Three at Fenway with the Yankees starting tonight, and I Loathe Pinstripes is out of the drawer. If you're a certain kind of Sox fan, that's the whole preview right there. You know what your Tuesday looks like. You know what Wednesday morning is going to feel like.
What the series carries
You told yourself in March that this year you were going to keep it in perspective. You said it out loud to a friend. It's only April. You meant it. Then you saw the schedule, and you saw that it starts Tuesday, and something in your chest did that thing where you stop pretending.
It doesn't matter that neither team is ready. We know the stats. We checked twice. That has never been the point. The point is that there is one series on the calendar every year that you will be watching at 6:45pm on a Tuesday regardless of what you have going on Wednesday morning, and this is it.
Why the Red Sox Yankees shirt exists
Anyone who owns an I Loathe Pinstripes shirt knows it's not really a shirt. It's a shorthand. It's the fastest way to communicate, to a stranger on Jersey Street or in a coffee line in Brookline, that you have sat through every version of this. That you remember '86. That you were there in '04 and you know exactly why those years don't just run together.
The shirt doesn't say any of that. It just says I Loathe Pinstripes, and the years 2004, 2007, 2013, 2018. The shirt doesn't need to say more. The shirt trusts you.
That's really what we at The Red Seat have been making for twenty years. Stuff for the people who don't need anything explained.
If you're going to these games, it's still April and it's cold, so the hoodie does more work than the tee does. Watching at home, the tee is the one.Enjoy it. Or endure it. You've done both.
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