bill Simmons, you can imagine what being surrounded by a few million folks like this might be like. I talk to folks that find him to be a caricature, but I think he’s a completely normal example of a Boston sports fan.

My guess is that the insufferable sports media focus on Boston is generated by a lot of Boston sports fans in the media (like Simmons). ESPN’s location in the northeast kind of makes me wonder whether the annoying people I remember not being able to get away from are the same ones that are pushing out all the headlines. It certainly feels like the same behavior to me.

Dave