State of the Global Nation

To paraphrase something somebody said once: Wherever you go, there they are.

Red Sox Nation truly does span the continent and the globe, and with the team suddenly winning the 2013 American League pennant, I thought this would be a fine time to check in on a handful of diehard rooters from around the planet. Take it away, fellow exiled Soxians!

DAVE ADAMS (Manchester UK)
Twitter: @UKRedSoxfan

Dave works at the Manchester airport doing early shift work, and can usually watch Red Sox games online from midnight his time till around 3:15 am. He’s supported the Sox since 2001, when he got hooked watching their spring training games in Boston bars on a trip across the “Pond.”

“By the end of the week,” he says, “I remember learning the names of Pedro, Nomar, Manny…and not a lot else! On my final day, before we headed off to New York City, [Quincy friend] Sarah bought me my first Sox cap, put in on my head and said ‘Keep this, and promise me to never let those Yankees fans try to change you…It’s religion now, Davey boy!’ When I got back to England the obsession grew stronger, and I’ve visited Boston a further six times so far.”

Dave says being a Sox fan in England is a lonely experience, though he did get to watch them win in 2007 while in a pub with “a load of native New Yorkers”, who proceeded to buy him free beers—astonishing in itself.

His worst UK fandom moment was when Boston dramatically lost the 2003 ALCS. “I doubt anybody in New England can imagine what it would be like to go through the utter hell of Aaron Boone.. going into work.. and NOBODY having a clue why you feel like your nearest family members have just been shot in front of you. You cant explain to anyone WHY The Yankees..that team whose cap you keep wearing to look like Jay-Z or whatever, are the work of Satan. WHY life is not fair, WHY did Grady leave Pedro in? All my workmates knew was not to come near me as ‘His Rounders team lost a big game’.”

The most upsetting thing for Dave about rooting in the UK has been the “utter irrelevance” the Red Sox seem to have for their overseas supporters. He says he’s campaigned for years, badgering the Fenway offices with letters, calls, and emails to be recognized in Red Sox Nation with an official UK or European branch, only getting a “Thank you for your loyal support” response with various offers that are pointless to overseas fans. “We are the supporters that get NO benefits, have no chance of seeing the team live, get up at all hours and live like zombies for our team.”

Still, the 2013 Sox have managed to soften the edges. “This season has been more than unexpected for me. I’m coming to terms with actually enjoying the words ‘Lackey is going for Boston tonight’ and enjoying watching a team that doesn’t seem to be going through the motions. I was happy with the Farrell appointment, but frankly, I would’ve taken Susan Boyle over Bobby Valentine.”

And back across the Pond to…

JOHN QUINN (New York, NY)
Twitter: @TheMightyQuinn

John is the Lieutenant Governor of Red Sox Nation in New York City, which you’d think would be a brave, nearly impossible mission. It used to be a lot tougher.

“New York has thousands of Red Sox fans here,” he says, “and for years, I would always get ‘that look’ from other Sox fans who would see my hat or jacket on the street. Over the years, I have gotten more compliments than abuse (believe it or not). I have made many friends over the years in the bars I have hung out in, cheering the Sox on, and wouldn’t trade it for anything.”

“Being a Sox fan here in NYC brings us fans closer than most other Sox fans outside New England. It’s almost being in a state of war here. I’ve known many good Yankees fans who have appreciated our fandom, and that’s a good thing. But too many think that being a Red Sox fan is like declaring war. I’m careful with my Red Sox paraphernalia. It has ALWAYS stayed home when I’ve gone to the Bronx.”

Like UK Dave, his least favorite moment was October 16, 2003. Post-Boone, “I actually questioned whether I still wanted to be a Red Sox fan after that game ended, on a long subway ride home. The answer came back a resounding ‘yes.'”

John has been a Sox fan since 1977, when he was 15. His dad, a longtime Brooklyn Dodgers fan, raised him to root for the Mets and hate the Yanks, but ‘77, the year the Mets traded the beloved Tom Seaver away to the Reds was a turning point. “I started watching the Sox that year, as they were in a great AL East race with the Yankees and Orioles, which New York won on the final weekend of the season. I realized when that season was over, I had a new team to root for.”

2004, obviously, was the pinnacle. For the final out in the great ALCS comeback against the Yanks, “I was in the Riviera Bar in the Village and the place just went wild. I can remember nothing but pure, unadulterated joy there for ten solid minutes. We then left that bar and went to a friend’s bar not far away. We all felt like we owned the city. And the same exact scenario happened seven days later, when the Sox finally won it all. Nothing beats getting champagne poured on you!”

And 2013? “It’s been an amazing ride this October. The games have almost all been nail biters, and the Sox have shown such grit and determination. They have really brought back a sense of pride in being a Red Sox fan again. The last two years have been absolutely awful, but the day John Farrell was brought in as manager, I felt the Sox were contenders again. No matter what happens the rest of the way, I couldn’t be prouder of this team, and being a fan.”

What say we swing down south? Deep in the heart of Texas let’s meet…

JOHNNY MATTHEWS (Houston, TX)

Johnny is the Governor of Red Sox Nation for the entire state of Texas, and as we know, everything is bigger down there. The membership now has close to 1,000 people, and gatherings in Arlington when the Sox come down to face the Rangers always include fans from Oklahoma, Louisiana, and even some from Mexico. “Funny,” he admits, “I can’t speak much Spanish, but they can’t speak much English, and somehow we understand!”

Originally from Brookline, MA (with his wife Sheila from Hartford), they moved to Houston in 2004 and looked online for a Red Sox fan group they could hang with. After taking over a Red Sox meetup Web site, the “Original 6” began to meet at the Fox and Hound English Pub and Grill in Houston to watch Boston games. After a few weeks the membership grew to 20, then 40-50. By 2008, Johnny had been appointed Governor of Red Sox Nation for Texas.

Johnny is quick to commend the Rangers and Astros organizations for being very generous and accommodating to them. “Sure, there’s plenty of fans that want to support their local teams here in Texas. Being The Rangers or The Astros, as a whole, most of the fans have been great. Whenever we visit opposing stadiums when the Sox come to town, it’s a great experience. Certainly there’s some honest ‘jabbing’ at each other but collectively as baseball fans, we enjoy the games together.

RSN Texas has also been a huge supporter of the Texas Jimmy Fund, presenting a check for their telethon in 2007. The sixth annual Texas Jimmy Fund Golf Tournament will be held in Houston next April, with the TJFG raising nearly $40,000 to date.

Johnny loves meeting new and old Sox fans down there, and hearing how they began following the team in the first place. A close Austin friend named Ron Kerchville became a Sox fan in 1948 when his dad’s friend, pitcher Tex Hughson, was drafted by Boston from Buda, TX. Brian Frye grew up in Iowa and watched the Sox because his grandfather was a huge fan of Ted Williams. “When I compare the many stories to how I grew up, it makes me appreciate where I came from so much more,” Johnny says.

And what has 2013 been like for RSN Texas? “Intense but awesome.”

Time to fly up to the great Canadian north…

RUBEN LIPSZYC (Calgary, Alberta)
Twitter: @RSN_Alberta

Ruben’s formative baseball years were in Toronto, where he was a young Detroit fan by default because the Blue Jays hadn’t even been created yet. Falling asleep listening to Ernie Halwell on the radio was a summer tradition, but the Tigers weren’t all that good then and the Yankees received most of the media attention (as they have ever since). Anyway, Ruben saw that Boston had the best chance of ousting New York at the top of the AL East, so a new Red Sox fan was born.

The late 1980s were a different story there, because the Jays were good. “There was quite a bit of animosity then. Walking down the street wearing a red B on your hat was enough to get heckled or worse. I recall during a particularly critical late season series, I made the conscious choice of watching the game at home rather than at a bar, so I could cheer freely without getting harassed.” (Ruben recently posted an article a few years back that pinpoints the start of this Blue Jay fan animosity to a seeing-eye ground ball by reserve Sox outfielder Jeff Stone in 1990.)

Since he’s moved to Calgary, though, being a Red Sox rooter has put him in sort of a twilight zone. “This is a hockey crazed city, so there aren’t a lot of baseball fans in general,” he says, “and even fewer who have strong feelings towards any particular teams. The only problem is that baseball is often ignored. A World Series game might get the final score printed in the sports pages, but little or no other coverage, while an exhibition hockey game will fill several pages of the paper. Same with television, after covering the hockey games endlessly, the sportscast may end with ‘and by the way the Red Sox won the World Series this evening’ as the totality of the local media coverage. During the playoffs I went out to dinner and wanted to watch a ball game at the restaurant. There were several TVs showing hockey. I asked if one could be switched to the baseball game. When I received a negative answer I got up and left without ordering.”

Ruben has found solace in meeting other long-distance Sox fans online, and an occasional person he runs into with a “B” on their hat. Like most of the others I interviewed for this piece, the Aaron Boone homer was hands-down his worst fan experience.

“The reason it hit me harder is because of my location and my son. He was 8 years old at the time and went to sleep crying. (again, nothing out of the ordinary there). But I felt extremely guilty. If it wasn’t because of my Sox fandom, he would have likely been a fan of the Blue Jays (our ‘national’ team), the Mariners (closest MLB team), or even the Yankees due to their success and popularity. I felt awful that he had become a Red Sox fan because of me, and was doomed to a lifetime of heartbreak and disappointment, like I had. This immense guilt lasted a year, and of course, 2004 changed all of that, and he’s now proud to tell people he’s not a bandwagon fan.”

Of course, 2013 has been exceptionally sweet so far. “After all [the Blue Jays’] offseason moves, and becoming World Series favorites, a lot of my Canadian friends laughed at me when I predicted that Boston would finish ahead of Toronto in the standings. They’re not laughing now!”

Finally, shall we go down under?…

JAMES POLKINGHORNE (Adelaide, South Australia)
Facebook Page

A Red Sox fan for twenty years since he was 11, James fell in love with the team because he liked Mo Vaughn and his “similar body type”. (I shudder to think of what an 11-year-old Mo Vaughn would look like, but that’s neither here nor there.) James also admired Roger Clemens’ fastball and Tim Wakefield’s knuckler, and being one not to follow trends, liked rooting for a team that wasn’t the more popular Yankees or Dodgers.

The experience of following the Sox living 10,768 miles from Boston, though, “is mostly a lonesome one.” he finds that a lot of people in his country like baseball but won’t “pledge allegiance” to one team. Also, local media coverage is sparse, and the only way to really follow the team is by having a giant satellite dish or MLB.TV subscription. “I am lucky enough to have a lifestyle that allows me to watch a lot of game during the year. I have most to all mornings/midday’s free…So that means I don’t get the usual baseball experience of beer and peanuts because, well, its usually too early in the morning for that so I stick to baseball and Coco Pops.”

Like Ruben in Alberta, delving into social media has made Sox-rooting much more palatable, though more than anything he’d like to see a game in person. It would be a plane ride of over 20 hours to get to the States, and a travel agent informed him that the “cheapest” way to get there would run $20,000. So no, not yet.

James’ responses to my questions were the last of the bunch I received, but I immediately enjoyed reading his stream-of-consciousness prose, which I found almost Kerouacian in nature. Here’s his verbatim account of watching Saturday’s pennant-winning game:

well it was Sunday morning here i started by making myself some breakfast and making sure the kids had plenty of activities to keep them interested (and not bug me) for the entirety of the game .i pulled myself up to my computer and logged onto MLB.TV and made sure every other internet using device in the house was switched off to avoid and lag issues. i knew the first 5-6 innings were going to be a struggle but that’s what you get when you face to soon to be 2013 CY Young winner. after we jagged that first run in the 5th the excitement started to build but all those thoughts of yesteryear started to creep back in…..how will it unfold…..who’s going to break our hearts so on and so on crazy huh? considering its only game 6 and of course at the top of the 6th those thoughts started to become fears.. but i knew how strong we have been in the late innings all year and i had faith. when we loaded the bases in the 7th i thought well its now or never and when the flyin smilin hawaiian connected i screamed like a school girl, which in turn scared the crap out of the kids and they ran into their rooms the good thing about that is that it started an impromptu game of hide and seek :), after that inning ended i knew we would win you cant have such a large emotional explosion and lose. once the game ended i put my hands up in jubilation and let out a sigh of relief, then proceeded to update the facebook page continuously for the next hour with comments videos pictures, it really hasn’t sunk in yet and i dont think it will till game 1, people may ask so what its not really a big deal its not like its been 86 years since the last Title, but this really is a big deal considering what we went through last year not to mention how 2011 finished. so now i am filled with quiet confidence in this team the fact we never give up is huge and we can ride that through every game, my favorite sports quote is “A Champion team beats a team of Champions every day” i think that rings true with these 2013 Boston Red Sox.

Amen. And over and out.