Opening Day Special: Boston vs. New York

By Scott Harris Posted Apr 4th 2010 10:00AM

Opening Day of the new baseball season is upon us, and you know what that means: peanuts, crackerjacks and a seemingly endless string of massively hyped games between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees. And frankly, we love it. Oh, sure, fans of every other team in the world probably get sick of it all, but for us, the drama played out on the ball field is just the most obvious representation of the deep seated rivalry between the two cities that has permeated every aspect of pop culture over the last century.

In honor of Opening Day, and to celebrate the latest round in the never-ending battle between the Red Sox and the Yankees, here's our look at how Boston and New York's contributions to pop stack up against each other.

• Sitcoms: 'Cheers' vs. 'Seinfeld' Set in a typical Boston bar, complete with ex-Red Sox pitcher Sam Malone, 'Cheers' was the top sitcom of the 80's thanks to its beloved ensemble cast. It's only fitting, then, that it's matched up against the top sitcom from the 90's, 'Seinfeld,' the classic "show about nothing" that highlighted the lives of a group of narcissistic New Yorkers. Which one you prefer may depend on whether you enjoy your comedy with a glass of beer or with a side of soup instead.

• Scorsese Movies: 'The Departed' vs. 'Taxi Driver' Considering legendary director Martin Scorsese is a New York icon, you'd expect that the films based in his home city, including such undisputed classics of cinema as 'Taxi Driver' and 'Mean Streets,' would have an unfair advantage. Recently, though, Scorsese has been finding a new muse in the streets of Boston; 'The Departed,' which picked up the Best Picture Oscar in 2007, also finally landed him his first Best Director statue.

'The Departed' Clip

'Taxi Driver' Trailer

• Comedians: Conan O'Brien vs. George Carlin For the last few decades, Boston has become a virtual breeding ground for nationally known comedians, with everyone from Jay Leno to Louis C. K. to Steven Wright to Dane Cook calling the city home. Still, there's no question that even the current reigning arbiter of cool, Boston's Conan O'Brien, owes a debt of gratitude to perhaps the most legendary comedian of all, New York's George Carlin, who neglected to mention the eighth word you can't say on Boston television: Yankees.

• Rock Bands: Aerosmith vs. The Ramones With a career spanning nearly four decades, Aerosmith has enshrined itself as America's best selling rock band, moving over 150 million albums and reinventing itself again and again thanks to projects like their 1987 duet with Run-D.M.C. and their smash 2008 version of the video game Guitar Hero. The Ramones, on the other hand, never met that level of commercial success, but their influence on music is arguably far greater: rebelling against just the kind of mainstream music Aerosmith produces, The Ramones kick-started the punk movement and in the process changed Western culture forever.

• Reality Stars: Boston Rob vs. New York Ever since appearing on 'Survivor' in his trademark Red Sox hat, "Boston" Rob Mariano has made himself an ubiquitous barnacle on the hull of reality television, appearing in everything from live poker games to a SyFy investigation of Bigfoot. He doesn't have anything on VH1's dating gadfly Tiffany "New York" Pollard, though, who began her career by wooing Flavor Flav and parlayed that into a franchise based on allowing the network to script every aspect of her personal and professional life. Unlike a Sox-Yankees game, when it comes to reality television, we're not sure there are any winners.

• Dead Writers: Edgar Allen Poe vs. Washington Irving Finally, the rivalry between Boston and New York is nothing new, even in the world of pop culture. Just take a look at the battle that raged at the beginning of the 19th century between the two originators of American horror, Boston native Edgar Allen Poe and New York product Washington Irving. Poe's epic poem 'The Raven' became an instant Halloween party classic when it landed in 1845 and his stories 'The Fall of the House of Usher, 'The Tell-Tale Heart' and 'The Pit and the Pendulum' formed the foundation of modern horror. Irving, on the other hand, preceded even Poe with such seminal, creepy works as 'The Legend of Sleepy Hollow' and coined the terms "Gotham" and "Knickerbocker," both of which have become synonymous with his hometown. But in true Boston-New York fashion, not even this was enough to impress Poe, who stated, "Irving is much over-rated." Just imagine what he might have said about A-Rod.

Tags: Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, opening day

Comments

(16)

Sunday 04 April

By serena

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BOSTON!!!! all day

By David from New York

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Boston should start selling Kleenex in their gift shop or maybe a kleenex gift day at the stadium when they play the bombers

By Edward

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Go New York, Go New York, Go Yankees !

I can see Championship #28 being put above the Stadium already!

By pooh-bah

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I'm putting a curse on the Yankees (just like they did to the Sox back in 1919).

By P

THE YANKEES ARE BLESSED
GO YANKEES ;0)
OF COURSE THEY WILL PREVAIL... BUT, WIN OR LOSE , THEY ARE , AND WILL ALWAYS BE >> MY YANKEES ;0)

ALTHOUGH I HEAR THAT BOSTON HAS GOOD BEANS, ROF

By gobluespartyon

I seem to go thew Boston shows for TV LOL. Go Yankees big Derek Jeter fan since he went to my high school Kalamazoo Central Giants Rock The House.

By Red Sox fan

Well it's finally time again! Great way to start the season, Yanks and Sox in Fenway Park. Being number one last year, the Yankees are about to be chased by every major league team hungry to put a W up against them. I hope the new team gels quick or they will be sitting on the sidelines in October. With all the talent they have, I hope the pitching doesn't break down or it could spell trouble. Go Red Sox! We'll be playing the Yanks for the division in October!

By elin

I'm always amazed that anyone liked Seinfeld. The characters weren't nice people and the situations they got into were often deserved. They were jerks!
The Cheers crowd were nice people, normal people you'd know in yoru regular life. They didn't go around doing mean things to other people or each other.

Monday 05 April

By Jimsumner

The Yankees will always and forever stay ahead of the Red Sox in Championships, be it Division Titles, Pennants, and of course the grand daddy of the them all, the World Series. I remember a few years ago when the Red Sox finally won a couple of World Series, the first one in almost 90 years I might add, and the way my brother-in-law was bragging about them and how this could be the start of a "dynasty". I said to him listen to yourself, dynasty, are you kiddin me...the Red Sox win a couple of World Series and they think they are somebody. Would you care to check the World Series Championship Flags at Yankee Stadium, not to mention all of those Division Title Pennants! Go Yanks!! What a way to christen a new stadium, with yet another World Championship!

By linda olsen

the only men in my life besides my grandsons.....

By ilovebostonrob

BOSTON edges out NY with the inclusion of superhot Boston Rob

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