SIVACRACY.NET

From an Altercation/Sivacracy reader:

Let me first say that I'm generally a fan of your work, as it appears on Altercation.

But I must side with your wife on certain
baseball-related program activities. I tried to send
my response to Altercation, but the form on that site
was giving me an error. So I thought, hey, I can just
send it straight to the horses mouth, so to speak. So
below is my letter. But I haven't gone through it to
change how I wrote it, so it is still in the form of a
letter to Altercation, please enjoy it in good health:

Since when does Siva start writing such schlock?
Perhaps since he started writing about the Yankees.

First of all, Siva moved to NYC during the Yankees big
World Series run -- he just a bandwagon jumper.
Second, only a few sickos among Red Sox fans wanted to
stay martyrs -- most just wanted their team to finally
win the World Series for the joy of it and so they
could be normal fans again, if rabid, rather than
"cursed." Fortunately, the Sports Guy from ESPN has a
new book out all about this -- Siva should read it, if only to help his marriage. Actually,
Simmons does a great job writing about the Red Sox, so
he should read it just for the pleasure.

His wife claims Yankees fans are arrogant, and Siva
proves it with several quotes, "the Yankees naturally
won," "I would miss the fourth and final game and yet
another moment of humiliation for the Red Sox," "I am
certain that the Red Sox will have to endure another
86-year exile from the Promised Land," and "Of course,
the Yankees won that game." Even though I think he
was doing this on purpose, it still fits the
eye-rolling Yankee fan behavior to a T.

But Siva should know better. And he claims that
Buffalo fans have it worst. Hmm, how many people would
visit the graves of loved ones to deposit Bills
memorabilia if they finally won the Super Bowl? Maybe
a few. Maybe a few more if the Sabres were to bring
the Stanley Cup around for a tour. But all the folks
visiting the graves of lost loved ones around here
were all over the headlines here for a week after the
World Series, and made it into a moving article in
Sports Illustrated.

Part of what has built up so much angst for Red Sox
fans is that they have (pretty) consistently fielded
competitive teams, but every 10 years or so get to the
World Series only to lose in seven games. In '86 it
just started to become bizarre. So this (not the
rally) monkey really need to be shed off their backs.
Boston fans have been devoted to the Red Sox for
generations, which leads me to my next point. He
tries to point to the successes of Boston's other
sports teams, but what he doesn't admit/realize is
that Boston's sports lives and dies by the Red Sox.

Would he abandon the Sabres for the Canadiens (I mean,
if hockey existed)? And, yes, the Celtics have had
great basketball success, but more recently they have
had 2 number one picks, um, die. One before he could
even show up for a practice, and the other after
several strong seasons becoming the team leader.
Kinda takes the wind out of a franchise's sails. The
fans' too.

Side note: I can't stand it when people say that the
Patriots now are just like the Yankees. Not even
close. Winning is not the only defining
characteristic of the Yankees. You must also act like
you own the league and treat other teams like your own
personal farm club. The Patriots have won while on a
level playing field and without any arrogance - they
specialize in teamwork and execution from the players
and great coaching and team building from the coaches
and owners.

Yeah, Pedro is an "aggressive" pitcher. So is
Clemens. Hardly anything new for dominant pitchers.
And yeah, the Yankees had to respond - I have no
problem with that, but what is a 72 year old guy doing
in the melee acting like dumb ox? It was unfortunate,
but I'm just glad he got put on the ground rather than
actually taking any blows. It wasn't pretty, but it
could've been worse.

For the record, I'm originally from Los Angeles,
where all the families and sports teams are originally
from someplace else. But I have lived in Boston for
the last 13 years and I'm endlessly fascinated by the
local bible belt style fundamentalism over sports.
NYC appears to share this trait.

Thanks,
Michael Roberts