Rant Against the Chant
Tis the Season to Remind You That You'll Look Like a Tool If You Wear Those Shirts and Chant That Low Rent Chant
Kevin Cullen: Nice Time to Retire the Stupidest Chant in the World
"...beyond being crude and moronic, the phrase "Yankees suck" is simply outdated. Its origins are from a bygone era, when we all knew deep down in our hearts that no matter how far ahead the Red Sox might have been in August, no matter the score and inning of a game in October, the Yankees were going to win. And there was nothing we could do about it.
But that's over. It's been over since October 2004, when "Yankees suck" should have been put out to pasture. Shouting "Yankees suck" at Fenway Park today is like yelling "No Taxation Without Representation!" at Faneuil Hall.
Whatever you think of "Yankees suck," it used to mean something, but now it doesn't. It is mindless, as those who chant it often are." -- 7.24.08, Kevin Cullen, Boston Globe
He's Preaching to the Choir... Kevin Hench, 2001, on BDD:
Yankees Suck? No Such Luck.
"I have dear friends in both columns, though it has never really been explained to my satisfaction just how it is that these Yankees suck. Clearly, with four World Series titles in five years, they do not suck in the Tampa Bay Devil Rays sense of sucking. With the obvious exception of Roger Clemens, Messrs. Jeter, Williams, Martinez, Mussina et al. wouldn't appear to suck in that Mean People Suck bumper-sticker kind of way. And while their record-setting $115-million payroll does invite invective, it would probably be poor form for the inveighing to come from fans of a team with a $108-million payroll.
The battle cry would seem as wrongheaded as it is coarse and venomous. But is it understandable? Forgivable? Explicable? Of course. This inarticulate speech of the heart bursts from a deep black well of sincere contempt and hard-earned hatred and should therefore not be judged too harshly for its inelegance. Still, as veterans of disappointment, the Fellowship of the
Miserable should perhaps demonstrate a little more sophistication in its collective response to our lifetimes of adversity." -- 8.5.01, Kevin Hench, Boston Dirt Dogs
"Amen to Kevin Cullen. Hey guys, 1998 called, they wanted their chant back. The "Yankees Suck" chant is awful, outdated, and isn't needed in the era of Boston as the City of Champions.
Chant "Year Two Thou-sand!" instead." -- 7.24.08, Ryan, Extra Bases comments
'Yankees You-Know-What' Shirts Banned at Fenway,
Although This Was the Deal Back in 2004, Too
"Fans have told us loud and clear that, for families, such shirts are offensive." -- 8.23.05, Charles Steinberg on the YS shirt ban
"It makes us look, as a community, like idiots." -- 2004, Bill Burt, WEEI, on the YS shirt wearing fandom
"I've stated many times that there is ZERO hatred on the field between these two teams (Red Sox-Yankees), for the most part, zero. Probably as much respect as anything... The hatred part is in the stands and in the media, they need that sorta stuff for material, and they make it into their own little story often times. What they don't make up, fans seem to give them willingly." -- 2004, Curt Schilling
Sully: Can't We All Just Get Along?
"Both fan bases will boo the third base coach and embrace hard working players (like the Yankees with Luis Sojo and the Red Sox with Rich Garces.) Both fan bases live and die with the team and basically play 162 seasons. Heroes are booed the next day. Villains get standing ovations if they come through. It's a collective passion that is so common between the two fan bases that it should be seen as common ground...
[Reason No.] 8. We've Both Been Burned By Roger Clemens. Seriously... he'll have to wear a Blue Jays Cap on his Hall of Fame plaque!" -- 7.14.08, Sully Baseball
