New York Diary

Appositional Logic

I spent my lunchtime today at Rally Monday at Bryant Park. This entailed listening to Yankee legends and half-legends speak about the team's postseason prospects (it was universally acknowledged that they would win the World Series: the only right answer, obviously); getting a number for the raffle to win Yankees paraphernalia; and the opportunity to win tickets (good tickets) to Game 3 of the Anaheim-New York series.

It also involved Greg Nettles being asked to lead a cheer of "Let's Go Yankees!" He stood up, took the mic, and cheered, "Boston sucks! Boston sucks!" It got a glorious reaction from the crowd.

Now, I have always maintained that Boston is a city (and, of course, a team) dependent upon an inferiority-complex for their identity. What is the Boston cheer when Baltimore comes to town? "Yankees suck! Yankees suck!" Clearly, their identity is merely appositional: "We are not New York; that is who we are." I have always thought the "Yankees suck" thing goes a little far.

But now, I must confess, I kind of understand it. It was much more fun to cheer "Boston sucks" than it would have been to cheer "Let's go Yankees!" We were galvanized by panning our rivals. What does this say about human nature, I wonder?

At any rate, I apologize to Boston for so often chewing them out for their cheers & jeers. Kind of.

* One other thought: this is a city with identity. People came out for Jaguars rallies in Jacksonville, too. But nobody closed the rally by singing songs about how great Jacksonville was or how much we liked the city. Here, that is precisely what happened. This isn't just our team; it's our city, of which we are proud and to which we are fiercely loyal.

posted by Skay @ 4:17 PM