Recess
Do Real Faculty Wear Pinstripes?
Faculty often compete, usually about publishing articles or student evaluations. But at the Ed School, one of the fiercest rivalries is over something far less academic: Red Sox or Yankees? On one side are Sox fanatics like Dean Kathy McCartney, who grew up listening to games with her father on their front porch in neighboring Medford, Mass., and who took the 1967 World Series particularly hard, and Professor Bob Kegan, a longtime season-ticket holder who says baseball is a “civil religion,” not simply a sport. On the other side are transplanted New Yorkers like Professor Bob Peterkin, a Yankees fan since the Dodgers left New York in 1958, the year after Jackie Robinson retired, and Senior Lecturer Jim Honan, who inherited his love for the Bronx Bombers from his father and grandfather.
Last semester, the four diehards were asked to talk about the rivalry at the school, which, while not as heated as the 1976 bench-clearing brawl between the Sox’s Carlton Fisk and the Yankee’s Lou Piniella, does have its moments. The gloves were off starting with the initial request to take part in this article. “Let us know if you’re game,” we asked through e-mail.
“Game on!” e-mailed McCartney. Kegan joked that this year there might not be a rivalry, based on the standings at the time. (New York was eight games behind Boston). “The Evil Empire is a sad shell of its former self,” he wrote. Peterkin shot back, “Oh count me in. I like nothing more than an overconfident Red Sox fan.” And then to prove his point, he added, “Twentysix World Series championships versus six? Puleeze.” McCartney’s response? “It’s quality, not quantity.”
Asked if he was tempted to switch loyalties, especially after living in Boston for 25 years (Peterkin for 30), Honan said never. (Peterkin answered the same way, despite having beer dumped on his head at Fenway Park.) “My loyalty has only grown stronger over the years,” Honan said. As for the standings, Peterkin said they were an “aberration” that would be “corrected” by the playoffs.
Kegan laughed about their confidence. “Yankees fans,” he said, “are like General Patton, who said during a difficult moment in battle, ‘They’ve got us surrounded, the poor bastards.’”
Honan said ribbing each other is fun. “We need one another to make the rivalry work. I can’t imagine fans of either team getting the same level of satisfaction and enjoyment from a potential rivalry with the Blue Jays or Orioles. It just wouldn’t be the same.”
About the Article
A version of this article originally appeared in the Fall 2007 issue of Ed., the magazine of the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Respond to this story with an e-mail to the editor.
photos by Martha Stewart
