Hi. You know that picture of the little kid in the Red Sox jacket angrily giving the middle finger? It's been used everywhere, including on some blog about how Yankee and Red Sox fans are one and the same, a notion I'm firmly against, as I feel anyone who says that just isn't paying attention. I will gladly debate, and win, this point with anyone. So I was sickened when they used that picture, along with one of a bunch of animal Yankee fans, to attempt to prove their point.

I've always felt that picture was doctored. I used to stare at the arm, the hand, looking for a telltale sign of Photoshopping. My contention is that no Red Sox fan, and hopefully no one else, outside white trash, would teach their four-year old to use the middle finger, even if A-Rod or whoever was standing right in front of him. I knew that photo had to be bullshit, I just couldn't prove it.

That's about to change, people. Out of the clear blue sky I got a hit from a webpage written in Spanish by someone in Chile. I'm sure it was from the random "next blog" feature of Blogger. I clicked onto the site, and that kid's face popped up at me, then quickly disappeared, as the internet manically started loading pics of women with painted bodies. I scrolled around and found the kid again, thinking maybe the site had written something about the Red Sox and linked me. I didn't find that, but I did notice something about the kid: (Here's the post in question, called Un Poco de Humor, which translates to "a little bit of the ol' ha-ha funnies.")


No Red Sox jacket! Here's the doctored version we all know:



I knew it! The original photo has the kid with a "Feyenoord" jacket. A quick check of wikipedia taught me this:

"The supporters of Feyenoord are said to be one of the most loyal supporter groups, and are nicknamed Het Legioen, Dutch for The Legion. Their archrivals are Ajax from Amsterdam; in the past there have been many clashes between the supporters of both clubs, of which the Beverwijk clash in 1997 is the most infamous, with one Ajax fan killed and several injured. Although Ajax have fought with PSV for the championship in recent years, their main rivalry remains with Feyenoord, culminating every year in the "Klassieker" ("The Classic"). It is a match between the two largest cities of the Netherlands, one of which identifies with artists and creativity (Amsterdam) and one with hard work and guts (Rotterdam)."

Funny thing is, when I read that, I remembered that my friend Drew, who seems to go to Amsterdam a lot, told me all about these teams and how Sox-Yanks doesn't even compare to their rivalry, what with the killing of people and all.