April 2007
by Aharon HaCohen

I grew up in New York, and I am a diehard Yankee fan, and I now live in Boston - surrounded by diehard Red Sox fans. With all the "bad blood" and intense rivalry between the two teams, I have found one thing that both of these overzealous fan bases have in common. For some reason, Yankees and Boston fans always have a tendency to overeact to everything that happens over the course of a season. They have trouble putting things in perspective.

So, for example, when the Yankees start out the season 9-13, New York fans have already concluded that the season is doomed and are calling for GM Brian Cashman or manager Joe Torre to lose their job.On the other side, the Red Sox have had a strong April, and fans are practically making plans for the championship parade.

Both groups of fans must learn to relax and put things in perspective.It is a 162 game season, and alot of things can and will happen over the course of the year.
People are way too emotional, and are constantly responding only to their immediate emotions. (Listen to an hour of sports talk radio in BOston or NY, and you will immediately understand what I am saying.)

Today, Red Sox fans are applauding the Red Sox for shrewdly bringing Daiske from Japan.If he suffers a season-ending injury tommorow, they will be cursing out management for wasting $50 million just to gain the rights to signing him.
Today, ALex Rodriguez is the New York hero, becuase he hit 14 homers in April. Last September, they were booing him out of the Bronx.

Its time for all of us to mature as baseball fans.Emotions are good, but sometimes people just go way too far with their momentary feelings.We are all such experts when it comes to baseball stats and history, but for saome reason we still get so "caught up in the moment" that we forget the larger picture.

It's just a game.So win or lose, we should just relax and enjoy it.Root for your team, but don't suffer a heart attack in the process.

Read this and other articles of mine at http://www.helium.com/user/show/143909