Death Threats to Papelbon's wife

[Rondo2287]

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/allstar08/news/story?id=3491135

Pap reported that his wife received many death threats during the reed carpet parade.  I think its a pretty classless move by the NY fans.  My only question is, do any of you remember fenway fans ever threatening another fans family.  I mean there may be isolated incidents of course, but to the point where it was reported on ESPN? 

I remember the I banged Sheffield's wife shirts, and the wife beater comments directed at Jason Kidd, but thats it.  And I know both of those were inappropriate, but im not sure if they are on the same level.

[wdleehi]

Nasty thing to do by the moronic fan minority.



Much like the few Boston fans that gave the Celtics a black eye for their treatment of Jason Kidds wife (and kids)

[Roy Hobbs]

It's disgusting, for sure.

That being said, I'm not sure that Red Sox fans are all that much more classy than Yankees ones.  If Celtics fans told Bill Plaschke they wanted him to get cancer and die because he wrote an anti-Pierce opinion, I'm sure those same fans could find something inappropriate to say if confronted with a Yankees player they didn't like.

[bostonfan23]

There are definitely major idiots in all fanbases, but the thing that stuck out for me was how badly they booed Francona.. I remember Torre getting applauded pretty well at the '99 ASG.

[crownsy]

yea, we've been petty classless to them too.

does anyone rember after rivera's tragic losses with his family, he was pitching in fenway like 2 or 3 weeks later i think, and espn's mic's picked up one section chanting

"hows-the-Fam-ly"

as roy said, every fan bases has morons, and the red sox and yanks claim more than thier share.

[Andy Jick]

there is no such thing as a "classy fan base" - yes, there might be some nice people who respect their opponent, but as a WHOLE there is little that can be done about things like this.  it's unfortunate, but no fan base is above anything and it's just a sad part of the game of sports in any place.

[Redz]

My impression of Yankees Stadium the one time I was there that was that it was 100% about the Yankees, and 0% about baseball in general.  The Yankees and their fans feel that they ARE baseball.  That was the feeling I got from last nights game as well. 

Don't get me wrong, I realize it's their home field, but usually there's SOMETHING inside or out, for MLB in general.

[johnnyrondo]

there is no such thing as a "classy fan base" - yes, there might be some nice people who respect their opponent, but as a WHOLE there is little that can be done about things like this.  it's unfortunate, but no fan base is above anything and it's just a sad part of the game of sports in any place.

I kind of disagree. I went to college in the midwest and I'd say that fans in places like Wrigley or St. Louis are kinder than fans in NYC, Boston and Philly. I mean even in the 2004 WS, the Cardinals allowed Boston fans to enter the park at the end of game 4 to celebrate. Can you imagine the opposite happening in Boston. Fans are very passionate here on the east coast, but overall more jerks. Obviously there are exceptions. you can find an idiot anywhere and a nice person anywhere as well. Just going off my experiences.

[jobarules]

I was shocked to hear this. Obviously, I can't be sure of what happened at every stretch of the parade because I was only standing at one spot and can only talk about a 2 block stretch. However, where I was, all the Red Sox players got a sound booing when they came by, and the typical expected comments of "Go Home" or "Keep the Car Moving". One specific story that made this highly unlikely for me was when, Varitek came by, he had his two daughters sitting next to him and both looked like they were between 3 and 5 years old. People boo'd initially but when they saw the two girls people stopped immediately. He didn't get even a tenth of the boo's that Francona, Ortiz, Pedroia got before him because his daughters were there. Papelbon got the typical entrance of boo's when his car drove by. But obviously, this is one specific group of people at the parade and I didn't follow it so I don't know what could have happened all along the route or what maybe one lunatic did.

[TheBig3]

It's disgusting, for sure.

That being said, I'm not sure that Red Sox fans are all that much more classy than Yankees ones.  If Celtics fans told Bill Plaschke they wanted him to get cancer and die because he wrote an anti-Pierce opinion, I'm sure those same fans could find something inappropriate to say if confronted with a Yankees player they didn't like.

I would tend to agree with you. I was at the seadogs/Thunder game the other night. The Seadogs scored the 1st run and all of a sudden my daughter says to me, do you hear what those kids are chanting, I turn around and there is a group of 9 year olds chanting "Yankees S*&K", and the parents are letting them do it. Bottom line, both teams have the best fans going who are passinate for their respective teams. There is always going to be a handfull of fans on both sides that don't think before they speak and thus give a bad name to the entire fan base. Don't feed into it. The Red Sox and Yankees are both excellent organizations that have players that both sides respect. They also have one of the greatest rivals in all of sports which we are very luck to be a part of. Enjoy the on field stuff and stay away from the off field stuff, and most of all enoy the Celtics! Because we are relevant again baby!!!!!

[Robb]

I kind of disagree. I went to college in the midwest and I'd say that fans in places like Wrigley or St. Louis are kinder than fans in NYC, Boston and Philly.

I grew up a Red Sox fan in southern Illinois and St. Louis sports fans (save Blues fans) were absolutely insufferable.  Everything that had anything to do with the Rams (bandwagon) or the Cardinals was always so holy and perfect and nothing they ever did could be wrong.  The media treated every single athlete and coach with kid gloves and awe including the absolutely reprehensible Leonard Little.

Maybe that's better than Yankees fans in someone else's opinion, but I still can't stand it and take GREAT pride that some of the most notable championships won by my sports teams came with a defeated team from St. Louis (Celtics vs. Hawks 1957, Bruins vs. Blues 1970, Pats vs. Rams 2002, and Sox vs. Cardinals 2004).