[smc]

Originally Posted by ila

I just read in the paper this morning that the day that the Sox head off for spring training is known as Truck day in Boston (actually the paper said New England, but I find it hard to believe that all of New England supports the BoSox). Is that the real term, smc, or is someone trying to coin a new phrase? Apparently yesterday was Truck day.

Yes, it absolutely is known as Truck day -- and it was this morning, not yesterday. It's a tradition that goes back a dozen years or so. I realize how difficult for people in other parts of the world (even cities with MLB teams) to realize just how big a deal baseball is in Boston. With all due respect to our Phillies fans on the board, the only city that comes close is St. Louis. Even Chicago Cubs fans pale in comparison.

Not convinced? When the Red Sox play in Tampa Bay, Baltimore, or Toronto, Red Sox fans consistently outnumber fans of the local team. Those are not transplants; those are people who've traveled from Boston! I myself have arranged work-related travel to see Red Sox games elsewhere, or just flat-out driven, or even flown at my own expense, over the years, and have rooted for the Red Sox in Oakland, Kansas City, Detroit, Toronto, Baltimore, Tampa Bay, Cleveland, and elsewhere. I've even done so in Yankee Stadium, and that takes some seriously steel nerves!

I went to Truck Day last year, but couldn't change my schedule this year. There are usually a lot of people there to see the trucks off. Kids like it because the Sox mascot, Wally the Green Monster, usually "directs traffic" once the trucks are loaded and ready to head out for the highway.

There will surely be up-to-the-minute reports on local Boston TV and radio as the trucks make their way south, too. See what I mean!

Now, regarding New England. First of all, the real borders of New England are not the same as the six states (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont) that officially make up the region. Real New Englanders -- among which I count myself -- know that the western border is not the Connecticut-New York state line but runs down the middle of the Housatonic River. If you look on a map, you will notice that this real border conveniently eliminates the Yankees territory of southwestern Connecticut. Coincidence? I think not.

Sure, there are some people in New England who do not root for the Red Sox. But of those I know, they are either transplants from elsewhere, with very thick skins (because it's hard not to fall into the Red Sox mania if you love baseball and come from a "weak" baseball city), Yankees fans who go around boasting (and who get the shit kicked out of them, at least figuratively, on a regular basis), or people who have been brainwashed as part of keeping their "mixed marriages" from ending in the special divorce court set up on Yawkey Way next to Fenway. (Yes, in Red Sox Nation, we refer to a marriage between a Yankees fan and a Red Sox fan as a "mixed marriage.")