Letter to the Editor: He meets Alphonso

Syracuse Post-Standard
May 21, 2011

To the Editor:

On Sunday night, my future son-in-law drove me down from Syracuse to see my first Red Sox game in 38 years as a belated birthday present. Unfortunately, he took me to see them at Yankee Stadium. While there I saw such ill manners and poor treatment of Red Sox fans that I could scarcely believe my eyes and ears. I discussed my experiences with other Red Sox fans on the subway platform after the game and they, too, had terrible treatment.

In front of me were five young people who are probably the most ill-mannered people on the planet. One girl, when she heard me rooting for the Sox and booing the Yankees, turned around and used an expletive. This she kept doing at regular intervals for the rest of the game. When a nearby woman held up a poster of David Ortiz, foul-mouth’s boyfriend started yelling that he hoped the woman’s children would all “die from cancer.” A man in the bleachers holding up a Red Sox banner was told by the police that he could not hold it up or he would be thrown out of the ballpark.

Because of the rivalry between our two teams, I expected some good-natured teasing and bantering, but not to be treated like another Osama bin Laden. My son-in law and his friend were so embarrassed that they concluded that people from New York generally have no manners.

I have seen games in other parks including Shea Stadium, Fenway and Coors Field (my National League team is the Rockies) where fans of the opposition were not treated rudely. I would advise fans of any other team to stay away from Yankee Stadium and see their teams play anywhere else.

Timothy J. O’Hare
Syracuse