No cheering in the press box
Congratulations to Red Sox Nation for a thrilling Game 7 win. It's a bitter pill to swallow for this Yankees fan, but the Red Sox did everything right to beat the bitter rivals and get to the World Series.

It was tough enough to deal with the loss, but we had to deal with the loud cheering from the news side further down the newsroom. And knowing these people over there, they wouldn't know Johnny Damon from Damon Wayans. Welcome to the "not Yankees" fans. I'd like to think they're jumping on the Red Sox bandwagon, but I'd been stunned if some of these folks actually watch the World Series, never mind continuing rooting for Boston after Saturday.

One of my co-workers had a great line about the cheering, though. We on the sports side should go crazy when Bush gets re-elected. One of my friends had to yell at one of the news groups to stop whooping it up every time Gore won a state.

I think I figured out what galls me about the sudden "Red Sox fans" over the course of the night. Real Red Sox nation knows how close they can get to the promised land only to fall short, creating a sense of both excitement and foreboding dread. So when they finally slayed the giant, it's such a rush since it's now their moment. It's a lot easier to hide behind the history and huge fan base of the Red Sox to disguise the disdain for the Yankees. You're exposed a lot more when rooting for the Diamondbacks or Marlins in the past couple of World Series (or to a lesser extent the Angels in 2002) -- it's hard for non-sports fans but Yankee haters to climb aboard a bandwagon that's only existed for about 10 years.

So, Red Sox fans, enjoy the World Series. The rest of you, I hear Desperate Housewives is pretty good.