The New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox have it out one last time this regular season before the playoffs begin next week and it has stirred some controversy. This weekends games are at Fenway Park in Boston and Boston fans will not be permitted to wear "Yankees Suck" T-Shirts to the park. Do you think it's fair/unfair? Does it stifle opposition to the other side? Vote and post your thoughts here.



The Rant
Red Sox's stance against obscene T-shirts is absurd

Posted: Friday September 30, 2005 10:01AM; Updated: Friday September 30, 2005 5:05PM

By Stephen Cannella - Scorecard Daily

Well, this just sucks.

I was ready to drive to Boston this weekend with a trunkload of anti-Yankee T-shirts. Yankees Suck. Jeter Sucks. J'Accuse, A-Rod. Figured I'd make enough off the Jimmy Fallon types outside Fenway Park to pay off my student loans, even if a bleacher ticket remained out of reach. Then I read Thursday that the Red Sox have instituted a quasi-ban on such attire. Fans wearing "offensive" T-shirts will be asked by ticket takers to turn them inside out or cover up. "Parents are clearly looking for baseball to set good examples that they can teach their children," explained a Red Sox censor, uh, official.

Right. That explains the sport's lightning-quick response to its steroid problem. And why the Sox, like all teams, are perfectly happy to dispense enough beer every game to get Kid Rock through the night. And why TV cameras make sure to zero in on a pitcher's face a nanosecond after he allows a home run. (He's not shouting yuck, kiddies.) If baseball really wants to clean up its act, there are better places to start than T-shirts.

I'm tired of teams and leagues trying to turn every sports venue into Disneyland. (The NBA dress code David Stern proposed yesterday is a topic for another day.) The Red Sox should be thrilled to have fans passionate -- and wealthy --enough to spring for these bootleg T-shirts. I was at a Kansas City-Tampa Bay series a few years ago and don't remember seeing any Royals Rot shirts on sale. Besides, suck simply isn't that bad a word anymore. Kids hear worse on television and in PG movies. Linguists say the word has gone the way of drat and golly -- once vulgar terms that over time became acceptable. Even fencers aren't afraid to suck.

I suspect the Red Sox civility crackdown has more to do with the fact that Suck shirts are money makers for independent vendors outside Fenway, not the team-owned price gougers inside. What, there's something vulgar about a $75 sweatshirt? Hey, there's a sucker born every minute.

Sports Illustrated.com-September 30, 2005

In any other case (like at the beginning or the middle of the season), I would say that these shirts should not be banned. But in this case I think this is a good idea. I know there are people who would disagree and say that people should wear these shirts but to me, the safety and sportsmanship of the fans should take precedence over the right to wear these shirts.

Sometimes sports events can get really heated between fans, especially when there are rival teams playing. I remember a few years ago an Oakland Raider fan stabbed a Chargers fan. It happened here in San Diego. The guy was sentenced to prison and now they do patdown checks at Qualcomm Stadium whenever the Raiders come to town every year.

I think people should have the right to wear the shirts if they want to. I think they're in poor taste, but if you want to wear one, then knock yourself out.

id love to get a shirt that said that

Eh, I don't think it's particularily great sportsmanship, but I think anyone should be free to wear what they want, within reason of course.