On saturday night, we had dinner at a restaurant in harvard square with our friends ben and kate. It was a somewhat fancy restaurant: great food, friendly service and an interesting decor.

It was the exact opposite of a sports bar. No tv’s, no frat boys, no sticky floors. So I thought.

At around 9:00 (I think) I was slurping an oyster and listening to an entertaining account of early english literature, when all of a sudden the entire restaurant erupts in violent applause. I thought, for a second, that a pack of barbarian gauls had invaded the restaurant. When I looked around and didn’t see any scary neanderthals, I assumed that the white people were fired up because Al Gore had just announced that he was running for president.

But I was wrong. A short white guy had hit a grand slam home run. There was a 9 inch television from 1961 behind the bar, and apparently the entire restaurant was watching the red sox game.

This would never happen in new york. In New york, educated people have the good sense to turn up their nose at professional sports, and all the crass working class people who are obsessed by it. People dining in a fancy restaurant would make a disparaging comment about the fans and follow it up with a detached cultural insight or aloof political comment.

But in boston, people cheer for their team as if they were watching a gladiator tear off the head of a rival in ancient rome. And this isn’t just the meathead traders or greasy guys who fix your car. it’s the people with blackberries and harvard crew windbreakers.

Why is boston so obsessed with their sports teams?

I know straight men who would rather service tom brady than admit that the Patriots cheated. (Sorry, it’s the “pats”).

I hope the rockies crush the red sox, just so I can watch the disappointment in red sox nation.