Talking to My Generation
Reading the recent work of two of Boston’s (and the industry’s) most esteemed sports columnists, Bob Ryan and Dan Shaughnessy, I can’t help but wonder whether either is relevant to my generation of Boston sports fans. Make no mistake: I have nothing but the utmost respect for both Ryan and Shaughnessy. They are incredibly talented writers, moving story tellers, incredibly knowledgeable sports historians and universally respected by their peers. But as a 30-year old Boston sports fan, I am finding that I agree with less and less of what Ryan and Shaughnessy write and sensing more and more that their columns are about lecturing the fans, rather than educating or enlightening them.
In an era during which the newspaper sports page has become a less vital part of the average fan’s daily sports information, Ryan and Shaughnessy remain powerful forces in Boston for a certain audience. A column by either is typically a must-read for most Boston sports fans- over the age of 40. But younger fans, more comfortable with the Internet, tend to get their sports news exclusively from the web. A kid growing up in Boston nowadays is more likely to log onto ESPN.com and read what Buster Olney, Jayson Stark or Peter Gammons has to say about the Red Sox rather than seek out Shaughnessy’s columns. Bob Ryan is the dean of NBA writers but young Celtics’ fans today are probably getting most of their NBA information from television talking heads like Stephen A. Smith, Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley.
But besides the demographic shift that is affecting newspapers and newspaper writers across the country, Ryan and Shaughnessy’s disconnect with the younger sports fans of Boston is their own doing. In the days leading up to Johnny Damon’s return to Fenway Park, Ryan and Shaughnessy were adamant that the idea of booing Damon was idiotic, childish and embarrassing. Having attended Damon’s first trip back to Fenway, I wasn’t surprised to see that the people cheering for Damon were, in fact, Ryan and Shaughnessy’s core audience- middle-aged men who have grown up reading their columns.
As far as I could surmise from my vantage point in Section 30, any Red Sox fan under 40 was booing Damon. We, a new generation of Boston sports fans, obviously disagreed with Ryan and Shaughnessy’s interpretation of the Damon situation. And therein lies the rub. Both Ryan and Shaughnessy seem to have soured on the 21st Boston sports fan. To them, we appear boorish and thuggish. We’re uninterested in the history of Boston sports and disrespectful of the “game,” regardless of what the actual game is. We’re disloyal, unrepentantly vulgar and undeserving of truly being called “fans.” Not only were we on the wrong side of the Damon boo debate but we were too déclassé to even understand how wrong we were.
I find their attitude to be insulting and without any real foundation. Certainly, the typical Boston sports fan has changed over the past 30-years. But unlike Ryan and Shaughnessy, I fail to see what is so wrong with my generation of fans. Have we had it “easier” than fans of earlier generations? In the sense that the Red Sox, Celtics, Bruins and Patriots have enjoyed tremendous success over the past three decades- yes. But along with that success came immense, international popularity for Boston’s professional sports teams, something that no Boston sports fan Ryan’s age ever had to deal with.
It’s not 1968, the year Ryan began working for the Globe. Going to a sporting event is no longer a fun and cheap way to kill an afternoon. With higher prices comes a higher expectation of enjoyment. The average Boston sports fan is lucky if they make it to a handful of Red Sox games each season so when they are at the game, they are expecting an event that will tide them over until their next Fenway visit, sometime in the distant future. In no way does this lead to rowdier behavior; the theory that today’s Red Sox fans are worse-behaved than the fans of 30-years ago is simply untrue. With Fenway Park full of families and tourists without a rooting interest in the team, the number of people actually causing problems is miniscule. And yet, Shaughnessy refers to “the Nation” in his columns with such disdain and contempt that you would believe that our generation is the reason that beer isn’t solid in the stands at Fenway.
We’re told to embrace Johnny Damon as if he never left. But there is no mention of the fact that Damon was ripped apart by the Boston sports media upon his signing with the Yankees. Ryan and Shaughnessy have spent decades tearing down some of our favorite players, hiding behind the caveat of “that’s my job.” Does a guy who just spent $150 to see Damon’s return to Fenway need the permission of a Boston sportswriter to boo Damon? Is that fan incapable of acting like a “real fan” because he doesn’t have a press pass? Writing opinion is one thing. Belittling grown adults because they don’t agree with your Puritanical rules on how to be a fan is quite another.
Rather than embracing and connecting with a new generation of Boston sports fans, Ryan and Shaughnessy seem determined to beat into us the message that we are doing something wrong. That our generation, with our short attention spans and Sweet Caroline, with our headbands and highlight reels, is falling short. That, at a time when Boston’s sporting events are actually beginning to look like Boston does, we’re supposed to embrace our more raucous and divisive past. That during a Boston sports era dotted with remarkable championships and unrivaled passion, we’re supposed to sit on our hands when a Yankee comes to town because that’s what our grandfathers would have done.
Sorry, I won’t do it. I’m part of a new generation of Boston sports fans and we’re writing a new set of rules.