While Packers and Vikings fans were glued to their television sets Sunday, I was one of only a few University students whose sporting interests were elsewhere.
Some 1000-plus miles away, in a small baseball park tucked in the Back Bay section of Boston, the Red Sox thrashed the Cleveland Indians 23-7 to force a Game 5 in the American League Division Series. Boston’s 23 runs were the most ever in the history of baseball’s post-season, dating back to 1903.
But the real history is yet to come. Thanks to a Red Sox victory Monday night — due in most part to the pitching of dominant Red Sox ace Pedro Martinez — Boston faces their arch-rival, the New York Yankees, for a chance to go to the 1999 World Series.
I was born and raised in suburban Boston, less than five miles from Fenway Park. For the past 15 years, I have gone to the historic field to watch Sox games with my father, and in that time, I witnessed baseball which most young boys can only dream about.
Having gone to over 250 games in that time, I remember little about specific games. But what I do remember were the battles between my beloved Red Sox and the hated Yankees.
One constant that has made this rivalry so great over the years is no matter how good or bad the two teams are, whenever they face each other, it’s a war. This cannot be said about any other rivalry in sports.
I remember a game in 1987 when both these clubs were anything but playoff teams. But by watching the two teams battle, a young 8-year-old like myself could hardly tell the game meant nothing to the standings. From the play on the field to the many fights in the stands, that Saturday afternoon game at Fenway Park seemed like it was Game 7 of the World Series.
But the rivalry between these two ball clubs dates back to well before I was born. The history of these two teams has been in the making since 1901.
From 1903 to 1918, the Red Sox won five World Series championships, the Yankees won none. That all changed in 1920, when the Red Sox made the infamous deal, sending Babe Ruth to the Yankees.
Since that deal, the Yankees have rolled off 24 championships. The Red Sox have won zero. In Boston, we blame the drought on the Curse of the Bambino.
Boston fans claim Ruth’s departure as the reason for the team’s failures. From Game 7 losses in the ’46, ’67 and ’75 World Series, to the ball that rolled though the legs of Bill Buckner in the 1986 fall classic, Red Sox fans know what if feels like to have their hearts broken.
But through all their great showdowns with New York, there is one game that will stick out in the mind of every Red Sox fan forever. Back in 1978, the Sox had a 14-game division lead, but the Yanks fought back and tied the Sox as the season ended. A one-game playoff was scheduled for Fenway Park.
With Boston leading 2-0 in the seventh inning, a skinny shortstop named Bucky Dent lofted a three-run home run into the screen of the Green Monster, and the Yankees went on to win the World Series.
This one game summarizes the heartbreak Red Sox fans have lived through and the success the Yankees have enjoyed.
But the rivalry was epitomized in 1941, when Teddy “Ballgame” Williams batted .406 and “Joltin'” Joe DiMaggio hit safely in 56 consecutive games.
Today, fans in Boston and New York have two new stars they will cherish well into the next century. This year, Nomar Garciaparra of the Red Sox and Derek Jeter of the Yankees continue the legacy of great ball players. The two are the first shortstops ever to finish 1-2 in the American League batting race. Garciaparra led the league at .357.
And although these teams have fought for 98 years, Wednesday night marked the first time these two teams have ever met in the playoffs. Red Sox general manager Dan Duquette grew up dreaming of a meeting between these two teams in the playoffs.
“Special? Other than the fact we’re here to play the Yankees for the pennant,” Duquette told the Boston Globe, “this is something I’ve wanted to do since I was 10 years old. This has always been a great rivalry, and this should add to the richness of the rivalry.”
Yankees manager Joe Torre said it will take little to get his players pumped for this series.
“There is no speech that I could make that could get them excited more than knowing they are going to Fenway Park and that the Red Sox are coming here,” Torre told the Globe. “It has been a rivalry back before me and before them. But there is no question that you feel that this is going to be something special.”
If their regular season contests over the past century are any proof, this seven-game series will be one of the most memorable ever.
In the past three years, I’ve witnessed the battles between the Packers and Vikings, but the history to this rivalry is short-lived compared to the Red Sox and Yankees.
The beauty of Red Sox and Yankees fans is that no matter how good or bad their teams are, they will continue to live and die by their teams.
So I ask you, football fans, to take a break from your little football border battle and flip the channel this weekend to catch even a brief moment of the Red Sox-Yankees showdown. It’s a rivalry that has had as much of an impact on baseball as it has had on the popular culture of the United States.
It’s only fitting that the Red Sox and Yankees will end a century of great baseball with a shot of going to the World Series on the line.
I only wish I could catch a flight home to Boston to witness another chapter in history.

John R. Carter covers volleyball and welcomes comments at [email protected]