more my time Pizza , rocky colovito ..what a great name! joe pepitone ..tony conigliaro..ah the good old days..

Oh, I remember Pepitone well. I was born in '59. He was in the thick of the Yankee lineup when I first took an interest in the game. Of course, I'm a Mets fan, which a lot of people can't understand because I'm a Bronx guy through and through.

Short version: My Dad was a Harlem guy. You know that. So, naturally, he was a Giants fan. He was like thirty years old when they pulled up and moved out west. Never forgave them (although, since Bonds retired, he rooted for them in the three World Series that they've won).

Anyway, like most Giants and Dodgers fans, in '62 he became a Mets fan. He instilled it in me, and that's all she wrote. But I don't "hate" the Yanks. I usually root for them as long as they're not playing the Mets. I mean, if it's Yanks-Braves in the series, do you think I'm rooting for a bunch of assholes from Georgia?

Where I live, its pretty split 50/50, Mets Yankees. You start going up North and you'll start seeing a ton of Sox fans. I think pmac is a Sox fans, see it thrown in on one of his OC posts haha.

Anyway, PB, your dad didn't do you any favors with the Mets. That's for sure.

Agree to disagree .

Because, first of all, my father can do no wrong in my eyes. That's how it is with Italian men and their sons. And secondly, he taught me a long, long time ago that it's much easier to root for a perennial winner.

Sticking with a loser, though frustrating, builds character .

When my dad moved to the country, he became a bills fan. Buffalo fucking Bills.

I'll take winning, haha. But its too late now. I'll always love my teams

very true, got to root for your home town, living in sarasota, i root for both yanks and mets, your at war with the midwest fans, the rays and marlin fans are not fanatical..so we must represent NY ..no matter what..

A short, true story with two of those names. It was June, 1967 and the Red Sox lead by Tony Conigliaro were playing the Yankees at the Stadium. The Yankees had horrible teams in those years and the Red Sox had not made much of a move yet but the rivalry between the two teams was already historic.

Tempers were running short in the game. A few hit batsmen and knock-down pitches added to the tumult. After one incident the two benches emptied and both teams came running out onto the field in a typical buildup to a baseball brawl (in which nothing really happens but some pushing and shoving). Well, Joe Pepitone, a boy from Brooklyn, had other ideas and he started taunting Red Sox shortstop, Rico Petrocelli, another Italian kid from Brooklyn. Rico tackled Pepitone and all hell broke loose. Fists and bodies were flying. (One of Rico's brothers worked Stadium Security and he ran out onto the field to protect Rico. Joe Pepitone swore that Rico's brother was pulling on his toupee and that his brother swore to break anyone's legs if they hurt Rico).

I firmly believe that this fight was the turning point and catalyst for the Red Sox to go on and win the pennant that season.

That's the understatement of the year. Ever go to a Mets-Marlins or Yanks-Rays game down there?

85 percent of the crowd rooting for New York. Minimum. But that's because most of them are New York transplants, like us.

yes i go to both teams games, i went to a rockies game vs yanks years ago ,like you said had to be 75% yankee fans..they got swept. talk about torture..

I'm the same way with the Soxs/Cubs. I'm a sox fan through and through, but I usually root for the cubs when they're not playing the sox. Plus, I would love to see the cubs win it all. The city would completely shut down.

One of my younger female cousins married a Red Sox fan which is the "only thing wrong with him", according to her father who is a die hard Yanks fan. It's funny to see them post fb pics of her son in a Red Sox onesie or hat. Drives her father nuts. They go back and forth like that cuz once he's with his Grandpa he's in a Yankee onsie. Only true baseball fans will understand this so I figured I'd add it here since all of you are talking about bb.

nice story..

I'm a die hard Mets fan here, I don't think there's more passionate die hard fans than Mets, Yankees, Phillies, and Red Sox fans. I've been to a lot of MLB ballparks all over the country and there's no place like the Northeast when it comes to baseball!

Pizza...jr gotti OUT OF THE CLOSET .was an undercover..met fan... jr always said he was a yankee fan when his father was alive.. after he decides to blame his father for everything in life , except getting rich...he comes clean and says i was always a met fan but i did not want to hurt my dad, now that i am free of him and the mob..i am a met fan..sorry Pizza , i'm relieved he is not on this team anymore LOL..both of them

There is ONE place you forgot, CHICAGO!! My Great Uncle's wife is from Chicago and when the Bears played the Giants (or it could've been NY baseball against Chi I don't remember) They had to watch the game in DIFFERENT rooms because they would argue and fight. No joke.

butkus

That's hysterical. He probably lied about being a Raiders fan, too .

he did he was a jet fan..

Stand and salute when saying that name, bronx.

Amen to that.

I should know too. Jays fan.

And you never, ever, EVER, leave before the 9th.
No matter the score.


A side note about supporting teams. I was raised that where you're born is the team you support. FOREVER. No picking and choosing teams. And its disgusting how many Habs fans there are in Toronto who've never even BEEN to Montreal. Or Bruins fans.
You're born in Toronto. You bleed blue n white.
A Yankees game in Toronto and half the crowd rocks up in the stripes.
Hell most of Hamilton goes for the Tigers.
Point being its easy to follow a winner.
But I digress.

Note: @ PB, Above not directed at you, you didn't jump on the bandwagon of a winning team, which was my convoluted point.

that name says it all.. football real football. great middle linebackers then

Sonny you are from toronto?

Ex-pat Australian living in Toronto.

Though technically Im back in Aus for a short hiatus.

Which has ALOT to say on the discussion we were having regards loyalty in the other thread.

People who jump on the bandwagon of a winning team? Whats that say about loyalty?

And youre right. Some people are born with it, some just arent.

i have friends in hamilton nice city, did michael f. do some kind or seminar in AUS. recently if you know

I really couldn't say B.

What a player he was I watched as a college player a real animal. He was hated after his knee injury. Some players gave him the respect of not trying to cut his legs from under him.

Not all I think his name was Ray Mansfield a center with the steelers. He tried to make Butkus a cripple because he hated him so much.

Their was a story about Willis Crenshaw a back with the St. Louis Cardinals who tried to stiff arm Butkus. He got his fingers inside Butkus cage. Story goes Butkus actually bit off one of his fingers.

I saw namaths first intra squad game as a Titan. That was the jets name before they changed it to the jets. They played at a college field in Long Island.

They had 3 quarter backs that year. Namath, Johnny Huart and another guy I forget his name.

The receivers could not catch Namath he was throwing too hard.

Real football when the clothesline was legal. When lineman could not extend their arms when they blocked someone. When the defensive head slap was legal.

I like Australians they come from good criminal stock. We used to export piece good and other things to Australia years and years ago.

There was an Australian dress company voyager something I forget. He bought material piece goods and other goods here. I go pick him up at his hotel to take him to our office. There he looks at piece goods to choice what he wanted to buy in bulk. He also did that with drugs.

He was a tough guy and his wife was an equally tough girl. A panhandler was bothering them for money in front of their hotel. I see this I get out to give the bum a bump with a tire iron. But before I could get their both the guy and his wife are already beating the shit out of the bum.