A City's Sport: What's with the Chant?
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by user Justin Yost
In my three most recent sporting event trips, all of which were to Fenway Park, I made an astonishing discovery, rather an epiphany of the sports world. While my first trip to Fenway this year was for the customary first game against the New York Yankees and the return of Johnny Damon, I merely reveled in the glory that is baseball. But for my second and third trips, first against the Philadelphia Phillies last weekend and then again last night against the New York Mets for the even more entertain return of Pedro Martinez.
First of all, let me say that the return of Pedro certainly had an interesting ring to it. I, as a Philadelphia fan, would have certainly been confused as to whether to boo or not, but I feel as though the correct decision was made. They cheered for his introduction and promptly watched him get shelled. The old town team fans responded with a raucus slow chant of “Pedro,” fitting I felt, as he is now the enemy. Pedro is a respected enemy, but the opposition none the less. So, I tip my cap to Bean-Town fans that was truly a classy way of doing it.
But more importantly, and something that dominated the night, was another chant, that of something both fans could agree on, “Yankees Suck.” Now what the Yankees had to due with this is up in the air. Sure the Red Sox hate the Yankees and the Mets, by proximity hate them as well, but at what level does the New York Yankees sucking have to do with two teams playing over 200 miles away.
To take this to an even more abstract level, I noticed a similar effect during the Phillies and Sox game. During the game, I not only heard the “Yankees Suck” chant, which Philly fans whole-heartedly agree with, but also the typical “Let’s Go Red Sox” and so on. In fact, I think at least a portion of Phillies fans booed Brett Myers simply out of spite, and I think we can all understand that. Regardless, what was the Phillies fans response to any Boston chant? Yes, you guessed it “E-A-G-L-E-S EAGLES!.” This has absolutely nothing to do with this game save that the Phillies play next door to the Eagles (Albeit only for September as the Phils never see October baseball).
In fact, during some of the more recent New England Patriots Parades, some fans were often caught chanting in similar fashion, chanting “Yankees Suck” yet again, and this was at a championship parade for another beloved team.
This, to me, shows the true level at which a city loves a particular sport. No matter how good the Pats are, or how bad the Red Sox get, the Sox will always be the love affair of that town. The same applies to Philly and the Eagles, New York and the Yankees, Pittsburgh and the Steelers and so on.
This love affair will always exist between one sports team and a city. Some teams love the finesse and style of baseball, while others enjoy the power and brutality of football. All of it is great, but this is the point where sports towns truly separate themselves.
Date
Thu 06/29/06, 6:26 am EST
