Rooting interest in some old rivals

They hate us.

Yup, they hate us. They are sick of us, sick of the Yankees and Red Sox, sick of their unfair financial advantage, and, in case you don't believe me, just wait to see what the baseball world's reaction will be if September rolls around and there are three, possibly even four teams battling it out for the AL East. No one outside of this little sliver of the Northeast will be rooting for either the Filthy Rich Guys or the Just Plain Rich Guys. The rest of the world will be rooting for the Orioles and the Blue Jays.

A lot of the Yankee-obsessed members of the local baseball community might be surprised to learn that not so long ago the Orioles, not the Yankees, were the chief Red Sox rival. While the Yankees were finishing out of the money from 1965 through 1975, the Orioles were the gold standard team in the American League, winning the pennant in 1966, 1969, 1970, and 1971, and winning the AL East in 1973 and 1974. They also won the pennant in 1979 and the World Series in 1983. With the exceptions of 1966 and 1983 (Hank Bauer and Joe Altobelli), the common thread was the one and only Earl Weaver, who made pennant races fun all by himself.

There was something different about the times. We seemed to have a better, more reasonable grip on things. We could root against someone without hating and without everything having to be placed in the context of blame. In those days, local hockey fans secretly admired the Canadiens and local baseball fans secretly admired the Orioles. I'm trying to conjure up a scenario in which a guy calls up the ''The Big Show" to say, ''I root for the Red Sox, but, by golly, I do like watching Derek Jeter play." But if there had been a Big Show in 1973, I promise you someone would have felt comfortable expressing fidelity for the Red Sox and admiration for Brooks Robinson. Where did we go wrong?