The Passion of a Boston Baseball Fan

Guest Post by Glenn Sullivan


Baseball fans come together for a grueling 162 game season with two months of pre-season and possibly playoffs. These fans spend nine months together and develop a sense of comradery, but it doesn’t stop there. Teams sell the idea of a family or community coming together for the same cause. Whether that cause be supporting a player or supporting another fan, just because the seasons over doesn’t mean the family goes away. According to David Ortiz fans are what get him going “I just love the feeling from the fans and when I'm walking on deck I can hear people screaming and wishing you the best. That puts you into the game more than anything.” But that doesn’t go without pressure from them as well “Sometimes you just don't feel the same everyday, it doesn't matter what you do, but when you have people looking forward to seeing you perform for them, that puts you in the mood, and that's natural in Boston. That's why it's such a special place to play.” Ortiz knows every time he steps to the plate he has 50,000 fans behind him motivating him to succeed. Fans develop a sense of ownership to their team as well, so much so that they are willing to go to war with the fan of another team. Fans triumph together, fight together and the loose together, but ultimately keep moving forward together.

Winning

When times are good there isn’t much for fans to complain about. During the off season your team came up with a plan and so far everything has gone accordingly. Those issues that have seemed to plague your team in the past disappear and it is nothing but blue skies. The dreams of a playoff run seem more real every day and you can feel the energy surging from the crowd at the game or bar. Fans are talking about the previous night’s game to their co-workers and making predictions for upcoming ones. Fans get so caught up in the moment they would do anything for their team. Take the 2013 Boston Red Sox, during their championship run the majority of the team stopped shaving and grew their beards out. Fans were quick to follow, growing their own playoff beards. Red Sox nation rallied around the slogan “beard strong.”

After winning the 2004 World Series for the first time in 86 years the Red Sox owner said "This is like an alternate reality. All of our fans waited their entire lives for this...We won't even need the airplane to fly home." --John Henry. The energy in the stadium after the win was surreal, fans waited hours after the game to spend time celebrating with fellow fans and players.

Fighting

Some say Boston has the toughest crowed to play in front of. That’s because these fans will stop at nothing to support their team, even if it means taking things out side. During a 2005 game between the Red Sox and Yankees a fan threw a beer at Gary Sheffield as he was fielding a ball. This fan was ejected from the game, but had no remorse and felt he had done his team a great service in getting one over on the yanks. The hatred of a rival team runs deep and continues through the generations.

Losing

If your team is down and there seems like there’s no hope that is when the toughest fans shine through. Sometimes it seems like no matter what your team does it won’t make a difference you’re still going to lose that season. For years Red Sox fans have known true despair after going 86 years without a title. During those losing seasons the Red Sox would come so close to the promise land but never get in. They lost in the World Series to the Cardinals in 1946 and 1967, the Cincinnati Reds in 1975, and in 1986 to the Mets. It took true loyalty to be able to call themselves Red Sox fans while watching their team lose time and time again.

In the 9th

The Red Sox have an effect on their fans, a feeling of being overwhelmed with the atmosphere. It’s hard to describe the feeling but here is Simon Schama’s a Columbia University professor attempt at it “I'm helplessly and permanently a Red Sox fan. It was like first love...You never forget. It's special. It's the first time I saw a ballpark. I'd thought nothing would ever replace cricket. Wow! Fenway Park at 7 o'clock in the evening. Oh, just, magic beyond magic: never got over that”

Boston may be known for its tough crowd, but it’s also known for its diehard fans. We have known true glory during the banner years with the Celtics, and we have known true disappointment during the 86 year drought with the Sox’s. Boston fans know the meaning of loyalty and how to be there for their family through thick and thin. Regardless of the team’s record, we will always find lines at the gates and hear fans singing Sweet Caroline.


Sources:

Baseball-Reference Playoff and World Series Index". Baseball-Reference. Sports Reference. Retrieved November 5, 2009.
Shaughnessy, Dan. "YES!!!" Boston Red Sox. Boston Globe, 28 Oct. 2004. Web. 30 Mar. 2016. .
Wilkins, Ryan. "Baseball Prospectus | The Week in Quotes: World Series Edition." Baseball Prospectus. N.p., 1 Nov. 2004. Web. 30 Mar. 2016. .
"David Ortiz Quotes." Baseball Almanac. N.p., 10 Oct. 2003. Web. 30 Mar. 2016. .

Sports and the Media: The Match Made in Heaven

Guest article by Robert Deters
Sports and the various media outlets that cover sports have always had a long and complicated relationship. The media and sports exhibit a complex symbiotic relationship driven by the pursuit of the almighty dollar. On the one hand are sports; sports, from baseball to curling, from peewee to pro garner a great deal of interest. There is simply no other entity on the face of the earth that creates such mass-market appeal. Sports have been interwoven into the fabric of society, since the dawn of man people have played games, and for as long as games have been played, people have enjoyed watching them. On the other hand was the media, the all knowing all seeing eye of the world. Before literacy rates increased and the cost of printing went down, the media was predominately newspapers and magazines aimed at the upper class. Decreasing the costs led to an expansion of the market, and with it a growth in sports coverage. Sports were able to grow due to the increased attention brought by the media, while the media saw a huge jump in advertising revenue from this new market. Sports and the media grow from each other, advancement for one leads to advancement of the other. According to sources “Virtually every surge in the popularity of Sports has been accompanied by a dramatic increase in the coverage provided by the media” and its pretty obvious that media outlets gain a lot from big sports stories in the way of increased sales.

Often times the media will use its coverage of certain issues, teams, or players to portray its sponsors in a positive light at the expense of journalistic integrity. ESPN removed its name from a documentary about concussions to help protect one of its corporate partners, The National Football League, from any negative press. Red Sox owner John Henry famously paid $70 million dollars in cash in 2013 for the Boston Globe after a dismal collapse at the end of the 2012 season . The buy-out all but guaranteed that the Red Sox would be getting agreeable write ups in one of the largest media outlets in New England. While moves like this may help to build the brand and increase corporate gains, the implied corruption of a team controlling the news has the potential to alienate the fans that are the driving force behind this billion-dollar industry.

The media helps to establish the brand and contributes a great deal to the overall “product” that sports franchises seek to sell. Sports have created a myriad of media outlets dedicated just to them and most importantly allow advertisers to tap an enormous market. Media coverage of sporting events is a revenue machine for the companies that use them for advertising. As long as sports continue to draw mass audiences, there will always be profits, and sports and the media will always be related.