The game continues.....

[Williamsburg2599]

"With spring training nearly upon us, that means it's almost time to talk incessantly about the Yankees and Red Sox. The first volley was fired by the Red Sox, or at least by their Class A affiliate, the Lowell (Mass.) Spinners. The Spinners have offered to buy new uniforms for any youth baseball team in New England willing to change its name from the Yankees to the Spinners......"
-The 10 Spot:Feb. 13,2006 Pete McEntergart, SI.com
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/writers/pete_mcentegart/02/13/ten.spot/index.html
What does everyone think about this? And is the rivalry greater than ever,or worse? and does anybody know how this whole thing truely started?lol

[RichardLikeWhoa]

wow..im not too sure...

it's intense

[SoxSon]

Overall, I don't think the rivalry is what it once was.

The shirt idea, though....that I like. :D

[RichardLikeWhoa]

if anything... Damon poored some gas on the fire...

the rivalry will get bigger and better then ever...

come on.. the evil empire got one of boston's most familiar/popular
faces..

[DoubleX]

Overall, I don't think the rivalry is what it once was.

I have to agree with that. I think the Red Sox finally winning, and not just winning, but winning the manner they did, has taken a lot of the edge off of the rivalry and has really changed the dynamics of it.

[Evangelion]

After playing some many games against the Yankees in two years; 2003 and 2004. The rivalry has died down a bit last year, but still I never can wait until New York and Boston to face off in the regular and post season. Though, the overall rivalry has died down for the time being.

DoubleX pretty much cover the biggest reason why it died down. Though, the endless amount of games they had during the period also add to it.

[DoubleX]

After playing some many games against the Yankees in two years; 2003 and 2004. The rivalry has died down a bit last year, but still I never can wait until New York and Boston to face off in the regular and post season. Though, the overall rivalry has died down for the time being.

DoubleX pretty much cover the biggest reason why it died down. Though, the endless amount of games they had during the period also add to it.

That's another good point - the rivarly is dilluted by the number of games played against each other. The funny thing is though, that I think in general, having more games against your division rivals is generally good for baseball.

I personally believe that all of September (or at least the last 3 weeks of the month) should be dedicated solely to divisional play. This will cultivate a playoff like atmosphere and give more teams and their fans hope. So even a team that's say, 7 or 8 games out on September 10th, knows they still have a decent shot because they get to play their rivals and can quickly make up ground. This way there'd be much fewer meaningless games in September and more intensity and interest.

[Williamsburg2599]

That's another good point - the rivarly is dilluted by the number of games played against each other. The funny thing is though, that I think in general, having more games against your division rivals is generally good for baseball.

I personally believe that all of September (or at least the last 3 weeks of the month) should be dedicated solely to divisional play. This will cultivate a playoff like atmosphere and give more teams and their fans hope. So even a team that's say, 7 or 8 games out on September 10th, knows they still have a decent shot because they get to play their rivals and can quickly make up ground. This way there'd be much fewer meaningless games in September and more intensity and interest.
finnaly a soxs fan agrees:clapping :clapping :clapping :clapping

[SoxSon]

I personally believe that all of September (or at least the last 3 weeks of the month) should be dedicated solely to divisional play. This will cultivate a playoff like atmosphere and give more teams and their fans hope. So even a team that's say, 7 or 8 games out on September 10th, knows they still have a decent shot because they get to play their rivals and can quickly make up ground. This way there'd be much fewer meaningless games in September and more intensity and interest.

Well...I don't really want to get to the point where the first few months of games could be pretty much be discounted, either.

That's why I've never really been a fan of the NBA. All that playing time, back and forth, back and forth, and BANG--there's a shot at the buzzer to swing the victory the other way. Why not just play basketball for five minutes and call it a day? ;) :D

We could just play 15 games or so and announce the division winners. :crazy

[Evangelion]

That's another good point - the rivarly is dilluted by the number of games played against each other. The funny thing is though, that I think in general, having more games against your division rivals is generally good for baseball.
Just to clarify, I'm not against having more games against your division rivals. Since you're going after the division title of your division, you should be playing more games against teams in your division instead of playing teams in different division. If you're weak against your division, then you're probably not going to win the division, which is how things should stay.

[DoubleX]

Well...I don't really want to get to the point where the first few months of games could be pretty much be discounted, either.

That's why I've never really been a fan of the NBA. All that playing time, back and forth, back and forth, and BANG--there's a shot at the buzzer to swing the victory the other way. Why not just play basketball for five minutes and call it a day? ;) :D

We could just play 15 games or so and announce the division winners. :crazy

Of course the rest of the games count too, and I would spread out series with divisional rivals throughout the season as well, but when it comes down to it, you're competing for a playoff spot with your division rivals, and those are the games that generally generate the most interest and certainly have the most impact, so why not can that and create like a pseudo-playoff atmosphere in September by having nothing but rivalry games? It would only be a three week period, so there will be plenty of other divisional games throughout the season. In fact I would advocate 20 games against divisional rivals (4 three-game series and 2 four-game series). I got to thinking like this a few years back when I was watching the Yankees play the Tigers and Royals during the last week of the season. That's not at all what I want to see. I want to see the Yanks battling with the Sox (like last year) or Jays or Orioles and even the Devil Rays (they'll be competitive one day) during crunch time when playoff spots are really on the line.