I’ll be doing quite a bit of guest posting during the month of April. The link to today’s guest post on Billy Coffey’s blog is at the end of this post.

In honor of today being Opening Day of the 2010 MLB Season, my friend Billy Coffey and I exchanged guest posts regarding our respective love for the Yankees and Red Sox. Hope you like…

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Choosing Sides by Billy Coffey

I’m trying to write this with the non-baseball fan in mind, if there is such a thing. I suspect there is. While baseball is still considered our national pastime, there’s no denying the allure of sports like football and basketball, those bastions of instant gratification. Baseball is different. It is cerebral and methodical and all those other brainy words that end in “-al”. It’s God’s game. There’s no doubting this.

The rules are many and somewhat complicated, so I won’t get into them here. What I will do, however, is touch upon the one thing you need to do in order to be considered a true baseball fan.

You have to pick a side.

Yankees or Red Sox.

You can be a fan of another team of course, though I can’t imagine why you would. It’s like dancing with the ugly person at the prom when the two prettiest people in school are sitting there for the taking.

But it’s fine if that’s your thing. I’m not one to judge. What I am, though, is an educator. A shining beacon of wisdom who is here to guide you along the proper path of making that choice between Yankees and Red Sox. And in the interest of fair play, I’m going to put all bias and personal opinion aside. I’m the Joe Friday of baseball. Just the facts, ma’am.

Since baseball is all about the numbers and numbers are boring, let’s get them out of the way first. The Yankees have won a total of 27 World Series and 40 American League pennants. The Sox? Seven World Series and 12 pennants. Which means the Yankees have more world titles than Ric Flair, while the Sox are struggling to pull ahead of Ivan Koloff.

But of course numbers aren’t everything, even in baseball. There are other, more telling ways to make an educated decision. Because if you really want to know what’s good and what isn’t, plunging headlong into popular culture can’t miss. Right?

Let’s go with nicknames. Chances are even if you’re not a baseball fan, you’ll recognize some or all nicknames of the more famous Yankee players. The Babe. The Iron Horse. The Yankee Clipper. The Mick. Mr. October. And then there’s my favorite, Donnie Baseball.

The Sox, though? Not so much. Ted Williams was called The Splendid Splinter. Carl Yaztremski was Yaz. David Ortiz has adopted the moniker of Papi. I have a favorite Sox nickname, too. Dennis Boyd was called “Oil Can.

I’ll leave the winner of that particular category up to you. I will say, however, that shortening your last name does not really qualify as a nickname in my book, and that I’d rather not be called the Hispanic slang for Grandpa. But I guess both would be better than being known for what you choose to call a can of beer.

I’m a movie guy and have had the pleasure (more or less) of seeing some films that center around both teams and their individual players. Who can forget Gary Cooper in Pride of the Yankees? A classic. I can think of no one better to play Lou Gehrig, that icon of perseverance and suffering grace.

On the other hand, there was Anthony Perkins of Psycho fame who played Red Sox outfielder and all-around nut job Jimmy Piersall, who once stepped up to bat wearing a Beatles wig and playing an air guitar. Classic? Maybe. Classy? Hmm…

The Yankee organization has been referred to as The Bronx Bombers and, more recently, The Evil Empire. They even play that scary music from Star Wars before home games. The Sox? A few years ago they were known as The Idiots. I’m not sure what music they played before games. Maybe Vanilla Ice.

I could go on. I won’t. I think there’s enough here to make a rational choice. And again, I remain impartial. I’m Switzerland.

Even if I sometimes dream of Jack Bauer interrogating Kevin Youkilis.

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Billy lives in the foothills of Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains. A product of his small-town locale, counts as assets his rural authenticity, unwavering sense of purpose, and insatiable curiosity–all of which tend to make his front porch a comfortably crowded place. On most days, you can find him at his blog What I Learned Today. He is also a regular contributor for High Calling Blogs , The Master’s Artist and Hey Look a Chicken. Billy’s debut novel, Snow Day will be available later this year.

PS… You can click here for my guest post at Billy’s blog on why you should be cheering for the Red Sox instead of the Yankees. It makes much more sense than this Yankee-lovin’ hooey.

PPS…if you’re new here, click here and check out my featured posts. I promise you’ll laugh at something.

Happy New Year’s Red Sox fans…Let’s Go Sox!

When I was in Ecuador with Caedmon’s Call in 2004…

…brief aside: the online journal I wrote up for my trip to Ecuador with Caedmon’s got lost among the shuffle on the interwebs, but I plan on reposting those short entries here some point soon…

…anyway, when I was in Ecuador with CC in 2004 I had a great time. We saw lots of amazing things, and I came home with great stories and better friendships. I also came home with lots of random memories that will pop into my head now and again for no reason.

I thought of one of them yesterday when I got a package in the mail. The package was a gift from a friend in upstate NY. I had recently helped him out with a contest he was in, and in return he bought me a new Red Sox hat, which was mighty nice of him – Thanks Dan!

So last night I did what I always do with new baseball caps. I took a shower with it on.

I remember hanging out at one of the photo shoots in Ecuador and Cliff asked to see my hat (also a Red Sox hat). He checked out the curve on the brim, the perfect form on the crown, and remarked “this is a nice hat”. Coming from Cliff – a serial hat wearer – it was a nice compliment. But I already knew it was a nice hat, and I told him that. I take great pride in my baseball caps; I always have. Every new hat I’ve bought (or received) over the past 10 years has undergone the same indoctrination into my collection. Every hat gets worn in the shower, and then i keep a towel on my head for a good hour or so to help the crown form to my head while it dries. Another part of this tradition is that Erica looks at me and laughs at what an idiot I am.

Whether or not this actually does anything for the hat, I can’t say. But it’s a rite of passage for my hats, so I do it anyway. And so yesterday I welcomed a new cap into my life. A faded navy red sox fitted cap with a silver ‘B’ on the front and a silver sox logo on the back. A hat that, without question, would earn the approval of Mr. Cliff Young.

Thanks again for the hat Dan, it’s a keeper!

I was THIS CLOSE to going to bed last night in the top of the 7th with the Sox down 7-0. The last 25 innings innings to that point had been embarrassing. The Rays were dominating us in every facet of the game.

But, as I wrote at Prayers For Blowouts last night around 1:30am, I had an email in my inbox that caused me to stay up an extra few minutes. Thanks to that email, I didn’t go to bed and instead witnessed the greatest single-game comeback I’ll ever see.

You’ve probably seen these highlights already, but go ahead, enjoy them again.