It was sad to hear about the incident in New Hampshire. I'm a Sox fan and I live in NH. I can tell you that NH is a beautiful place to live. What happened in Nashua is far from a common occurence in New Hampshire. Yes, there are a few Yankee fans (I do not know how they make it over the Mass. border! We truly need better border protection in this country!!) and we do get into heated debates with them, but normally they are on the friendly side. And lately the Yankee fans have been VERY quiet!! :))
GO SOX!!!

I forgot to add a very important part in my message above, my heartfelt condolences go out to both families. It was a very tragic thing that should have NEVER happened.
Peace!

"if it wasn't that issue that got her mad, it probably would have been another"
I've been a sox fan since I was a 10 year old kid running on the field celebrating the '75 pennant. I totally disagree with this statement. This was simply a petty fight between a yankees fan and SEVERAL red sox fans. As usual both sides took it too far and this time someone got killed over it. Does he deserve special recognition by the sox, ABSOLUTELY NOT. Does she deserve any kind of pitty, ABSOLUTELY NOT. WAKE UP PEOPLE, THIS IS JUST A GAME!!!

From what I hear they followed her outside and were chasitising her and screaming "yankees suck". Obviously she was an idiot but they seem like schoolyard bullies picking on a weakling.

I'm not going to make light of this. It's a horrible thing. But honoring this guy is probably a bit over the top. This is a tragedy that has been waiting to happen since ESPN and FOX decided to turn the Yankee/Sox rivalry into Baseball Celebrity Death Match. It simply has to stop. I've been a Yankee fan for over fifty years, and I'm frankly embarrassed by fans on both sides of the fence when it comes to this rivalry. Nobody enjoys baseball anymore it seems. They enjoy the "game" of being a fan of one team or the other, and the ugly characteristics of that game that have turned baseball's greatest fans...those in Boston and New York...into it's most hateful bufoons. It doesnt look to get any better. Sons and daughters are adapting their parents ignorance, and the ugliness is seeping into the next generation already.
Yes, I have always been a Yankee fan. And I have always loved the "rivalry." Williams or DiMaggio? Mantle or Yaz? Thurm or Fisk? Jeter or Nomar? That kind of stuff. It used to make baseball fun to talk about it. Argue about it. Have a couple of beers, haggle in the bleachers, walk the streets of Boston in Yankee regalia, taunting, being taunted...but all in good fun. My son in law is a Sox fan. A great guy too. My daughter a Yankee fan. We have our Sox/Yankee arguments all the time. The kids are torn. Dependin upon which parent they are shaking down, their team allegences change. And it's fun. I go to Fenway with him. He goes the the Stadium with me. He wears the Williams jersey I got him to the Stadium. The fans bust his chops, but we always have a good time. THAT'S what baseball and this rivarly should be. But it isnt for many.
The Bleacher Creatures are idiots. And some Sox fans are worse. The horrible stuff they say to the players and about the players makes you question their genetic makeup. (You should have seen some of the stuff on SOSH when Joba's father collapsed.) It's no wonder that these two splinter groups hate eachother so much. They are all idiots. They are ruining the game of baseball for the rest of us. So when this deranged woman felt perhaps threatened or taunted to her limit by a bunch of idiot Sox fans, she took a desperate and dangerous way out. It resulted in tragedy beyond reason. A young man is dead. A woman is going to prison. The great town of Nashua is traumatized forever. And why? Over a baseball team? It borders on insanity.
I'm afraid of the future. I'm sure there are Boston fans who feel something must be done. After all, this woman declared war on the Nation on behalf of the Empire. There are plans to be made. Chants to be organized. Gangs to form and retaliation to be had. Yankee fans are gearing up for it. If not welcoming the chance to increase the number of casualties. They wont back down. They cant. They will be challenged. The riviarly, above all else, must prevail.
And a baseball fan...one who has seen over fifty years of Yankee/Red Sox baseball has to wonder. Was it all worth it? Is this what the game I love, and the two cities who have played it best, have turned into? Is it OK to risk my life and those of my grandchildren just to keep this sick abberation alive? I'm not so sure anymore.
Call it gang mentality. Call it overreaction. Call it whatever you want to call it. But this tragedy is a sympton of a very sick relationship. It happened before. A fan dies in a clebration in Boston. People get beaten up for wearing a Sox hat in the Bronx. And it will happen again. Yes, the young man who died reverted back to the man he was seconds before he died. He did what was probably in his nature all along. He tried to save another person's life. He probably would have done that if she were a Yankee fan too. I'm sure he's that kind of guy. But for the time building up to it, he apparently became one of "them." He taunted one of "us." And the horrendous if not predictable response resulted in his death. It's a world gone made. RIP young man. You died for the cause I suppose. But the cause is out of hand.

Let's reward the best in sporting behavior, not the worst. His death is tragic and sad and the driver deserves whatever the legal system decides. But if we whitewash this guy's behavior simply because we are pro-Red Sox, then what does this say about the classiness of Sox fans? The best tribute I can think of is to permanently bury the "Yankees s--k" chant forever. That stupid chant led this lady over the edge.

nice piece TOODEEMO it's got out of hand in all sports rite down 2 childrens leagues it's the beginning of the end of civility no 1 care's anymore what they say or do at LL games or youth basketball ,football . LIKE U SAID ITS ONLY A GAME

But the Yankees do suck?

I do not think this guy should be honoured in any way, but for the record, anyone who would excuse this woman's actions as the product of "schoolyard bullies picking on a weakling" makes me a tad sick ... Um, no. Being taunted does not excuse vehicular homicide. Is that what our society has come to, a bunch of people so desensitized to violence that we can now generate valid reasons why this woman ran some people down over an argument about sports teams? Give your head a freaking shake.

I am a middle school teaher and an avid Red Sox Fan. I grew up in Boston, and there is no better city on Earth. However,letting words drive you to violence is so middle school. Immature people can let words get in the way of their sanity. I see children get int ofights every day over stupid stuff. Everywhere I go, even Disney World, I run into friendly Yankee fans that raz a little about the Sox. Its all in good fun. I raz back. Some fans cannot get a grip on reallity. We all love the game. If there were no rivalries it would be boring. The Yankees give us something to strive for every year. Stop acting like middle schoolers and start acting like sports fans. Its getting to the point where a baseball game is not a family affair anymore. Even if I could afford the outrageous ticket prices, I certainly would not want my three year old exposed to the drunken idiots that root for any team nowadays. How can you be enjoying yourself when you are in a drunken angry stupor. Oh and as a woman, if a group of guys followed me into a dark parking lot yelling a screaming, I might feel threatened enough to hit them with my car to. This incident was not about love for a baseball team. It was about drunken idiots acting like middle schoolers and paying the price for it. No one wins in this situation. God help us to become descent human being again.

Very eloquent reply toodeemo. The death is a horrible tragedy. Your post speaks to something that should be addressed more often, outside of this specific incident. It is a problem, not just for Red/Sox Yankees, although it is the pinnacle, Boston has seen it's shameful share of other attacks, just this year. This past season's Pats/ Gillette parking lot attack of an out of town fan, this years Bruins/Habs incident in Boston? and I am sure they are not isolated to Boston or any other major sports city. The fervor and dedication great sports towns relish in, also breed this type of lemming behavior that shows itself in classic mob mentality after a few to many drinks. Sports teams become a banner( just like some people bind together under their neighborhood, city, school, culture) for people to band together under, and in most incidents I read about it's late after games and a few to many drinks where people seem to lose their inhibitions.
Again this is no commentary on this young man, it was a tragedy and I don't know the facts. But it appears as another late night drinking, sports game incident spurned on by Sports allegiances clashing. I went to an Eagles PRE SEASON game with my buddy whose a Steelers fan. So it was my friend a Steelers guy, and me a Pats guy(of course that is asking for some trouble, but most were pretty courteous). We had a drunk Eagles fan, college age dude screaming in our ear taunting us while he was on the phone the whole time(probably showing off like an idiot to his buds back home, so weak) whenever a 1st down or TD was made against the Steelers, IN PRESEASON! It got heated and they almost threw everyone out. Just imagine how fast things can get out of hand in the parking lot after a game. I am the most passionate, emotionally attached sports fan I know, just ask my wife about the tantrums I take when my team loses, but it blows my mind that sports allegiances can turn angry and violent towards other people. It's truly a psychological study in need of happening, people need to get over themselves and their need to be "right" and feel as if they have to champion their team to the point of verbal and physical assault, because it's a shameful way to act as a human being.

This is awful. Being a baseball fan (Cleveland Indians) I never liked the Yankees because that is just how it is. They always rubbed me the wrong way. I never minded the Sox because they were like the Cubs. They never won anything and you kind of felt badly for them. Then the 2004 World Series happened and you'd think the Sox were like the Dallas Cowboys of the 90's or, gasp, the New York Yankees. It actually became that way for me. I couldn't stand the Sox or their fans. They actually overtook New York's spot as my most hated team. Then the years after that and how both sides seemed to grow in ignorance as both fan bases gained more bandwagon fans it got so ugly. That's when I realized I don't hate anything about the Sox or the Yankees. I hate ignorant fans who jump on the bandwagon, don't know a damn thing and scream "(insert team name) SUCK!" These fans are ruining it. I am going to Boston in July to see a Sox vs. Yankees because it is one of the greatest sporting events I canthink of the see. I just hope stupid fans don't ruin what should be an out of this world experience for a true fan of baseball.

I remember going to Yankee Stadium with my sox hat on for my 21st birthday. I managed to ride the subways of NY and go to the stadium and only got light hearted insults from Yankee fans. I was surprised. Most of them were cool about it. But the guy who mugged me for my $5 I had left after the game did make an anti Sox comment. That was Sept 10th 2001, glad I wasnt born a day later.

Toodeemo:
You stated it very well. I am a lifelong Sox fan, and there is no better, captivating baseball than the Red Sox-Yankees GAMES. I will root just as hard for the Sox as you will for the Yanks, and have enjoyed DISCUSSING the rivalry with many of my Yankee supporting friends, and it is fun.
Although I now live in Mississippi, I was deeply saddened when the Snellgrove girl lost her life in the celebration to which you refer, as her family were my neighbors when I lived in Massachusetts. A senseless loss of life. As a freelance writer, I have had the pleasure of meeting most of the Red Sox and Yankee players who have participated during my lifetime going back to the 1940's, and with few exceptions, they have been stand up people, interesting to talk to, but people like everyone else. I certainly understand passion for a team, but it all needs to be kept in the proper perspective. To Joe A, I hope you do enjoy the game when you go to Boston, as a game at either Fenway or the Stadium can be a memorable, enjoyable event.

I Agree that all though this is tragic pestering the Red Sox organization to pay tribute to a fan who died because of a drunken argument is kind of a moot point. It ultimately says "hey kids get drunk and fight about a childs game that is played by men and if you die we will honor you" Its sad and I think the effort should be pointed in other directions like the consequences of drunk driving

This is a terrible tragedy that should NEVER have happened. No one should ever become so angry over a sports team rivalry that they become physically violent. That lady threw her life away because she was go pissed off over comments. I am a die hard Red Sox fan and love my team and the game of baseball almost as much as my wife and kids. I proudly wear my Red Sox gear. I have been approached by many Yankee fans ( and Rockies fans, who have a thing against the Red Sox for some reason) and comments were made about the number of championships won by both teams. But never has it escalated to violence. I have been at games when the chant of both Yankees and Red Sox Suck can be heard. I take it in good fun. But I am ashamed that this rivalry, which should be a fun endeavor, has turned into tragedy. the lady was wrong for what she did. And the victim may hold some blame as well. Lets hope that all baseball fans learn from this tragedy and see what baseball really is. A game, played in the sunshine. Something to be enjoyed. Be passionate about your teams, but remember, it is just a game.

The woman should get life in prison without parole!

Manywaters, the kid who died was described by the bartender as a regular who never drank and who never started trouble. He died saving someone else's life, then saved many more by donating his organs. He absolutley deserves recognition.

Very well put Toodeemo. It's said that baseball is a thinking mans ' game. The real fans know this and appreciate
the beauty of it and the old rivalries over the years. These new jump on-the-bandwagon,fashion trend wearing fans don't. I bet more than half of the idiots who cause problems and tragedies of this type couldn't name even one or two players from the pre Torre or Francona era.

This is the problem, with illegals, if she did not come here this would not have happened.

I've been a Red Sox fan since '67 and hate the Yankees for beating the Sox a lot in my life, I've been in Fenway and watched Bernie Williams stroke one out and hear all the Yankee fans in the stands, I hate that! But gee wizz its just a game and some of the greatest people I have met in my life are Yankee fans and I couldnt imagine anyone harming them. This is just too, too bad and too, too stupid

Dear Red Sox Nation,
Although I support my beloved but always heart-breaking Atlanta Braves, I truly respect Red Sox Nation over in the A.L. When I see opponents making great plays, the Red Sox fans respect that and give him a round of applause.
My quick question is this?
Would the Red Sox Nation apporve of hypothetically speaking trade proposal / discussion that might arise come this July towards the deadline.
Boston acquires:
1B - Mark Texeria
2B / 3B - Martin Prado
Player to be named
Atlanta acquires:
Jacoby Ellsbury
Player to be named.
Let's face it. The Braves can't afford to keep Texiera with our current payroll. I just think what ways we could possibly manuever this piece to the puzzle without letting Texiera and Scott Boras head over to New York in the offeseason and talk with Hal and Yankee & Co.
Atlanta needs help in the OF and could work out a long term deal with Ellsbury.
Think about a Red Sox lineup of Manny, Ortiz, Texeria in the heart of it.
I don't know/ feedback?
-Brandon
bmtaratoot@gmail.com

nice post brandon...but this article isn't quite dealing with Red Sox trades right now...Plus The Sox need someone like Ellsbury in the outfield. Hes quick as hell and can hit. As a Sox fan, I just can't bare to see Coco Crisp playing CF everyday. He is also wicked quick but he needs a batting clinic, and leaves too many runners on. Plus, if the sox picked up Texeria, what would Youks and Lowell do? Id rather have them on the corners.

I have been a Red Sox fan for 36 years, I went to my first game when I was 8 months old and have gone to 20 games a year since I was 8 years old. Now I live in Florida and Boston will be my home and Florida is where I live. I must say I cringe when I see someone with a "Skankees" hat, t-shirt, licensce plate etc.... I do hope this woman gets the BAT thrown at her. She should not be in RED SOX COUNTRY!!!!