Maybe it is just because I am not a fan of either team, but it seems that this rivalry has cooled off recently. When these two teams used to play each other, you never knew what to expect, but now it just seems like any old game. From the A-Rod and Varitek fight to the Pedro and Don Zimmer fall heard round the world, those moments are just history now. Maybe it is due to the fact that Boston has so many internal problems that the Yankees are the least of their worries. Or maybe it is because these two teams have a common enemy in the Tampa Bay Rays. Rivalries are the best part of the game. It is what makes fans come out and watch the game. It brings people pride to where they come from. I understand the new wave of non-violence, but this is sports. Sports is passion and it seems like baseball is missing that. I am not saying that I condone violence, but come on these should be the games that everyone plays a little harder and hustles everything out. These are the games that you are supposed to live for.
As a Red Sox fan I can agree with your sentiments here. The rivalry doesn’t have the flavor it did even about 5 years ago. Some of it has to do with the games taking four hours each, part of it is that the Red Sox are horrible lately, and part of it is that the players who truly “hated” the Yankees are all pretty much out of the league now. I would love the rivalry to get back to where it once was and that probably won’t happen until the teams face each other in the playoffs again a few years down the road. For now both teams rivalries with Tampa are the bigger games and that’s just sad for baseball.