"I think all Red Sox fans should be kicked out of school," Princeton's own "Derek Jeter" —Derrick Gedder '07 — said while watching the first game of the Red Sox-Yankees American League Championship Series in Frist Campus Center on Wednesday night.
Though only said jokingly, a serious rivalry between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox has been around since that fateful day in 1918, when Babe Ruth was traded from the Sox to the Bronx.
The "Curse of the Bambino" is often credited as the reason why Boston has been unable to win a World Series title in 85 years.
Displays of team spirit have been seen on campus all week. Students have brought out their baseball caps and jerseys. A Red Sox flag even hangs from a window outside Tower Club.
Many gathered during the past two nights in dorms and eating clubs to cheer on their favorite teams and continue the rivalry that has marked every meeting between the two clubs.
"I like coming here to Frist to watch the game. Here, there's fans," Gedder said, while fixing his Yankees cap. "It's more exciting when there are more people around."
Wednesday night as the crowd gathered in front of the Frist television to watch the game, Yankees fans dominated the scene. A student wearing a "Yankees Suck!" shirt and Red Sox hat left the area soon after the game started. Perhaps he was intimidated by the fan in the front row who donned a Jeter jersey and a navy bandana.
But elsewhere on campus, 20 self-described hardcore Sox fans gathered in the basement of Dod to watch the game. "One Yankees fan came, but he couldn't take the heat and trash talk so he left," Cait Martin '05 said.
Though she is from New York, Martin said she is a tried-and-true Boston fan. "I just love the team — they have a lot of charisma," she said. "There are also a lot of anti-Yankee fans on this campus."
While the Yankees have won 26 World Series titles, the Sox fans on campus feel that the underdogs will win the ALCS and move on to the final championship series this year.
"The Yankees have had a better team the past few years, but the Boston Red Sox lineup is much superior this year," Bostonian Robert Santoro '05 said.
"They are going to sweep 'em!" he said. With a 5-2 Sox win on Wednesday night and the Yankees 6-2 win last night — bringing the season record between the clubs to 11-10 Bronx Bombers — the rivalry continues as the series is still up for grabs.
There is one thing, however, that Princeton fans of both Boston and New York agree on — no matter who comes out on top, they predict the winner of the ALCS will take the World Series title this year.
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