By Marley Malenfant/feature editor
In 2008, my dad and I watched Kevin Garnett yell that anything is possible.
We both kicked and screamed when Tom Brady and the New England Patriots lost to the New York Giants in the 2007 Super Bowl. But when the Red Sox came back to beat the Yankees during the 2004 playoffs, it was bittersweet.
My dad is from New England, and we love our teams. Just don’t tell him I love the Yanks.
Yes, that’s probably the largest act of sports treason. It’s enough to make Johnny Damon blush.
Whenever he asks why I wear a blue Yankee fitted cap, I tell him I like the way it fits. In 2008, my dad thought the Phillies had the Yankees against the wall. I was nervous. It was the last year the Yankees played in the original Yankee Stadium, but my old man couldn’t care less. I wanted to fly to the Bronx and get a piece of the demolished stadium.
I’ve been holding in this awful secret for too long. I’m an in-the-closet Yankee fan. So how do I tell him?
We might have to go through sports counseling after all the years of watching Red Sox games together.
The entire state of Rhode Island will chastise me. Massachusetts will mock me, and the rest of New England will call me a fair-weather fan. I can never walk into a Dunkin’ Donuts again.
October is around the corner, and the Red Sox and Yanks are playing for the top spot in the AL East again.
I can’t go on with this. I remember my dad tearing up over the phone after the Red Sox won the World Series in 2004. It was the first time the team won the title in 86 years. Listening to his joyfulness over the phone was better than seeing the Yankees add another World Series championship.
Listening to him rant about how overpaid the Yankees are is, at times, more entertaining than watching the actual game. If he does find out, he’ll understand. When’s the last time the Knicks won? Another New England team is bound to win another championship.
Fathers and sons aren’t going to agree on everything. This is one he’s going to have to deal with.
