AUTOGRAPHS

Carl Crawford signing heats up Boston-New York tensions

The storied sports rivalry between Boston and New York has reached new levels this week. Two days after the New England Patriots trounced the New York Jets on national television, the Boston Red Sox made a big splash at baseball’s winter meetings by signing prized free agent Carl Crawford.

Boston and New York are considered among the best college towns in America. For many scholars, part of the excitement of moving to these two metropolises is the thrill of joining the most heated rivalry in professional sports. Beyond the debate about which city has the better athletic teams, there hovers a more grandiose argument: Which is the better place to live?

According to an editorial in Emerson College’s student newspaper, The Berkeley Beacon, a New York-born college student weighed in on the issue and pegged Beantown as the best college city in the U.S.

“New York is like that bully pummeling you for your lunch money, intimidating and overwhelming,” the student wrote. “Boston is smaller, easier to manage, and downright adorable. It’s more likely to ask politely to borrow some cash.”

The writer also said that Boston provides cheaper living for those who are trying to save money for college tuition. Furthermore, she claims that the Hub’s smaller size makes navigating much easier than in the Big Apple.

Dan Wetzel, of Yahoo! Sports, wrote that the Boston-New York rivalry in sports is a microcosm of a much bigger back-and-forth between the Northeastern cities.

“New York kids go to Boston for college, Boston kids go to New York for jobs, and vice versa,” Wetzel wrote. “There are mixed marriages, family feuds and forever bragging rights over rankings ranging from designated hitters to hospitals.”

Baseball is the only major sport currently in its offseason, but that hasn’t kept the national spotlight away from the Red Sox-Yankees rivarly. Crawford, who is touted as one of the premier outfielders in baseball, is the second major pick-up for the Sox this week. Over the weekend, Boston traded for first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, considered one of most well-rounded position players in the game.

Not to be outdone, the Yankees have offered a contract to free-agent pitcher Cliff Lee, who is one of the top hurlers in the majors. The Bronx Bombers also re-signed shortstop Derek Jeter last weekend, following weeks of far-fetched speculation that Jeter could end up in a Red Sox uniform.

The New York Post got in on the fun last month, placing a photo-shopped image of Jeter in a Boston uniform on its back page, next to the headline “Picture This!”

About the Author

“Guy is a Connecticut-based writer who graduated with a bachelor’s degree in new media from Fairfield University. Following graduation, he was a freelance reporter for several web-based music and news organizations. He is currently working on his master’s degree in journalism at New York University (NYU).”

Carl Crawford gets ready for the season

God Bless America: The Ultimate Patriotic Album $9.78 All products are BRAND NEW and factory sealed. Fast shipping and 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed….

Teen Idols for a Moment $43.28 One of the first releases from Collector’s Choice Music, this rare CD contains 24 “Teen Idol” songs from the 50′s and 60′s. Track list: 1. George Hamilton IV “A Rose and a Baby Ruth”, 2. Tab Hunter “Young Love”, 3. Tommy Sands “Teen-age Crush”, 4. Sal Mineo “Start Movin’ (In My Direction), 5. Edd Byrnes & Connie Stevens “Kookie, Kookie (Lend Me Your Comb)”, 6. Carl Dobkins Jr. “My Heart is an Open…

Consider the Lilies $8.99 All products are BRAND NEW and factory sealed. Fast shipping and 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed….

Fair Game [VHS] $1.07 She’s a lawyer. He’s a cop. Some former KGB-types with a wide variety of slippery accents and enough sophisticated technological surveillance gadgets to make one wonder how the Soviet Union could have possibly failed, want her dead. The cop (William Baldwin) is the only man who can save her. It helps that the high-powered attorney is played by Cindy Crawford, who gives new meaning to the phra…

Between Heaven & Hell [VHS] $6.98 A callow Southern aristocrat (the charismatically challenged Robert Wagner) acquires character and democratic values in the crucible of combat, via a laboriously complicated script that begins in the middle of things and then loads on explanatory flashbacks like a forklift. On “an island in the Pacific, 1945,” the scion of a Tennessee cotton dynasty becomes not only comrade-in-arms but also friend…

Taming Andrew [VHS] $19.99 Park Overall (TV’s “Empty Nest”, “Reba”) plays a mother whose son is abducted by her ex-husband who keeps the boy hidden for five years. The boy (Hairy Tale, TV’s “Geppetto”) is finally returned, but he is intellectually and emotionally stunted and lacks all social skills. His adjustment to a normal life meets with failure. His mother must now make the decision of whether to give up her new husban…

Apollo 13 $2.99 …

Rocky Balboa $2.99 …

Dead Ringer $7.27 Hot on the heels of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, Bette Davis slipped neatly into another juicy thriller. This time, instead of co-starring with Joan Crawford, she got to play opposite… herself. Dead Ringer casts Davis as a wealthy (and nasty) widow, and also as her slatternly (but good) twin sister, long estranged. When the poor sister discovers the depths of her sib’s evil, she takes a dra…

Boston Red Sox iPhone 4 & 4s Case (Black) + 4x Accessories (Pwnage) $8.90 For fast shipment and quality products as shown, purchase from Pwnage….