primetime

Hockey was king until the Celtics started winning championships. Then the Celtics were king until Bird retired. Then the Red Sox got popular. Yes, baseball was always the #2 sport in Boston, but it wasn't until the past 5 years or so that its vaulted to a #1 of hysterical proportions. The big three, for the longest time, were the Bruins, Sox, and Celtics, in varying orders. Then the Patriots bumped the Bruins and Celtics out, and now you have the Celtics slinking back in. The Sox are the one constant, but baseball is horrifically boring, and while many were excited in 2004 now its just ho-hum. I'd rather see the Cubs win, to be honest. Many older Bostonians grew up Braves fans, and don't have the childhood connection to the Red Sox, too.

Tunescribe

There's one key element to Pats vs. Sox popularity that a lot of people fail to take note of: Many women embrace baseball because they understand it and shy away from football for the opposite reason. I hear this time and time again from women, "I'd like to get into football but I don't understand what's going on. It just looks like a bunch of players running into each other, falling down, getting up and doing it again."

If more women understood football -- which is a more inherently exciting, colorful, emotional and action-packed sport -- I'd bet they'd choose football over baseball. The NFL, the Patriots organization and fans like us can and should do a better job of educating women about football. The best female football fans are those who grew up watching the game with fathers and brothers took the time to explain what's going on.

primetime

I think this is true. Also of note is the generational difference. For the most part, Red Sox fans (and Patriots fans, now) tend to come from younger generations, while the Celtics and Bruins are really only embraced by those who remember them in their glory days of the 60s-80s (or those with a connection to the games of hockey/basketball). Before the Patriots' success in the new millenium, most of our team's fans were those who remembered the days of Grogan, or even further back, the AFL days. The Red Sox often played second, or even third or fourth fiddle for these people, and many of the even older generations grew up Boston Braves fans and only reluctantly embraced the Red Sox after the Braves left not just Boston, but also Milwaukee.

BradyManny

Red Sox talk >>>> BC Eagles talk

Tony Cahncuhd

But that was quite an impressive last-minute comeback by Matt Ryan.

Are folks so mentally impaired that they can't maintain a conversation about more than one sport at a time? There's lots of exciting stuff happening in Boston these days. It's all worth talking about.

I hear that even the local pro football team is doing well.

scout

I think you would also have to include uniforms into the equation (women in this forum excluded). Football has the padding and more importantly, the helmet. Could you imagine Tom Brady batting in the Sox lineup?

primetime

Tom Brady isn't fat enough to play baseball.

jaytyme

i feel your pain. IMO baseball ranks right up there with watching grass grow or paint dry. If i ever want to take a nap, I turn on a baseball game.

But you cant fault WEEI for sucking up to the legions of sox fans, it is thier revenue base. I'm curious to listen to brady, bruschi, wilfork and harrison on monday when they're sure to be flying below the local media radar at 8-0. My guess would be that they're perfectly happy to play second fiddle to the sox at this point in the season, just like '04.

Boston Boxer

oh cool, another thread whining about the Red Sox getting all the attention. It is the World Series!!!!

ArmyPatsFan

I swear people will always find something to complain about. Why not be happy for the city of Boston and New England in general for having a team in the World Series? That too difficult?

__________________
"An army is a team. It lives, eats, sleeps, fights as a team. This individuality stuff is a bunch of bull****."
- General George Patton Jr (...hmm maybe BB)