Sox Fans Owe The Boss Some Gratitude

On Tuesday, the sports world lost one of its biggest titans. George Steinbrenner, aka “The Boss,” a graduate of Williams College, passed away at the age of 80.

It’s been rather interesting, and somewhat disturbing, to hear the reaction from some members of Red Sox Nation.

I could barely stomach the local sports-talk radio yesterday; several callers called Steinbrenner a “lousy person” and “the worst thing that could’ve happened to baseball.” I also talked to my grandmother, who, to give you a better idea of her unrelenting fandom, swears that she wants to be buried in a Red Sox uniform.

“So Grandma, Steinbrenner’s dead. What’s your reaction?” I asked.

“I’m not crying, are you?” she said.

OK, then. Of course I wasn’t crying (I didn’t know the guy). But I certainly didn’t get any satisfaction from the passing of the man. (NOTE: My grandmother is a very sweet lady, so don’t judge her by this story alone.)

It seemed that, even in Steinbrenner’s death, Sox fans couldn’t help but express their resentment for the man who built an Empire, one that overshadowed Boston’s baseball team for so many years.

Let’s be real here. Perhaps without Steinbrenner, the Red Sox wouldn’t be the uber-successful franchise they’ve proven to be for the last decade. Boston has won two world championships in the last six years, beating the St. Louis Cardinals in 2004 and topping the Colorado Rockies in 2007. But let’s be honest. There’s only one team the Red Sox were built to beat: Steinbrenner’s Yankees.

Some fans are disgusted by the Yankees’ brand of baseball: big-money free-agent signings and a ridiculously expensive ballpark experience. Some believe that the Yankees’ way (“Buying a championship”) has disgraced the sport, and it’s the reason why Major League Baseball will never stack up to the parity-driven National Football League.

My reaction to that? Get with the times, folks. We can all complain about the swelled salaries of pro athletes, or the audacity of charging $6 for a hot dog, but the teams who get away with it are -- 99 percent of the time -- the teams who sell the most tickets and win the most championships.

Red Sox fans (especially those who enjoyed the 2004 and 2007 titles) shouldn’t complain about Steinbrenner’s business model, but instead credit him for setting the bar so high. The Red Sox brass may have billed the Boston franchise as this loveable group of scrappy underdogs, pitted against the clean-cut, spoiled rich kids in pinstripes, BUT the Sox are No. 2 behind the Bombers in team spending.

The Sox are rich bullies, too. Don't forget that.

Manny Ramirez, Pedro Martinez, Curt Schilling, Josh Beckett……The Sox have spent A LOT of money on championship-caliber talent. And why? Because Boston had to keep up with Steinbrenner and his Yankees.