Red Sox Out-Yankee the Yankees

Quick - name this baseball team:


It trades for big names to extend them with big money, signs high profile position players to record contracts, trots out All Stars at most positions, has a soft-spoken, unimposing GM who gets the job done every season, and a fan base that's become so used to winning, anything short of a pennant or title is considered failure.


Ladies and gentlemen, your Boston Red Sox.


Okay, okay...so I've written about the similarities between the Sox and Yanks before. This is nothing new. I'm just trying to knock Sox fans down from their high after they acquired both Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford, the top two acquisitions thus far and the top two not named Cliff Lee.


But the new-age, new-roster Red Sox are making it increasingly difficult for a Yanks fan to earn an honest living in Boston! No more widespread misery and doubt -- just absurd spending and talent. As one friend and diehard Sox fan told me, "Money argument aside, we are f***ing STACKED!"


There goes the neighborhood for this pinstripe-clad citizen...


Let's bring the money argument back in -- has this changed the rivalry? Eh, not really. The teams will still play an obscene number of times. ESPN will still run the game previews, analysis and highlights through their overworked hype machine. And the fan bases will be at each others' throats just the same.


But this might change the rivalry to a third party -- finally pushing them over the edge. This is sure starting to look less like the battle between good and evil and more like Alien vs. Predator.


No matter who wins -- most of humanity loses.


(Oh...and if you're wondering, the idea of the Sox essentially cementing themselves as no different than their most hated rival makes me 5% happy, 95% want to hide...)