But this week, I am writing about why I hate Boston Red Sox fans.

To try and sum that up in a mere 800 words is just about impossible.

So forgive me if I go a little over this week, but I just can’t help myself given the topic.

Since winning the World Series in 2004, Red Sox fans have become the most annoying rooters in not just baseball, but all of  professional sports.

Actually, you could see this coming in 2003 when Kevin Millar wouldn’t shut-up about the “Cowboy Up” rally, which by the way  was the most absurd rally cry in baseball history.

I didn’t think it could get worse.

Boy was I wrong.

Now, all we hear  about on a daily basis is Red Sox Nation, a.k.a. the Red Sox fans.

Hank Steinbrenner put it best when he said, “Red Sox Nation? What a bunch of [expletive] that is. That was a creation of the Red Sox and ESPN, which is filled with Red Sox fans.”

He is absolutely 100 percent correct.

The actual phrase is said to be coined during the 1986 World Series, but lets be honest here. Most Red Sox fans didn’t even exist prior to 2004.

I guess the Nation only exists when the team is winning, which unfortunately for us real fans out there, has been a lot recently.

Now, everywhere you look you see a Big Papi jersey.

I can’t even watch a baseball game without hearing about the so-called special bond between Red Sox fans and the team—thanks a lot Joe Buck, you make me want to watch a Joe Morgan broadcast.

Why do these people get  preferential treatment?

What did they ever do besides ruin the classic song “Sweet Caroline?”

The song is played during the eighth inning of every game at Fenway Park.

Knowing the Nation, they hated the song until this tradition started.

Now, they probably claim it’s been their favorite song for years.

What else can you expect from a group of bandwagon hoppers?

They’re player is always the best, and you can’t argue logically with them.

I’m sure they think Coco Crisp should be in the All-Star game later this month —which is being played at Yankee Stadium—something else they’ll probably whine about.

I decided to do a little research on Red Sox Nation.

Here’s what I found out:

Red Sox Nation currently offers membership for a new nation, which consists of three levels of membership: "Fan Pack" for $14.95; "Ultimate Fan Pack" for $109.95; and "Monster Pack" for $249.95.

If you purchase the Monster Pack, included is a season subscription to MLB.tv — oh, and the opportunity to “buy” two Green Monster seat tickets.

This was comical to me.

Even the Red Sox take advantage of their fans, classic.

Let me guess, Ben Affleck, the former Mr. J-Lo and star of Gigli, is the president of the Nation.

This is their big time “celebrity” fan, enough said.

Red Sox fans can be defined by the way they treated Bill Buckner for 20 plus years.

Buckner, a good ball player and even better human being, misplayed a Mookie Wilson ground ball in the final inning of that infamous Game 6 loss in the ‘86 World Series.

Last time I checked, Buckner didn’t give up three consecutive singles and throw a wild pitch, which ultimately led to his error.  

And there was still a Game 7 yet to be played.

But Sox fans don’t care about that.

Just how nasty were they towards him?

The man had to flee the city and eventually moved his family to Idaho.

Now that says fan loyalty.

On April 8, Buckner returned to Fenway Park and threw out the first pitch at the Red Sox home opener, where  he received a 4 minute standing ovation.

So I guess that makes it all better, right Red Sox fans?

You crucify the man for two decades, but now that you got World Series rings, everything is forgotten.

Just like the Nation itself, that’s a joke.

Let me move on.

I could not write this column without mentioning a few more things.

First, the movie Fever Pitch, which I’m ashamed to say I saw.

This was the worst sports movie I’ve ever seen—and it was about a Red Sox fan.

What a coincidence.

Drew Barrymore, who plays the girlfriend of die-hard Sox fan (Jimmy Fallon), becomes a Red Sox fan during the 2004 season. At the beginning of the movie, she had never even heard of the Curse of the Bambino.

By the end, she was a huge Red Sox fan.

Hmm...this sounds familiar. Thanks for proving my point.

And of course I have to talk about the “that’s just Manny being Manny” phrase.

No matter what the situation, Red Sox fans will use this.

Oh, your car broke down, that’s just Manny being Manny.

Seriously, they think it’s the greatest saying ever invented.

The guy goes in the Green Monster during a pitching conference to apparently go to the bathroom and they’re ready to build a statue of him.

This is the same guy who wants traded every year.

Finally, here’s what gets me the most.

Red Sox fans are the first to roast other teams about buying championships.

Let’s look at the big names on that 2004 World Series roster.

You had Pedro and Schilling,  the heartbeat of the pitching staff.

Don’t forget about Big Papi, Manny, Johnny Damon, I could go on all day. The point is they were all either free agents or   acquired via trade.

Yet it’s always the Yankees buy anyone  they want, we never hear about Boston.

I don’t understand it.

All we heard about for years was how losing builds character.

Year after year, we listened to them, cry, pout, complain, etc. So what happens when they finally win?

They show no class at all.

That’s just a Red Sox fan being a Red Sox fan.

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4 comment(s) found!

Posted by: Chris On: 7/5/2008

Comment Title: Good thing the Moultrie News is free
After reading the recent article "Why I hate Red Sox fans" I was amazed the the editor would actually allow this article to be published especially with so many Red Soxs fans in Mt. Pleasant. But after thinking a little more about it I guess you cannot expect to much from a free weekly newspaper. Santillo do you even get paid to write these articles with absolutaly no class. I also found it interesting that you never talk about your favorite baseball team as a counter-point. Thanks for justifying the fact why I never read this paper and use it for my dogs to pee and crap on in there kennel. Go Soxs, Pats, and Celtics.
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Posted by: Fellow RED SOX LOVING Bostonian On: 7/3/2008

Comment Title: SOUR GRAPES, MIKE
Paul, coming from another Irish Catholic, Boston born native, I couldn't have said it any better! Hat's off to you and GO SOX! Hey Mike...want a sip of my champagne?
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Posted by: Peter On: 7/3/2008

Comment Title: Red Sox Fans
Mike, Bronx? Brooklyn? The only news from your beloved Yankees is what strip club was A-Rod last seen stumbling from. Can't wait for the latest outburst from Uday and Qusay Steinbrenner. Please lord, keep the Yankees out of the AL East basement for fear they will have to increase the payroll. Cute article Mike. Obvious no need for performance enhancing drugs for you.
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Posted by: Paul Cheney On: 7/3/2008

Comment Title: Why we could care less
Reading the Sports section of the Moultrie News of 2 July 08 was like watching my four year old learn how to do the backstroke. With her one arm propulsion all she did was go in circles. I’d like to say I was dizzy from reading Mr. Santillo’s piece on why he hates Boston Red Sox fans, but the dizziness may have come from the seventeenth bottle of champagne I had just finished … Do you have any idea how difficult it is to consume seventeen bottles of champagne? Seventeen you say? Why yes, you see that would equate to the number of World Championships belonging to the Boston Celtics. Well, I’m Irish Catholic so it’s easy … oops, was that a generality? Forgive me. On with my story … So into the strong box I go last night to dust off my birth certificate which reads: Born on this day, the 17th day of November in the year of 1960, at 12 pounds 10 ounces a native son of Boston is born. The neat thing about my birth certificate is the Boston sports logos that occupy each corner of the document. Yes – that is how we (Bostonians) all come into the world, and as legend has it – we come into the world without a whisper. Just put on the game and we’ll be happy. Yes happy. Happy is the synonym for those Boston-Irish who came into the world in the sixties as we ran home from school to watch the RED SOX (always capitalized) take the field, including the likes of Yaztremski, Lonborg, Petrocelli, Williams (Dick), Smith, Foy, and George Scott. Names we are proud to continue to live with. The RED SOX were punished in that World Series by the great Bob Gibson – but nonetheless we were there and we enjoyed it. We enjoyed it later in ’75, ’86, ’88, ’90, ’95, ’98, ’99, ’03, ’04, ’05 and ’07, and that’s just one team. Yes, just one. Another great point of being of Boston descent is the limited choices we have. We have one baseball team, I’m sorry, one defending World Series Champion baseball team to choose from, we have one basketball team, one defending World Champion basketball team to choose from, one football team, one three time Super Bowl Champion football team to choose from and one hockey team to choose from. Just one of each – as stated earlier with the birth certificate. These are our birth rights and we plan to defend them however we choose. We are a Nation of fans who are proud to wear the Big Papi shirt, could care less what the young Steinbrenner (current Manhattan mouthpiece) has to say about RSN, who by the way has never been 100 percent correct about anything except perhaps telling the Moultrie News sports desk to turn down the volume on Bruce’s version of “Glory Days”. Get over yourself champ. We’ve been a Nation long before Buckner booted the Wilson offering and we’ll be a Nation long after you figure out when we decided to bend the axle on the bandwagon. Guessing by your glamour shot in the paper, I figure you were somewhere in the neighborhood of having your training wheels taken off your new Huffy or realizing that baby powder works much more effectively than bag balm on that nasty little diaper rash you had going during the ’86 World Series. I’m not here to argue when and how we treated Buckner, like I said – we’re born a happy bunch and by the sounds of things – I’d say we (the Nation) must be a ton happier that that group in the Bronx, but I’ll leave that for yet another retort, because that would be “me being me”. Listen up – We have been a Nation, will remain a Nation and we will continue to support not yet household names, such as Ellsbury, Smith, Pedroia, Masterson, Lopez, Moss, etc., etc. One important item your story failed to mention was the 2004 collapse at the ALCS. There are RSN members all over the Lowcountry waiting to chime in on your humorous piece and I will now allow them the space and the time to do so. The four year old I spoke of earlier is getting ready for her 13th birthday and has been a member of RSN since birth. This is how you know she’s a member of the Nation … “Dad, if you take me to Fenway, I will never ask for Disney!” Off to Fenway we went. By the way – speaking of All-Stars … where is A-Rod going to be during the Home Run Hitting Contest? Give me a break. I’ll take Mike Lowell everyday and so does the Nation. You can turn up Glory Days now as Caroline and I have left the room.
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