The Oldest Rivalry in Sports

[Preface: For those of you who think the Holy War is intense, I'm about to knock your socks off.]

It began in 1901. Two teams from two rivaling cities. First, the Boston Americans, a team that, from the very beginning, displayed dominance in the arena of baseball. And then, the New York Yankees (or Highlanders, as they were frequently called back-in-the-day). The Americans won the inaugural World Series in 1903, and would go on to win four more times as the Boston Red Sox between 1912 and 1918. The Yankees, on the other hand, oft times found themselves toward the bottom of the standings.

And then came the curse. The year was 1919, the player, George Herman "Babe" Ruth.

To pay off some loans, Red Sox owner, Harry Frazee, sold Ruth to the Yankees for a paltry $125,000 and a loan of $300,000 (which was secured for Fenway Park). This sparked the era of Yankee dominance and began the superstition of the "Curse of the Bambino." Indeed, the Yankees would go on to win 26 World Series titles, while the Red Sox wallowed in mediocrity, misfortune and ignominy. There were multiple times throughout the years where it seemed like the Red Sox would break the curse, only to be foiled by "Bill Buckner"-type events. In 2003, it appeared that the Bo Sox would finally defeat their enemy, in game 7 of the American League Championship Series (ALCS), and return to the World Series.

Alas, it was not meant to be.

The game went into extra innings, and it appeared that Boston might outlast the Yankees. The bottom of the 11th inning found Aaron Boone, a sometime 3rd baseman who was brought into the game earlier as a pinch runner, hitting a walk-off home run and sending the Yankees to their sixth World Series in eight years. It also marked the 86th year of the curse.

Perhaps it was only inevitable that the curse would be broken. In 2004, the Red Sox returned to face the Yankees in the ALCS, and found themselves down three games to zero... a seemingly insurmountable figure. And yet, to the shock of the Yankees and the shock of sports fans everywhere, the Sox came back and won the next four games, defeating the Yankees and going to the World Series for the first time since 1986. They are, to this day, the only sports team to come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a series.

Their subsequent World Series victory was icing on the cake, for they had already defeated their most formidable foe, and did so in a way that the history books will remember. It was as if all of the years of the curse melted away in this one inimitable series. For the next few years, the Yankees floundered while the Red Sox flourished. It seemed as if the curse, and the era of Yankee dominance were things of the past.

Until last year, that is...

The Yankees are back and better than ever. And with 27 World Series titles under its belt, this team is the winning-est team in the history of American sports. (And this year, they're up 4 games to 2 against the Red Sox. I'm just saying...)

Author's Note: Having been at the heart of both the Utah/BYU rivalry and the Yankees/Red Sox rivalry, I have to say that there are quite a few similarities.

First, if you are a true fan, it is utterly impossible to like both teams. You will, nay you must, love one and loathe the other. It's a pretty natural reaction, really, dependent on which side you're coming from. As an Italian American, I'll give you three guesses as to the baseball team I favor. My allegiance to a specific Utah team is not as obvious and my devotion is a little less fervent, but it comes out during the rivalry games. Believe that.

Second, true fans get intense. And I mean in-tense. In my youth, I had the unfortunate experience of coming between an indignant Red Sox fan and a Yankees fan post-game in the Bronx. My mother actually plugged my ears so that they would not be tainted by the language employed in this exchange. I'm pretty sure it could have peeled paint off the walls. And maybe most of the foul language was coming from the man in red. Maybe. I also have been that person on the second row of a certain school's student section clad entirely in the rival school's attire, all whilst dealing with the subsequent verbal barbs. Not paint peeling language, but laden with a sense of sanctimony that almost made me beg for profanity.

Third, to be a true fan you must own multiple pieces of memorabilia/branded clothing. [I happen to own three hats, a beanie (you know, when they were cool), six shirts, a license plate cover, key chain... you get the idea.] How can you support your team if you don't show it?

Last, true fans know their stuff. They know the stats, they know the players. They know the history. They follow the games even if they don't attend. They have no patience for "posers" and have a genuine respect for the true fans of their opposing team. In fact, that is perhaps the only thing that rivals have in common... their intense devotion to their respective team.

Who do you cheer for?