Syble Townsel's blog ::10 Steps to Rebuilding the Boston Red Sox Franchise
Professional sports have an interesting twist in New England. As late as the late 1990's, the New York Football Giants were as popular as the New England Patriots in the Greater Boston area. Before 1960, the Giants were the only team around and a lot of the old timers stuck with them as the new AFL Patriots bumbled through their first 35+ years of existence. While the Patriots lay claim to New England, the Boston Red Sox don't necessarily have the same claim. Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island seem solidly in the Nation of Red Sox, but Connecticut - small Connecticut - has a bit of succession in it. The "Munson-Nixon" line runs through the state, that physically imaginary/emotionally very real border between the Red Sox Nation and Yankees Nation. The Mason-Dixon line was surveyed during the 1760's to resolve border disputes between Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, and parts of Virginia. The "Munson-Nixon" Line has never been properly surveyed and remains a topic of considerable debate. Thurman Munson was a Yankees catcher for the 10 years between 1969 and 1979, when he perished in a fiery airplane accident on August 2 of that year. Munson had a notorious feud with Carlton Fisk, the Red Sox catcher, and was known as a tough, hard nosed player. Trot Nixon is a current player, now with the Cleveland Indians, but played for the Red Sox for the 10 years between 1996 and 2006. He was the player most closely associated with the expression "dirt dogs" and his scrappy play. This imaginary, yet quite visceral, line is named for them. The definition of this line varies with degrees of specificity. One author - writing in 2003 - describes the line as running "north of New Haven, but south of Hartford." This is a wide swath without much real definition - it does leave a significant portion of the state unaccounted for. Commoncensus.org online map based on user input and updated in October, 2006 would seem to indicate most of Connecticut has now been annexed by Red Sox Nation with only one odd swatch - from Greenwich to what looks like it may be Waterbury - still within the bounds of Yankee Nation. However, as with many borders, it is a volatile and instable border. A Times graphic, shows a more rakish border running from the North West corner of Connecticut to the southern border, just about dead center of the state versus the line that the aforementioned author would have running East/West. It is worth noting that the commoncensus map is based on input from over 2600 Red Sox fans and a little more than 1600 Yankees fans. It is entirely possible - indeed likely - that with a little more vocal representation, more of Connecticut would be reclaimed to the "YN." According to the New York Times, Quinnipiac College released a study showing 42% of Connecticut residents prefer the Yankees, 35% the Red Sox. The Mets were also rans in the survey. The second Times graphic is the result of their own survey and would seem to be the most accurate based on the methodology. By that survey, however, 5 of Connecticut's 8 counties are members of "RSN," meaning then that they're the least populated counties. According to the Times, television ratings back up that geography. Living in Central Massachusetts, this author can say with a reasonable degree of certainty that while the colors of the map would indicate a certain strength of conviction of each team's fan base, in local stores one can purchase their choice of either Yankees, Mets, or Red Sox paraphernalia. While we members of Red Sox Nation are the majority, it would behoove all involved to remember that there are sizable minorities in our midst, enough to make it worthwhile for supermarkets to carry "enemy" gear. A Red Sox fan board would seem to indicate a level of disagreement with that map and a level of agreement with this author's analysis. Central Connecticut would seem to be a conflicted place as it regards allegiance to professional baseball. A Meriden, CT newspaper, asks on its website which team rules the hearts of the citizenry. They even have a forum for Sox/Yankees fans to battle it out. There is no such quandary in any major Massachusetts nor any major New York news outlet - it's strictly a Connecticut phenomenon. Meriden would seem to be at the tip of that aforementioned, "odd swatch" within the Yankees Nation and truly on the front line in the battle for the hearts of the New England baseball fans. In this, what might seem to an outsider an arcane, almost inconsequential discussion, for those involved it is very real and very important. This author has gone for one haircut and one haircut only from a local barber shop, not because the work was substandard, but rather because the owner was a staunch Yankees fan. Instead, the additional three miles are driven to a more Sox friendly shop. Since American sports are closed corporations, rivalries of this kind are big business with big money on the line. There's a "rivalry bar" at one of Connecticut's tribal casinos, made possible only because of the fervor of the fans that come to this casino, located almost equidistantly from Boston and New York. Each of the teams have their own broadcasting network, and access to service. NESN, the Red Sox network, isn't received in Fairfield County, while the YES Network is available throughout. Each shift in the Munson-Nixon line means dollars on the line. This is an issue that causes conflict between neighbors and divides families. It's a marketing phenomenon most business could only dream about. Dear reader, this is a very real divide. REFERENCE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mason-Dixon_Line http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trot_Nixon http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thurman_Munson Steve Rushin "Resident Alien in Red Sox Nation" URL: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/inside_game/steve_rushin/news/2003/05/27/rushin0526/ http://www.jud.ct.gov/directory/maps/Juv/ John Branch, " Where Do Rivals Draw the Line" URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/18/sports/baseball/18fans.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5090&en=6f3f751649bd2179&ex=1313553600&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss |
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