Round 2: Columnists trade e-mail barbs

October 6, 2008 04:08 PM Email| Comments (0)| Text size – +

Globe columnist Kevin Cullen and Orange County Register columnist Frank Mickadeit trade e-mails about their respective regions. In opening salvos, they contrasted Boston (at least it's not Baltimore) with Anaheim (has a hockey team named after ducks).

Cullen

Kevin Cullen: Frank, if you were to walk around Boston today -- lovely, sunny, seasonal, in the low 60s, but, hey, this ain't California, pal -- you would see a lot of bleary-eyed people, and, no, Mr. Wiseguy, it has nothing to do with booze.

People in Boston actually stay up and watch these games, even when, as with Game 3, they last approximately as long as cricket matches.

I'm under the impression that by the time the wonderfully spelled Chone Figgins made a sparkling backhand stab of Alex Cora's smash down the third-base line, ending last night's game this morning, the vast majority of the good residents of Orange County were midway through "Desperate Housewives" or "Cold Case."

In Boston, there were many Red Sox fans late for their jobs or their arraignments this morning.

Am I wrong, or are people here a lot more into this than people there?

Mickadeit

Frank Mickadeit: Yes, my friend, you have really captured the difference, I think. Last night, as I was in the hot tub with a couple of Real Housewives of Orange County, we could hear the game on in the background, and our hearts went out to you people.

"My God," I said to Tawny (or maybe it was Tammy), "do you realize it's after midnight in Boston and those poor fans are going to have to be up in just another three hours to start scraping ice off their windshields?"

I mean, what kind of city's fans will tolerate a team that doesn't even start some of its playoff games until after 9:30 p.m.? Where is the self-respect? There's just more to life, you know? In that regard, I have to say, the Boston mindset seems just maybe one notch saner than, say, Columbus, Ohio.

But we have our own issues with self-respect in O.C. The Angel owner, Arte Moreno, decided to change the name of the team to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Some of the sheep who live here continue to adore the creep. I, for one, haven't been to an Angels game in more than two years and won't go until either the name changes back or he sells the team.

Which brings me to my question for you: From the Beantown POV, are the Angels an Anaheim team, an Orange County team, or an L.A. team? Is there even a distinction back there?

Cullen:: Frank, Boston fans absolutely understand the difference between L.A. and Orange County, and the teams that call those places home.

We think the Dodgers should have as a mascot that dog you guys have in Disneyland: Goofy.

You see, the Dodgers have taken all our screwballs, and for that, we are eternally grateful.

Nomah. (Nobody here says Nomar. We have as much use for R's around these parts as you do for mittens). Derek Lowe. And now Manny.

Manny Ramirez has actually found his level in L.A., even if his new number in Dodger blue is approximately twice his actual IQ.

If only we could unload that big lug Schilling on them, we'd be all set.

In general, Bostonians don't have strong feelings toward the Angels, though we were partial to the old hats with the halos.

We respect Scioscia. We like Vlady. But we think Chone Figgins's mother is a knucklehead and if she lived here she would have named him Sean, which is the name of 68 percent of men, white and black, in Boston.

Mostly, we're deeply envious of Angels fans. You see, here in Boston we are subjected to an excruciating singalong of "Sweet Caroline" during the eighth inning of every game at Fenway Park.

In Anaheim, the only people left in the park by the eighth inning are the teams and the umpires.

Mickadeit: Well, your response is makes my point vis a vis Moreno: You and I are supposed to be talking about the Angels and you bring up that National League team in L.A. It would be like me starting to opine on the Phillies.

With the World Series win in 2002, the Angels were finally putting Anaheim on the map. Then Moreno comes along and sets us back to the '60s, when the team was called the Los Angeles Angels -- and actually played in L.A. If there is envy on our part, it's that an out-of-town owner like Donald Trump isn't going to come along and buy the Red Sox and call them the New York Red Sox of Boston.

You are right, however, about fans leaving early in Anaheim, especially on weeknight games in the spring and fall. We have a concept of children getting to school around 8 a.m. State truancy laws prohibit us from adopting the Boston educational model.

I meant to compliment you on playing the Donnie Moore card right out of the gate and then quickly mitigating my ability to come back with the obvious Bill Buckner reference by bringing it up yourself. Well played.