RE: “Even a Yankees fan should applaud the Red Sox,” 10/26
It is incredible that the Red Sox had the team to come back from an 0-3 deficit in the ALCS, but there were many things in Ben Minkus’ column that are wrong.
Minkus wrote about how great it was that a team like the Red Sox, a “David” team, could come up against the “Goliath” team, the Yankees, and beat them against all odds. He was amazed that a team that didn’t have to buy their championships could beat the team with the highest payroll in the league. Has everyone forgotten about Manny Ramirez, who gets paid 22.5 million dollars a year? And if they didn’t buy a championship, how did Keith Foulke close the last game of the World Series? And where did Curt Schilling come from? There was no team that had no money coming up and beating the Yankees. There was no David or Goliath. There was a 127 million dollar, and second-highest payroll, Red Sox against the Yankees. The Red Sox have been doing the same thing the Yankees do, but from a closer view to the Prudential Tower. That’s all.
Another thing to get off my chest: Bucky Dent hits the homerun to beat the Red Sox in a one-game play-off – the Red Sox are cursed. Buckner lets a ball go through his leg – the Red Sox are cursed. Aaron Boone hits a walk-off homerun in the 2003 ALCS – the Red Sox are cursed. The Red Sox come back from 0-3 and beat the Yankees – the Red Sox are heroes. Does anyone notice that nowhere does anyone recognize the other team?! Aaron Boone hit an awesome ball after a post season plagued with errors. Why isn’t he a hero? Other than the Buckner incident, which may have backed up the curse very well, the other team is never recognized as simply better.
Thank God that the curse is finally over; now the other teams can be recognized as better. Walk-off homeruns will no longer be overshadowed by some silly curse. Instead, we don’t have to focus on anything overshadowing who is the better team (unless there’s a World Series at Wrigley). Right now, the Red Sox are the better team, but you know The Boss is looking at a few names to change this. Welcome to the Bronx, Mr. Johnson.
Jonathan Malone
Undergraduate
RE: conciliation
Here are some first steps for healing the political rift:
1) Stop referring to your opponents as “the liberals,” “the conservatives,” “the left” and “the right” as if all politically active Americans were a part of two borg-like collective consciousnesses. You should either have the guts to talk about specific individuals or just hold your tongue.
2) No more name-calling. Abusive ad hominem insults that attack the person instead of their argument like, “Dick Cheney is the spawn of satan,” “Only a Massachussetts liberal would say that,” “Bush is just like Hitler,” or “You’re just a whiney-ass crybaby” are completely childish and accomplish nothing but fanning the fires of hatred.
3) Take a time-out. Don’t try to write something or debate someone “on the tilt.” This is how Howard Dean lost his campaign and how I suspect many of the columns that show up in the Hurricane get written.
William Hubel
Undergraduate