The country's favorite rivalry of all sports is entering Game 4 tonight, with the Red Sox having taken 2 of the 3 first games in Yankee Stadium. What used to be national news is a mere afterthought at the moment, and the question is why?
Is it the absence of the polarizing moments of Pedro Martinez handling the raging bull Don Zimmer?
The eery silence and lack of physical interference of Alex Rodriguez as he rounds the bases?
Maybe it's the mere fact that Red Sox Nation finally broke through the Evil Empire, therefore dousing the flames of futility and of this heated rivalry..
Or maybe it's the damn Rays of Tampa Bay. You see Boston and New York have done such a good job at making sure Baltimore, Toronto and Tampa Bay were cities of irrelevance, hogging the focus for themselves in a dog eat dog atmosphere...and then they got lazy. The Sox won a second Championship and are no longer cuddly underdogs that everyone loves to root for. The Yankees went green on us, steering away from their Darth Maul days and instead opting for young Skywalkers instead of hired hitmen like Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy over Vader wannabe Johan Santana. The rules of the league were taken for granted and now what's missing from the best rivalry sports has to offer...is...well...
first place.
You see, since 1995 one of these two teams has been the best the AL East has to offer and in the past 12 years, these two teams can lay claim to six championships. And while no one is saying that the Red Sox won't make the playoffs, or win the division, or win the World Series....and only the young and dumb would count out the Yankees who were twelve back a year ago at this time before righting the ship and continuing their successful run of consecutive postseason appearances.
But now instead of the lore of the last season of the Yankess-Sox rivalry in the House that Ruth built, it's the new car smell of the House that Greg Vaughn built for the Rays-Sox heated rivalry.
Instead of Varitek vs. A-Rod round 2, we were treated to Shields vs. Coco, the Rumble in the Tropic.
Instead of the Evil Empire vs. The Sox Nation, we have, well about 5,000 kind of loyal Floridians who will come out if it's not too hot today, and it better be "Umbrella Giveaway Day" because if one of those 20 minute thunderstorms comes through we're taking our Cadillacs back to Buena Vista to sit in our nice air conditioning and hit the early bird $7 steak dinner....
Instead of Ruth, Gherig, Mantle, DiMaggio, Mattingly, Jeter- Williams, Buckner, Manny, Papi- It's now McGriiff, Canseco, Crawford and Longoria...
and it looks like we better get used to it, cause the Sox and the Yanks just aren't the same anymore.
Anthony "The Moneyball" Moniello
