Show Fans bring brin baseball rivalry to Super Bowl Dan Steinberg The Washington Post Friday marks the point in Super Bowl Week when fans finally arrive en masse bringing with them their teams team's branded apparel and their clever insults for the opposition And so as Patriots fan Rob McDonagh walked through Scottsdale early Friday afternoon it was not surprising he drew taunts from New Yorkers It was instead the nature of those taunts coming in February in front of television analysts breaking down football strategy L u L Cu in a downtown packed with VIUl Super Bowl memorabilia shops tha that stood out Twenty six championships McDonagh heard from the crowd How does that feel McDonagh was at the time wearing a Boston Red Sox jersey Naturally has The up run-up to Sundays Sunday's game for focused on the Patriots' Patriots quest undefeated football immortality and the Giants' Giants attempt to stop them and the majority of fans strolling through the streets of Glendale Scottsdale and Tempe are wearing the emblems of one of those two teams But there are also hundreds if f L L r i n 4 Of not thousands m or of f tans fans r in greater l Phoenix wearing Red Sox and Yankees hats showing off Fenway Park and Mickey Mantle t-shirts t bringing baseballs baseball's best rivalry to bear on a football game that has taken on significant geographic ramifications Patriots fans are quick to point out they feel no natural hatred forthe for forthe forthe the Giants Many time old-time New Englanders in fact gre grew up rooting for the Giants before Boston got its franchise in 1960 and andare andare andare are more accustomed to rooting against the Jets And Giants fans counter by discussing their great greal hatred for the Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys traditional football rivalries based on history and divisional status And yet It overflows overflow of course it does Boston fan Tom Morgan said of oi the baseball rivalry It goes back generations Im a Yankees fan 1 hate the Red Sox I hate all sports teams from Boston New York fan Tom Ward said They can go to hell We like to stick it to New York just like we stuck it to them in the World Series Boston fan Steve Reilly said Now were we're going to and win the football championship basketball were we're going to win the championship too They call the Chicago the second city but Boston's way below that New York fan Sal I said It definitely means more to beat the city of New York than any other city theres there's no question Boston fan Greg Menzel said the city If weve we've got to pick somebody to beat its it's them Boston is a lesser city New NewYork NewYork NewYork York fan Bernie Koen said We hate em Red Sox Patriots hate em all Baseball rivalry aside these Super Bowl participants are are located closer geographically th than thai n those of all but three previous games the New York Jets am and Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl Bow III Giants and Baltimore Ravens Raven sin in uv Super Bowl yai aud d Indianapolis Colts and Chicago Chicag Bears a year ago weel have F Fans ris in 1 Arizona this w gone to sports non-sports stereotypes stereotype when discussing the upcoming game New Yorkers playfully calling Boston a provincial wannabe and Bostonians calling New Yorkers crass and rude Such feelings have been flamed by the recent past between the Red Sox and Yankees who have combined for 10 American League East titles and six wild-card wild berths in the past 10 seasons In recent days promoters in Scottsdale have begun handing out Mossy lossy fliers containing the v. v O full Yankees and Red Sox 2008 schedules Commentators in both cities have said by registering a massive upset on Sunday the Giants could help assuage Yankees fans still smarting from the 2004 American League Championship Series when the Red Sox won four straight games to erase an 3 0 deficit That caused a lot of pain and anguish in New York we would like to create the same pain and anguish in Boston said Pete Ryan who paired a Giants cap with a Yankees shirt Friday afternoon Of course members of the Patriots and Giants have laughed away questions of this regional baseball rivalry affecting two football teams in different conferences that have played each other just eight times Patriots quarterback Tom Brady who spends much of his free time in Manhattan was once famously photographed in a Yankees hat Presumably he wont won't be thinking of the 2004 American League playoffs on Sunday But those steeped in the rivalry weren't surprised to hear fans were talking baseball in the up run-up to a football game com's coms Jonathan han Forsythe contributed to this report y |