The Sox are currently below .500 and have been bad. So bad, in fact, that I’ve had to personally reassess how invested I want to be in this team, or at least in the team this season. Do I really want to follow every pitch as it happens? Do I really want to see every disappointing loss in real time? Would that make me less of a fan though, or can I still protect my peace?
Giving all of that some thought, I’ve decided to list the tiers of Red Sox fandom.
Lowest Tier: A baseball fan for a team that rivals/hates the Red Sox
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This likely means you actively wish ill on the Red Sox for your own enjoyment. In terms of baseball fan status, you still love the game, but in terms of Red Sox fan status, nobody who’s rooting for Boston is gonna wanna hang out with you. Ironically, you may know a lot about the Red Sox just so your hatred can be further justified.
Second Lowest Tier: Not a Red Sox fan OR a baseball fan
You couldn’t give less of a crap about America’s pastime and most romantic sport, let alone a specific team. You don’t wish harm on the Sox, but you don’t care if they succeed either. That’s fine, baseball’s not for everyone. Just absolutely do not tell me that golf is more interesting or exciting, because it one hundred percent is not.
Not A Red Sox fan, but a Baseball Fan
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So, theoretically, you root for a team that isn’t in the AL East or maybe not in the AL at all. They don’t ever really become competition for the Sox due to the divisions and/or scheduling, so you may be ambivalent about the Sox, but you’re also not a hater of the Sox.
Red Sox Fair-Weather Fan
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This is the fan that only wants to be interested in the team when they do well. Often they won’t know much about the team other than the newsworthy statistics, because those stats usually determine whether a team is good or bad. They’ll also only go to games if the team is doing well. Is this a fake fan? Kind of, because they’re taking the easy way out with their support, and that’s why they’re lower on this list than, say, the next tier. Still, they are, as I mentioned, “protecting their peace”. Sports aren’t everything to everyone.
Red Sox Fan With Casual Intrigue
This may apply to New England locals who want to support the home teams for any sport, so they’ll go to games and spend the money/day at the ballpark because why not? Go Sox, right? They’re not going to be devastated by a loss or especially elated by a win. They’re not going to love the team more when they do well or hate the team more when they’re bad. Their feelings are tied to a game at Fenway and that’s it.
My Dad’s Tier
My dad loves baseball. He grew up a Mets fan but became a Sox fan when he moved to Boston. At this point in time, he still loves baseball and roots for the Sox, but he can also go to a losing Sox game and still have fun, plus he doesn’t dwell on bad losses like other people might.
Second-Highest Tier: Red Sox Near-Diehard
This is where I’d found myself for the past few years. You love the Sox but you don’t keep up with absolutely everything. You don’t really care how everyone in Portland is doing, or how good someones wRC+ is at any given time. But you are actively invested in how the team is doing and want them to succeed, and you feel down when they don’t. Unlike my father, you have a bad time at Sox games where they lose.
Highest Tier: Red Sox Actual Diehard
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You know everything, every stat, every player, everyone in the minors, every person in the organization, and you don’t care whether you go down with the ship or sail at lightning speed with it, you’re sticking by the Sox forever. They are part of your being. It’s not a phase, Mom.
So I’m currently at the Red Sox Near-Diehard level, but I’m trying to scale back and be at my dad’s level. Did I forget any tiers? Where would you see yourself?