The New Breed Of Red Sox Fan

I made up a trip to the mall this morning in a quest to find one of the new Yankees hooded sweatshirts. It's the one you see the players wearing during warm-ups. Yeah, I'm that guy. I have to rock what the players rock. One of the stores that I checked in was a local sports collectibles store that sells some team apparel. As I walk through the store's opening, the first thing I see is John Q. Red Sox Fan wearing a green Sox t-shirt and a matching Sox hat, staring back at me wearing my Yankees hooded sweatshirt. Incidentally, it was the hoodie that the guys wore last year. We lock eyes for about a second, exchange a quick head nod, and I divert my eyes to a scan of the store looking for the Yankees gear.

So as I'm perusing the racks, I can overhear John Q. Sox Fan talking to one of the guys that runs the place. He's talking about how he was at the game yesterday in Toronto and he can't wait to watch today's Sox/Jays game on TBS. The store clerk didn't know that they showed baseball on TBS and the Sox fan said it was a new thing and they would show about 30 games this year. Anyway, John Q. Sox Fan than says that he's excited to watch Halladay vs. Burkett. Yes, that's right, Burkett. What what what? Burkett? Really? I was very tempted to interject myself into their conversation and ask if meant Beckett, but I decided just to shake my head, chuckle, and chalk it up to him being part of the new breed of Red Sox fan. You know the type. The bandwagon fan that's recently jump aboard, has been a fan for all of about 2 years, and can't name more than 5 guys on the team. Every team has them. The Yankees have more than their share. And it's always annoying when you run into them. It wouldn't be so bad if they didn't try to play themselves as more than the average fan. But seriously. I would think even the most casual Red Sox fan would know that their team's best pitcher is named Josh Beckett. Inexcusable, but what can you do but shake your head and laugh?

And just to make sure, when I got home I checked the web and no, John Burkett is not making a comeback. And if you were curious, I didn't find the sweatshirt.

Enjoy today's game. Peace, love and Pisntripes.

J-Boogie