In Hartford, line dancing

The border between Red Sox Nation and the Evil Empire is anything but a straight line. It zig-zags across southern New England, then disappears among the thousands of "displaced" Sox and Yankee fans around the country (and the world). But nowhere -- except perhaps in the dormitories of Boston-area colleges -- does it divide the populace as much as in Hartford, the one spot that may actually sit astride that dividing line. To the east and north is Sox country. To the west and south is Yankee territory. Hartford Courant sports editor Jeff Otterbein watches the rivalry from a unique perspective and had a front-row seat when the news broke of the Alex Rodriguez trade Saturday.

Sunday's Courant sports section had the story covered fully. Sox beat writer David Heuschkel had the story from the Boston perspective. Dom Amore had it from the Yankee side. Columnist Jeff Jacobs opined, "You've heard of the Boston Massacre and the St. Valentine's Day Massacre. This is the St. Valentine's Day Boston Massacre." And Jack O'Connell had a companion piece on former Red Sox players who became key Yankee acquisitions over the years, such as Babe Ruth, Waite Hoyt, Red Ruffing, Sparky Lyle, Luis Tiant, Wade Boggs, and Roger Clemens.

How does Otterbein know he's splitting the coverage fairly? "Because both Sox and Yankee fans accuse us of favoritism -- to the other team," he said. And it's usually when one team is on the front page of the section and the other relegated to the inside that the complaints come.

His office, however, has a pretty good system of checks and balances. "I'm a lifelong Yankees fan," he said, "but my deputy sports editors, Jeff Smith and Scott Powers, are both Red Sox fans. In my own family, we're split half-and-half between Yankee and Red Sox fans.

"Four years ago, we did an essay on how lucky we are as baseball fans. Now the rivalry has only gotten better because you know the present Sox ownership means business."

What might have been Channel 5 sports director Mike Fernandez said, "I was thinking the other day. If it hadn't been for Grady Little, we would have had a World Series. And if the Sox ever had won, the parade and residual fallout, leading into the Patriots' playoff run would have given us the busiest stretch in my career in Boston." Fernandez started at the old Channel 5 in 1970 . . . NECN's wide reach was welcome Saturday night to those of us watching in Hartford when "Sports Late Night" with Mike Giardi had WWZN's Ryen Russillo on to analyze all the ramifications of the A-Rod deal . . . Fox's national news tapped FSN's Gary Tanguay to comment on the story from the Sox' perspective last night . . . The A-Rod story jump-started local talk radio and TV, which was languishing in post-Super Bowl/pre-spring training doldrums . . . NESN's "Red Sox Inside Out" tonight at 10:30 will be more A-Rod talk with host Bob Rodgers and panelist Bob Tewksbury . . . Expect yet more on "Sportsplus" Thursday (NESN, 10 p.m.) with Bob Lobel and Michael Holley . . . Sean McDonough joins Jerry Remy for a radio webcast at www.theremyreport tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. Visit the site today to send in advance questions . . . ESPN's "Outside The Lines" (tonight, midnight) looks at the contrasting experiences of two Cuban defector pitchers: the Yankees' Jose Contreras, who found success on the field but whose family still is in Cuba, and Sox draft pick Rolando Viera, who is struggling to survive and keep his career alive, but who has his family with him . . . Channel 25's Butch Stearns has made peace at WEEI and returned as a fill-in host. Meanwhile, WEEI's "Whiney Awards" last week raised $20,000 for the fight against ALS (Lou Gehrig disease).

The wig party Question: How long has it been since you saw the guy in the rainbow wig who flashes the "John 3:16" message at big sporting events? (Answer below) . . . Eagles can be elusive. The bird watchers among us are out along the Merrimack River on a daily basis, looking to spot the live variety. CBS missed a great one of the golfing variety Saturday, leaving the Buick Open promptly at 6 p.m. and missing John Daly's eagle on the 18th hole. CBS was thrilled to have Daly in Sunday's playoff, given our national curiosity with golf's "Everyman." The Buick did a 4.8 rating Sunday on Channel 4, peaking at a 7.3 during the playoff hole . . . NBC showed Michael Waltrip's barrel-rolling crash at Daytona from the in-car camera until the car came to a rest on its roof, burying the antenna in the dirt. Once rescuers turned the car upright -- as Waltrip was urging from inside the vehicle and analyst Benny Parsons from the booth -- the camera came back to life. "We didn't show the crash replays or close-in shots of the car until we determined that Michael was OK from his communications with his team," said NBC spokesman Mike McCarley. NBC had hoped to use shots from the "helmet cam" worn by Waltrip Sunday and by analyst Wally Dallenbach in Saturday's Busch race. Unfortunately, the network got only a quick shot each day before each driver was involved in a crash. "Hardest hit I've ever taken," said Dallenbach of his trip into the Daytona wall . . . CN8's Lou Tilley (nightly at 11) has a baseball week scheduled: Tonight, Sammy Sosa; tomorrow, Willie Mays; and Thursday, Hank Aaron . . . Quiz answer: Rollen "Rock'n Rollen" Stewart, the ubiquituous "John 3:16" spreader-of-the-word at sporting events, hadn't been seen on live TV for more than a decade -- until he surfaced on a Tom Rinaldi "SportsCenter" feature late Saturday night. Stewart, who was the bane of TV producers, directors, and cameramen from the late '70s to the early '90s, given his knack for popping up at the most dramatic moments, is serving three life sentences in California's New Folsom Prison after turning down a plea bargain for a 12-year sentence so he could have his day -- and say -- in court. Stewart took a hotel maid hostage in Los Angeles in 1992 . . . "Joel from Worcester," who has been a regular radio caller since the early '60s, will sit in for Andy Gresh on "Sportsbeat" alongside Scott Cordischi this afternoon on Providence's WSKO (790 AM) from 3-7 . . . NESN has Bruins at Toronto tonight at 7:30, though ESPN has Bruins-Philadelphia Thursday at 8 with Gary Thorne and Bill Clement . . . FSN has Celtics late-night shows this week: tonight (10) at Sacramento, Thursday (10:30 p.m.) at the Clippers, Saturday (10 p.m.) at Portland, and Sunday (9 p.m.) at Seattle . . . It's hard not to tune in as the Saint Joseph's men's basketball team chases history, continuing its quest for an unbeaten season tomorrow (NESN, 7 p.m.) at Fordham.

Bill Griffith's e-mail address is griffith@globe.com