Yankee Haters, Not In This Town

To the editors:

That’s all I can stand, and I can’t stand no more.

For seven years, as a loyal Yankee fan in Cambridge, I have passively tolerated the rampant Red Sox boosterism of my university newspaper, but the April 29 commentary of Nikki B. Usher ’03 pushed me over the edge (Comment, “Confessions of a Former Yankee”).

I must ask myself why, at a global university, a university which draws only a fraction of its student population from New England, the Boston Red Sox should be crowned as “Harvard’s Official Team?”

Is the Crimson editorial staff unaware of the fact that there are many Yankee fans in its midst? Is it unaware of the high representation of students from the New York metropolitan area (and Yankee fans from other parts of the world)? To borrow a sentiment from a popular Cambridge bumper sticker: They’re not MY team.

Yankee fans are subject to all manner of abuse in this town, simply by virtue of remaining true to our home team. The message of Usher’s article can only be that the proper response to such abuse is to abandon old loyalties, to alter our identities as Yankee fans, so that we may be rewarded by the “half smiles” and “nods” of Bostonians.

I say shame on you and your traitorous ways, Usher! You could never have been a true fan to begin with. No true Yankee fan would demonstrate such a weak spirit and willingness to turn on her team.

Kudos to the New York Yankees organization for putting the best product on the field for their fans. When the Yankees payroll is against the rules of baseball, then you all can condemn George Steinbrenner for breaking those rules. Until then, please contain your envy and respect the loyalty that we true Yankee fans show in supporting our team.

To Nikki Usher: enjoy your sordid affair with the “Fellowship of the Miserable.”

Rob Caridad ’00

April 29, 2003

The writer is a third-year student at Harvard Law School.