Yankees vs. Red Sox: greatest rivalry in sports

"Its a win," Schilling said. "Anything else is pretty much meaningless.

Tell that to the Red Sox fans, who filled Fenway for the 70th consecutive en route to an anticipated sold-out season, They taunted Jason Giambi with a raucous, sing-song chant of, "You use steroids!" and, of course, belted out the ever-popular "Yankees suck!" which has known to break our at New England weddings and bat mitzvahs, and which Patriots player Lary Izzo started an estimated million fans chanting at a Super Bowl victory celebration this past winter.

Now the rivalry is fueled in ways unimaginable during the 1940s, when Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams waged then battles--Web sites, chat rooms, talk radio. Schilling has been known to log on to a rabid Red Sox site called "Sons of Sam Horn," with the moniker Gehrig38, a nod to the Yankees legend for whom his oldest child is named.

Despite those Yankees leanings, Schilling hag no hesitation upon joining Boston to declare that he now hated the Yankees. When Rodriguez, who rhapsodized about Sox tradition while he was trying desperately to sign with them during the winter, was asked earlier this week if be now hated them, too, he said, "The feeling is mutual."

Torre got an indication of the mind-set of Red Sox fans last year during one of the Yankees' visits to Boston. A middle-aged man in a Sox hat recognized Torre in the elevator of their hotel, and told him. "We're going to beat you tonight."

"I said. 'I hope not, but that's fine.'" Torte recalled. "He started thinking, and you knew he was going to come up with something. He said. 'You know what? If it was a choice between beating the Yankees or capturing Saddam Hussein. I think I'd take beating the Yankees.' And he walked out of the elevator."

The beauty of being a Yankees fan, of course, is that you don't have to choose, Not so far.

Great Moments in The Yankees-Red Sox Rivalry

* Yankees win playoff, 1978. The name Bucky Dent still invokes fury and anguish in New England and always will. Everyone remembers the Yankees overcoming the Red Sox's 14 and a has game lead. Few remember that the Red Sox rebounded to win seven straight to force this one game playoff. The Red Sox, of course, can novel forget light hitting Dent's three-run homer off Mike Torrez, nor Carl Yastrzemskis game-ending foul pop-up off Goose Gossage, the tying run dying at third. Yankees 5, Red Sox 4.

* Yankees win ALCS, 2003. Another frenetic chapter in the rivalry, another devastating loss for the Red Sox. In seven games. After holding a three-run lead in the eighth inning of the finale. With Pedro Martinez pitching. Red Sox fans wig forever debate manager Grady Little's decision to stink with Martinez in the eighth, which ultimately cost him ins job. This time, Aaron Boone played the role of Dent, in the 11th off Tim Wakefield, giving New York a 6-5 win The lasting image, however, is wild eyed, 72-year-old Don Zimmer (manager of the '78 Red Sox, incidentally) charging Martinez and getting thrown to the ground.