Seriously. Good for him. While every Red Sox diehard with the sensitivity of a 2-year-old likely threw up their arms in disgust, Martin only served to help them, help his team and help the game of baseball with his "I hate the Red Sox" comment.
I don't buy into the idea that the Boston-New York rivalry is dead, but it might have ebbed just a bit. That's the natural course of things. Ten years from now it may be as intense as ever. Ten years after that it may be labeled dead again, only to revive once more.
But what helps keep every great rivalry alive (in addition to the occasional great game) are those moments when someone shows disgust for the opponent, whether on the field or in the broadsheets. This is no endorsement of offensive or insulting remarks (Martin's were neither), or a bench-clearing brawl every time the teams meet. But let's be honest. Even one of those every couple of years does wonders for the interest level.
You love the Patriots-Jets rivalry so much because you hate the Jets. If you didn't, it would just be another game. Same goes for the Canadiens. You hate them, and when you're old and gray and thinking back to what made that rivalry so fun, you'll remember times like this, and not those run-of-the-mill affairs that lacked intensity, if there ever were any. If the Celtics and Pistons didn't openly display their animosity for one another, those great series in the late '80s would've been much more ordinary.
Yes, I know the Pistons aren't the true rivals of the Celts, but those meetings in '87 and '88 were transcendent in terms of the vitriol they created.
For these reasons, you should appreciate what guys like Rex Ryan, P.K. Subban and Bill Laimbeer stand for. Sort of.
If Dustin Pedroia said he hated the Yankees, you'd love it. Your fascination for Pedroia would reach all-time highs. Martin's a curious lightning rod because of his first-year status in New York, but in another way he is the best guy to do it if you want these two teams to have distaste for one another; if he has learned to hate the Red Sox in just a few short months and a handful of meetings, then that speaks to the power of the rivalry, at least on the field.
Hate fuels our love of sports. If it did not exist, they're just games. Good for Martin for providing a reminder.
