On October 4, 2003, I was one of 35,460 baseball fans at Fenway Park watching the Red Sox face elimination in the ALDS against the Oakland A’s pinch-hit for Gabe Kapler. Standing with many other fans on the right-field roof box terrace during the bottom of the 12th inning, I watched Trot Nixon proceeded to knock a Rich Harden offering out of the park for a two-run homer and a BoSox win.
Related: Boycott the Red Sox
The roaring crowd became a swirling caldron of delirium.
A woman standing close by grabbed me and hugged me, and then hugged the person standing next to me. I have no idea who she was but I’ll always remember her spontaneous outburst of joy. High fives between strangers abounded.
One of the beauties of sport is how games bring together strangers, regardless of race, gender, or political affiliation. I have no idea what the happy woman’s orientation was and didn’t care. And I’m sure she had no idea who I was, other than a Red Sox fan.
Now the joy and camaraderie of sport have been ruined for many of us. At least for a while.
Following in trace of the NBA and the NFL, Major League Baseball succumbed to the pressures of the liberal woke crowd and moved its 2021 All-Star Game away from Atlanta, Georgia. The reason cited was concern about “voter suppression” due to recent legislative measures in the Peach State aimed at preserving voter integrity.
Apparently requiring voters to show ID was a “bridge too far” for wokesters and Democrats seeking to harvest ballots.
I now have approximately zero interest in following our formerly Beloved BoSox.
Red Sox owner John Henry had already alienated many of us with his embrace of the Marxist BLM movement and his dissing of the Yawkey Family—which owned the Red Sox for over a half-century. And restoring a known cheater, Alex Cora, as manager, also removed much of the sparkle from Boston baseball.
Readers of my BLOG know that politics come up there from time to time. But it’s an opinion column that folks are free to ignore. Arenas and parks with giant BLM signage force political imagery on spectators who perhaps want a politics-free venue.
Did you ever notice that politicians who are introduced at ballparks are routinely booed, regardless of party? (Exception: President George W. Bush at Yankee Stadium after the 9/11 attacks.)
Excessive arena politics ruin sports for many of us.
According to a poll by You/Gov and Yahoo Sports, 34.5 percent of Americans watch sports less today than a year ago because of politics. Most fans have changed their sports viewing habits.
While 11 percent claim they watch more sports because of the political advocacy, three times as many say they’re turning off sports broadcasts because of the messaging. The poll showed 56 percent don’t watch anymore or watch less because of the political content.
Alienated fans usually return to watch the sports they love, overcoming scandals, strikes, and obscene profiteering. I can see myself jumping on a future Red Sox bandwagon—but only after John Henry and Alex Cora jump off.
I’ll bet that fan who hugged me at Fenway Park on October 4, 2003, feels the same way.
(State Rep. Mike Moffett of Loudon is a retired Sports Management Professor and a former Marine Corps officer.)
