I Am Alarmed at the Rise of Red Sox Nationalism

It is high time that we confront a specter looming over our baseball landscape: Red Sox Nation has become too bold.

For 86 years the Boston Red Sox were the butts of many jokes, a simmering danger to be sure, but ultimately harmless and ignored throughout the baseball world. However, in recent years, this quiet threat that was so readily dismissed has come into its own. Now adherents crow proudly of their vile philosophy that the Red Sox are superior to other baseball organizations.

What was once a small, dormant force has suddenly gained momentum in the face of astonishing success. 2004 and 2007 marked a sudden rise in fervor for the exceptionalism of Red Sox Nation and culminated in their most recent triumphs in 2013 and 2018. Like-minded individuals found one another and dared to give voice to what was once unspeakable: Red Sox Nation was rising. They have seized power; this past year they finished first in the American League East and threaten to undo all of the progress baseball has made in establishing a level field for all its teams.

Red Sox Nation has espoused a regressive fantasy that seeks to return baseball to the dark days of the early twentieth century when they won four championships in a seven-year span. This Red Sox Nationalism was long buried, silent but never truly eradicated. It has suddenly found its voice again, emboldened.

How long must we endure this? How long can we allow Red Sox Nation to proclaim the dominion of their team over others? They fill the streets and airwaves with their noxious and divisive tribalism. They hold rallies, chanting and denouncing all those who would oppose them. They brazenly wear their paraphernalia in public without fear of reprisal. Who does not feel a twinge of revulsion when hearing the opening bars of “Sweet Caroline” knowing the odious ideologies of those who have made it their anthem?

We must fight Red Sox Nationalism. Let them know that their outdated cries of Red Sox supremacy are little more than the wishful reveries of a misguided and deluded fan base. Resist it at every step. It seems that every day their numbers grow, always more than one might expect of what was assumed to be a decent and honorable sport.

But now is the time to acknowledge the menace and turn a blind eye no longer. Now is the time to confront and defeat Red Sox Nationalism. Now is the time to send it back to confines of Fenway Park where it belongs and should remain. It is the duty of every baseball fan from all walks of life to show the world that Red Sox Nation is not welcome across America so that one day, one day soon, we may all join in harmony and proclaim that singular truth that has brought all of baseball together over the years: “Yankees Suck!”