The Official Olde Towne Team Thread

[TripletDaddy]

Interesting.

So, I started cheering for the Red Sox in the early 80s. I was a big fan of Wade Boggs, Roger Clemens, Carl Yastrzemski, etc. I think I was drawn to them because I was also a fan of the Patriots starting in first grade in 1977 (because of the patriotic events surrounding the Bicentennial).

Then I lived there for a decade, luckily coinciding with their good years.

But if cheering for a team for the better part of 3 decades makes me a 'bandwagon poseur', then go ahead and call me that.

Thank you for sharing your convoluted story.

This is exactly the thing I am interested in hearing from folks. All the contrived ways people employ to make a nexus between them and the Socks.

Yours happens to be the Bicentennial celebration that led to liking the New England Patriots which led to liking the Socks. I have never heard that one before, but why not?

For me personally, I grew up a big Philadelphia Eagles fan, probably because I loved having quarters to buy candy and there was an Eagle on the back of the quarter.

[Surfah]

Thank you for sharing your convoluted story.

This is exactly the thing I am interested in hearing from folks. All the contrived ways people employ to make a nexus between them and the Socks.

Yours happens to be the Bicentennial celebration that led to liking the New England Patriots which led to liking the Socks. I have never heard that one before, but why not?

For me personally, I grew up a big Philadelphia Eagles fan, probably because I loved having quarters to buy candy and there was an Eagle on the back of the quarter.

This isn't unlike the way people explain their tattoos and supposed significance.

[TripletDaddy]

This isn't unlike the way people explain their tattoos and supposed significance.

Why is it that the Socks bring this out like no other team? Not even the Yankees. Poseurs really want in on the Boston bandwagon, although maybe not so much these days. I really think a big part of it is that they wanted to be able to perpetuate that "tortured BoSox fan" persona. There is something alluring about a lovable loser like Cub fan or old Boston fan and poseurs probably felt some sort of charge latching on to that. It was cool to be a fan that lived and died with the Curse of the Bambino, but these johnny-come-lately types do not fit that mold. They don't live and die with Boston because they rarely have ever lived in Boston, period.

Most of these folks are, almost by definition, poseurs, if they latch onto a team that is not their hometown team and have no other real connection to the new team. How does someone grow up in another part of the country where there already is a baseball team, not support that local team, then latch onto the Socks years later? Were they not a fan of baseball all that time? Did they just decide to like baseball so that they could like the Socks? And if they were a fan of baseball, why would they not support their hometown team?

The worst are the adult converts. WTF have you been doing most of your life with regards to baseball? Did you not follow the sport at all for the past 20 years? And now you do?

[Paperback Writer]

I'm not going to dignify DDD with a "poser" story. I've been a diehard RedSox fan for about 40 years. I have friends who have been diehard Cardinal, Oriole, Indian, and Cub fans for the same duration. And I don't consider them posers if they didn't ever live in St. Louis, Baltimore, Cleveland, or Chicago. One of my kids is a RedSox fan because of my influence and he's never set foot in Boston. Does that make him a poser? It's the only baseball team he's ever followed and it's not the hometown team that did make the post season.

But last night was tough. Not as bad as 1978, 1986, or 2003 but tough nonetheless. Even called Longoria's second homer after ESPN switched over to the Yankees-Rays game. My comment was that there should be 2 outs not 1 before Longoria hits a walk off home run. It was par for the course after Paps blew the save with none on and 2 outs.

But I doubt Boston would have advanced far in the post season. Perhaps this will be Tampa Bay's magical year.

[Green Monstah]

Why is it that the Socks bring this out like no other team? Not even the Yankees. Poseurs really want in on the Boston bandwagon, although maybe not so much these days. I really think a big part of it is that they wanted to be able to perpetuate that "tortured BoSox fan" persona. There is something alluring about a lovable loser like Cub fan or old Boston fan and poseurs probably felt some sort of charge latching on to that. It was cool to be a fan that lived and died with the Curse of the Bambino, but these johnny-come-lately types do not fit that mold. They don't live and die with Boston because they rarely have ever lived in Boston, period.

Most of these folks are, almost by definition, poseurs, if they latch onto a team that is not their hometown team and have no other real connection to the new team. How does someone grow up in another part of the country where there already is a baseball team, not support that local team, then latch onto the Socks years later? Were they not a fan of baseball all that time? Did they just decide to like baseball so that they could like the Socks? And if they were a fan of baseball, why would they not support their hometown team?

The worst are the adult converts. WTF have you been doing most of your life with regards to baseball? Did you not follow the sport at all for the past 20 years? And now you do?

I think your memory isn't serving you well. In 2000 there were tons of Yankee fans of the same stripe...El Spankos had just won 4 of 5 WS, I believe, and EVERYONE had a connection to the Yankees. You probably live in Utah, where I've heard there are tons of new Sox fans. The drama of '03 and '04, plus an additional WS W in '07 is probably enough to sway folks who have no real geographical connection to any other team. Not saying you have to like it, but that is, well, the whole idea behind putting together winning teams. That's the reason USC tried to buy national championships--more fans, more money (mo' problems??).

[TripletDaddy]

I'm not going to dignify DDD with a "poser" story. I've been a diehard RedSox fan for about 40 years. I have friends who have been diehard Cardinal, Oriole, Indian, and Cub fans for the same duration. And I don't consider them posers if they didn't ever live in St. Louis, Baltimore, Cleveland, or Chicago. One of my kids is a RedSox fan because of my influence and he's never set foot in Boston. Does that make him a poser? It's the only baseball team he's ever followed and it's not the hometown team that did make the post season.

You never really explained how you became a die hard fan. 40 years of suffering means that you were already on board prior to the nation's Bicentennial celebration.

[TripletDaddy]

The drama of '03 and '04, plus an additional WS W in '07 is probably enough to sway folks who have no real geographical connection to any other team. Not saying you have to like it, but that is, well, the whole idea behind putting together winning teams.

Thanks, I agree with you that you and your fellow Socks fans are bandwagon poseurs.

[Surfah]

Thanks, I agree with you that you and your fellow Socks fans are bandwagon poseurs.

Isn't LAute a Socks fan too?

[Green Monstah]

This is actually an acceptable story. However, please define "grew up." How old were you when you moved away? If you were 4, does not count. If you were in your teens, then ok.

Because I love your snarkiness, I'm going to give you the long version of the story.

Born in PHX, AZ. Parents divorced when I was five. Mom is from Maine, so she moved with the kids to Maine. I was there from kindnergarten until 8th grade, at which point I moved back to PHX, AZ to live with my dad.

I became a Sox fan in second grade. It was my first year of little league and my grandfather loved baseball (he actually grew up near Fenway Park) and was a former college coach. He loved the Sox, and despite the fact that no one else I lived with was a Sox fan, I loved them too.

Last nights game was bittersweet for many reasons, one of which was the guy calling the play-by-play: Sean McDonough (who's done quite a few BYU football games for ESPN the last few years). The local Bangor, Maine NBC affiliate used to show the Friday night (or Saturday day) Red Sox games, and I literally grew up watching the Sox to his voice (he was a pretty young guy at that time too). So, it's always great to hear him call a Sox game, but the outcome sort of spoiled the nostalgia.

To be fair, when I moved to AZ, the only real connection I had to the team was to follow them in the paper. I missed the Mo Vaughn hey day and the early part of Nomar's reign. In 2001, upon returning from my mish, I was able to follow them much more closely thanks to enhanced sports programming over the years and being the one who makes the cable/satellite decisions in my house.

At any rate, the criticism of nouveau Sox fans is fair, but you always end up looking like a douche when you assume there are no real Sox fans.

[Green Monstah]

Thanks, I agree with you that you and your fellow Socks fans are bandwagon poseurs.

Pray, tell, how did you become such a huge USC fan?

Were you somehow attracted to their post-1979 mediocrity, or do you have a secret mancrush on Sean Salisbury?

[TripletDaddy]

Isn't LAute a Socks fan too?

Yep. I think he is post Bicentennial.

btw, that is the greatest contrived reason for liking the Socks that I have ever heard......emotionally moved by the Bicentennial celebration of 1977.

[TripletDaddy]

Pray, tell, how did you become such a huge USC fan?

Were you somehow attracted to their post-1979 mediocrity, or do you have a secret mancrush on Sean Salisbury?

I saw the 1984 Summer Olympic Opening Ceremonies on TV. That rocket jet pack guy landed at the Coliseum and I decided to be a USC fan.

[Green Monstah]

Thanks, I agree with you that you and your fellow Socks fans are bandwagon poseurs.

There are lots; just like there are (well, were) lots of USC diehards during the glory years when Pete & boosters were able to pay kids fair market value for their services.

You're making yourself look like an ass (not that it's ever stopped you before).

[Pheidippides]

Thanks, I agree with you that you and your fellow Socks fans are bandwagon poseurs.

I'm not as passionate a fan as GM (I inherited the fanship from my father, who grew up (read: until age 22) in Boston and is still a die-hard; call me a poseur if you wish but I've been consistent over 30+ years). I am not interested in baseball that much, actually, although I go to a game or two a year in whatever city I'm in and bring my kids. But with all that said, the sox lost something when we won in '04. Our very identity was based around the lovable loser, like a more profane version of Charlie Brown. Bucky Bleepin' Dent and Bill Buckner were our identity. Losing to our hated pinstriped nemesis, selling our best player for a mess pottage - this was our legacy and what bound us together. Once the curse was broken, it wasnt the same. And now we are the Yankees Jr. Only the Cubs remain, and one day when some ragtag group wins a title in Wrigley and Bartman is forgotten, they too will look back and lament the loss of what made them special.

[Green Monstah]

I saw the 1984 Summer Olympic Opening Ceremonies on TV. That rocket jet pack guy landed at the Coliseum and I decided to be a USC fan.

You don't have to hide your love of Sean.

You're safe here at CUF. :gaymarriage: