It was the Boston fans that would be hunched over their beers, quietly putting up with the loudmouthed New York fan at the bar.

The dynamic began to change a few years ago. The “Patsies” became the Patriots and won a couple of Super Bowls. Then Hell froze over and the Red Sox took the Yankees on the way to their first World Series victory since 1918.

The rap is that Red Sox fans turned into Yankees fans and Patriots fans,…they turned into Yankees fans, too. They got attitude. Not all of them did; but a lot of those Boston fans that used to be quietly hunched over their beers are now the ones standing conspicuously at the bar wearing gaudy Red Sox and Patriots shirts. Now, they’re the ones jawing with hapless patrons who just want to watch the Padres lose in peace.

When asked which fan, that of New York or Boston, is more outspoken, First replied, “Boston and New York fans are about the same.”

When asked about the cockiness of Boston fans, Liz Baum, co-owner of the OB Grill, a bar in Ocean Beach that caters to local Boston sports fans replied, “No one was cocky at all last year.” She went on to say, however, that this year she’d noticed Boston fans had become slightly complacent.

Steven B., originally from Haverhill, a suburb north of Boston, is a regular at the OB Grill. When asked whether Boston fans had gotten cocky, he immediately replied, “We haven’t won enough.”

He doubted that Red Sox fans could so easily transform into Yankees fans of the new millennium. “I don’t think it’ll be that way with the Sox,” he said. “But who knows? If we win ten in a row, maybe....”

Referrring to the relationship between San Diegans and Boston fans, he stated, “They look at us the way we look at New York fans.” He indicated that any resentment is born of jealousy rather than any misbehavior on the part of Boston fans. Everyone hates Boston fans, he reasoned, because they’re so passionate about their teams.

According to him, San Diego fans are more laid back. “Padres fans come and go,” he stated.

First, of Moondoggies, echoed these sentiments. She explained that San Diego fans are less engaged because the Chargers and Padres have been a little bit less consistent than the Boston and New York teams. “You lose a little bit of that enthusiasm when your teams are doing as well,” she stated.

Landon Flynn, a bartender at Moondoggies, said that Moondoggies gets far more Boston fans than New York fans. He painted a compassionate picture of Boston fans, and Sox fans in particular. “They’re a lot cockier,” he conceded. “But they won it. They’ve been so hungry for so long. Now, for the first time—and forever—they can say they were champions.”

“It’s a little hard for people around here to know where they’re coming from. But, [Boston fans] have been taught to be this way since birth.”

“I like ‘em more than New York fans,” he stated. “I love talking to ‘em. They know what they’re talking about.”

Jake, a bartender next door at the PB Bar and Grill, was less conciliatory. He said that Boston fans are “almost as bad as Yankee fans.”

“Boston fans always cry because they wanna win,” he mused. “They finally win and you have to hear ‘em cry for another year.”

When asked how he can tell there’s a Boston fan at the bar, he said, “You’ll always know a Boston fan. They’ll make their opinion and views well known.”

October is a particularly volatile month for Boston fans. This year, the Patriots, at 2-2, are establishing whether they’re going to be leaders or laggards. And the Red Sox have squeaked into the playoffs, second fiddle once again to the Yankees. Things could get ugly in sports bars all around San Diego.

Jake of the PB Bar and Grill can see those October storm clouds coming. He knows that Boston fans will be in a lather next October, too.

“What to we gotta do to keep ‘em quiet for the next eight years?” he asked, shaking his head and slowly wiping down the bar. 

Larry Knowles is the editor of Vyuz.com. He can be reached at lgkiii@vyuz.com