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Boston Red Sox fans have become the most annoying rooters in all of professional sports. Yet the big media outlets, especially ESPN and Fox Television, continue to give them preferential treatment. Folks like Joe Buck and Bill Simmons are constantly praising Red Sox fans for their alleged long term loyalty to the club and their supposed "special bond" with the team.Most absurd, of course, is how we are repeatedly being force fed this notion that America is in love with "Red Sox Nation."Yeah, baseball fans sure have been asked to eat a lot of crap over the past few years when it comes to the Red Sox faithful. Which was okay for a while. Some of these people had indeed suffered a lot before the 2004 postseason. But the grace period is now officially over. It's time to judge Boston Red Sox fans by the harsh light of day.So, without further delay, here are the Top 10 Reasons to Hate Red Sox Fans.1. They booed Ted Williams throughout most of his career. Williams was the best Red Sox player of all time. He was also a real life war hero. But the Boston fans hated him. The enmity between player and fan was so extreme that after Teddy Ballgame homered in his final major league at bat, he refused to respond to the long overdue request for a curtain call. What a shame. Good fans would have appreciated Williams during every one of his 19 brilliant seasons.2. Red Sox Nation. Is this a joke? As if the Yankees, Dodgers, Cubs, Giants, Mets and Braves don't have millions of fans throughout the country. Oh, and most of those fans, unlike this sudden wave of instant Red Sox rooters, actually follow their teams and don't just wear the cool-looking hats.3. Their almost inexplicable hatred of Roger Clemens. Let's go through this, once and for all. Clemens was drafted by the Red Sox, came up through the minor league ranks with the club, and eventually became the finest pitcher in the team's history.The Rocket won three Cy Young awards with the Sox, and could have won five (he placed 2nd in 1990 and third in '92). He also had one of the greatest seasons in pitching history in 1986, when he went 24-4 with a 2.48 ERA and won the American League Cy Young and MVP awards.However, after the 1996 season, the Red Sox booted Clemens out of town. Make no mistake about that. Clemens wanted to stay, but he was driven out of Boston because the team's general manager felt that he was in the "twilight of his career."We all know what happened next. Clemens went on to win 162 more games, four more Cy Young awards and two World Series rings. Instead of blaming the team's inept management, however, Boston fans chose to direct their hatred at Clemens. They still hate him to this day.A real show of class and baseball knowledge by Red Sox Nation.4. They absolutely skewered Bill Buckner for his fielding gaffe in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series.Buckner was a wonderful ballplayer and a really decent guy. He collected 2,715 hits in his career. In 1986, he was one of the best hitters on the team. He smacked 18 home runs, collected 102 RBI and was the club's top slugger in September.Yet after he misplayed a Mookie Wilson ground ball in the final inning of that tragic Game 6 loss, Boston fans were so cruel to Buckner and his family for so long that the guy eventually had to flee the city. In recent years, fans have tried to reinvent history and claim that they never blamed Buckner. Don't believe it. They killed the guy. He had to move to Idaho, for God's Sake!Way to stick by your guys, BoSox fans.5. After all those years of incessant whining and crying about how losing builds special character, they finally win and exhibit no grace or dignity or "character" whatsoever.6. Cowboy Up! This may have been the most ridiculous rallying cry in sports history. New England Cowboys. Just like George W. Bush.7. Ben Affleck.8. Fever Pitch. This is the worst movie ever made, and it's about a Red Sox fan. That couldn't just be a coincidence, could it?9. The Sports Guy. ESPN's Bill Simmons is the prototypical Red Sox fan, or so he claims, and he stinks out loud. Every single article that he writes is exactly the same: Red Sox, Patriots, dumb joke about a sitcom, and then a stupid remark about one of his buddies, all of whom seem to have ridiculously annoying nicknames like Burp, Pooper, or the Diaper.Didn't he say that he was gonna "Die in Peace?" Uh, when?
10. Hypocrisy, Hypocrisy, HypocrisyTake a good, long look at the Red Sox 2004 World Series roster. Every pitcher, and every single starting position player with the lone exception of Trot Nixon, did not come up through the Red Sox system.That's right. Manny Ramirez, Pedro Martinez, Curt Schilling, David Ortiz, Tim Wakefield, Johnny Damon, Keith Foulke, Bill Mueller, Kevin Millar, Dave Roberts, Orlando Cabrera, Mark Bellhorn, Mike Timlin and Alan Embree were all high-priced free agents or acquired through trades.Now, examine their 2007 payroll. It's $165 million. That is higher than all but one team in baseball.This is not a small market club of scruffy underpaid underdogs. These are the New York Yankees, except they are located 300 miles to the northeast.Despite the club's obvious mercenary approach in recent years, Red Sox fans are always the first to accuse other teams of "buying their championships."
In ConclusionThis article could go on and on. And On. And On.Of course, there are plenty of real Red Sox fans. For those if you who lived through the horrors of 1946, 1967, 1975, 1978, 1986, and 2003, you have earned the right to be as annoying as you want to be.Cowboy Up!
