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Part of it has to do with the rivalry of the "elites" of Boston and NYC. The brahmins and the upper east side set were equally rare and powerful breeds who held a lot of sway over the country, and their rivalry easily becomes the cities' rivalry.
True. This predates the sports rivalry by many years. Another reason maybe that New York City (and sparsely populated NY State for that matter) received alot of migration from New England after the Revolution, people who sometimes looked back toward home.
I agree with you on the first part, that the baseball rivalry is just an outlet to qualm the frustration of being subserviant to the greatest city in the world (or the center of the universe). However, most Connecticutans (at least in the civilized west, closer to NY) prefer NYC head and shoulders over Boston and their arrogant, little Red Sox Nation agenda. As the pendulum swings the other way, Boston will fall; New York will become even more dominant and superior in all aspects of its existence. I am personally very disgusted with the behavior of Bostonians and all of their fans; you can get to hate them much more easily when they live hauntingly close to you and flaunt their short-lived success and pretentiousness in your face at every available opportunity. I hope Massachusetts breaks off the east coast and floats towards Greenland.
Sounds like someone got his puny behind handed to him on the streets of Boston.
Next time Mark, just stick to your flyover area of the country and leave the cities to the big boys. You're obviously just not up to snuff.
Hey Tom D, MarkCT got banned some time ago, presumably for the kind of ranting you responded to in the above post. I suppose that you do bring in the additional twist of the city vs. suburbs theme that shows up repeatedly on this forum, when you raise the question of whether a Connecticut suburbanite should be taking sides in a discussion about a rivalry between cities, but under any circumstances, MarkCT is past history around here.
Anyway . . . how did a picture of Chicago find its way onto a thread about three Northeast Corridor cities? I mean, I like Chicago and all, but . . .
Interesting thought by OyCrumbler, about the rivalry between the upper crust people in these cities. I've never read anything about any history of this rivalry going way back, but I have speculated that any sort of Boston/NY rivalry, despite being primarily focused on sports in recent years, may have had its origins in the 19th century, when it could be argued that these were the two premier cities in the nation.
A key point is that they were top cities in different ways. New York was our largest city as far back as the first U.S. census in 1790 (though at that time, American "cities" were more like large towns), while in the 19th century Boston developed into the country's cultural hub, "The Athens of America." It seems easy to imagine that there could be some serious mutual disdain between residents of big, bustling (by 19th-centruy standards) New York, the burgeoning economic hub that was looked down on by its cultured cousin to the northeast, and the effete upper crust in Boston, who may have felt some contempt for the notion that citizens of a city they viewed as crude and culturally underdeveloped would feel superior simply for being a big working class seaport. Not too difficult to imagine some serious acrimony between the upper echelons of two cities that exerted such contrasting sorts of influence over the nation. I don't know. I've never read that this was the case, but it makes sense to think that such a clash could have developed.
Interestingly, even today, when residents of these two cities turn to boasting, they still display pride in the same sorts of qualities that made the two upper-Northeast metropolises stand out in the 19th century. As if the attitudes had been passed down through the generations, New Yorkers, whose city first gained prominence as the nation's largest city and premier trade center, will brag about how NYC "has so much." In other words, their pride seems to center on their city's status as a huge metropolis. When Bostonians brag, it's often about how "educated" and "enlightened" their city's populace is, pretty much an update of the fact that Boston first gained prominence in the post-Revolution era as a center of education and culture. And the similarity between the sources of pride for these two cities' residents today and the factors that first brought them to prominence is one more reason to speculate that there is an old rivalry that dates back to the 19th century.
Pretty good Ogre.
Boston has always maintained an importance culturally, historically, and intellectually in this country that has been completely out of proportion to it's size.
You could never "combine" the cities because of state borders. They should, however, build a bullet train; then you could get from Center City to Midtown in 35 minutes. It would radically effect real estate prices and New Yorker probably wouldn't go for it. It would be great for the middle-class.
SWB you're right. Center City is sizzling. Monster condos are going up everywhere which offen start at $800K. Street life is booming and Philly's becoming a world city in terms of its restaurant quality. Walnut Street trumps Boston's Newbury (sp?) street in terms of foo-foo shoping/dining, although Philly's struggling with only 1 achor department store: Macy's in John Wanamaker's historic space @ Center Square (though now downsized to 3 measly retail floors)... And the fact that Philly sits btw NYC and DC on Amtrak's Acela line is bringing more and more businesses to town... Yet, even though the arts are very strong, Philly will always have a New York inferiority in terms of arts; people will never appreciate theatre, for example, if all you have to do is drive up the turnpike or hop a train up to NYC and Broadway... And Philly, though better downtown, still has to address its Filthydelphia trash image; it's the dirtiest big city I know; New York included.
They sold a condo in Back Bay for 3.2 million. and mltible others in the 3 million range
and LOL
No i dont think so, Boston is still better by a narrow Margin.
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Chi town....
