the beantown bullies

[smazza]

Sox and violence

Rivalry brings out worst in fans

Tensions between teams were so high last year, it even spilled over into a bullpen fight.  

Derek Jeter has a suggestion. "Come on deck with me when I'm hitting," he says. "Then you'll know."

Jeter's smile is wry and weary; it is the smile of a prophet who has stood in the circle and witnessed great passion and fury, who has ducked and laughed and shook his head at the onslaught of insanity.

It is here on this little track of grass at Fenway - an otherwise gem of a park - that Jeter wonders: How did the sweet game of baseball slip into such a frightening abyss?

"Nowhere else is it like that," says Jeter, shaking his head for emphasis. "Nowhere."

Well, there is a Stadium in the Bronx that has its share of wickedness, particularly when patrons pull Red Stockings over their feet or other body parts. It's not much different from daring to wear white socks in areas of Afghanistan where the Taliban still roam. This reporter has done both - worn a Red Sox shirt to the Stadium, as an experiment, and white socks in Kabul, out of ignorance - and even though the latter resulted in a contentious moment, the fallout from donning the wrong attire in the Bronx made me fret for civilization.

Beginning tomorrow, the Yankees and Red Sox resume acquaintances in a century-old passion play that features every known human emotion except death. Just to recap, the last series between these teams featured Don Zimmer tumbling to the ground as he tried to take out Pedro Martinez, a fight in the Fenway bullpen between a crazed Boston employee and crazed Yankee players and a dagger finish in the 11th inning of Game 7 of the ALCS that left Red Sox Nation inconsolable, its manager banished, and Aaron Boone rounding the bases into immortality.

Fox TV, never reluctant to bang the drums loudly, is promoting this four-game set with the ominous slogan, "New faces, Old blood." Mel Gibson could be directing the action and nobody would be surprised, so intense is this rivalry's crush. A long cold winter hasn't exactly muffled the tension. Yankee president Randy Levine's words last October - "there was an atmosphere of lawlessness that was allowed (at Fenway) to be perpetuated ... and that needs to be corrected" - still twist in the wind, demanding answers.

What, if anything, do the Red Sox plan to do differently this weekend? Is Paul Williams, the towel-waving groundskeeper/fan who was allegedly assaulted by now-departed Yankees Jeff Nelson and Karim Garcia, still assigned to the bullpen?

The Yankees insist they have adopted a "no tolerance" rule regarding obscene clothing and chants at the Stadium. Meanwhile, Back Bay haute couture consists of T-shirts with the words, "Herman F Ruth," "Aaron F Ruth," "Bucky F Dent," even "Billy F Buckner." Only the F is often more than an initial.

"If we see fans wearing anything offensive, we ask them to take it off or turn it around," says Jerry Laveroni, Yankee director of team security. "To the Red Sox, it's a matter of freedom of expression." He shrugs. Laveroni, a former cop, lives in the Boston suburbs during the offseason. "It's their home park. They do a good job under their terms and conditions."

The Red Sox director of security, Charles Cellucci, deferred all questions to Glenn Geffner, the team's director of public relations, who did not return repeated calls.

In the soggy Bronx yesterday, a persistent downpour hardly dims the anticipation and, yes, arrogance of Yankee fans. A familiar chant - "Boston sucks, Pedro sucks" - rolls through the bleachers and into right field during the fifth inning of the Yankees' 5-1 win over Tampa Bay. Ushers, wet and bored, make no visible move to stop it. However, one man who refuses to give his name says a security guard asked him to remove his faded "Red Sox suck" T-shirt, a shirt he has owned since 1976.

"The fans from both teams are never going to let that emotion go," says Tino Martinez, once a Yankee. "And then the teams and media add to it, and that just makes everyone more crazy."

It's like yawning, these chants, this hatred. All are incredibly contagious. Red Sox president Larry Lucchino calls the Yankees the "Evil Empire. George Steinbrenner says "that's how a sick person thinks." Before his ALCS start, David Wells writes on his Web site, "Bostonians are Psycho!!" Fans in both cities pick up the sticks and stones, and bless the brave, unmanly souls who dare call such behavior unacceptable.

"What's happened in the last 20 years is, everyone has an opportunity to be a part of the show. And I don't think you'll find two cities where the people are more closely identified with their teams than Boston and New York," says Don McPherson, the former Syracuse and NFL quarterback. McPherson helped create the Sports Leadership Institute at Adelphi University, where he conducts research on sportsmanship and related issues, with special emphasis on ending violence against women.

"Mob mentality is very often a big part of what incites this behavior," says McPherson. "If (teams) did more to hold entire sections accountable, or ban season ticket holders who act out, that could solve some problems.

"It's very easy to connect alcohol with the violence. Do you see too many women causing problems? Until we see this not as an alcohol problem, not as a sporting event problem, but as a problem with how men define their masculinity, we won't begin to solve it."

Whatever the root causes, Yankee dominance and Red Sox frustration have long made for a nasty combination.

Why a Fenway patron hit Yankee first baseman Chris Chambliss in the arm with a dart back in 1974 is a maddening glimpse into the dark human condition.

"Please don't write that," says Jeter. "It'll just give other people ideas."

But he knows: The Stadium in the Bronx has had its share of flying missiles - batteries, cups, golf balls - and the rivalry between the Red Sox and Yankees can't possibly take many more spins. Can it?

"Unless they win," says Jeter. "I don't want to even think about that