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ED INK: The Edge Of Allegiance

For all its sophistication, savoir faire , and refinement, Connecticut reverts

this October to being a frontier territory in the far, uncertain reaches of

influence of two great baseball teams: the New York Yankees and the Boston Red

Sox. In this in-between state, fans fledge early in childhood into a lifelong

orbit centered in either The Bronx of New York or The Fens of Boston. The

gravitational pull of these two exalted baseball traditions sometimes stirs so

deeply in the chest that it can interfere temporarily with otherwise solid

bonds of blood-relation, even marriage.

Socialized beings that we are, we try to keep the more savage aspects of our

baseball partisanship in check, at least until we determine whether friend or

foe is listening in. Both teams are so good this year that sharp words spoken

in either camp about the other may have to be eaten later, so for now we will

keep our comments soft and palatable. But all that is likely to end if both

teams have a winning weekend.

If by chance there is a Yankees/Red Sox American League Championship Series

and the inevitable skirmishes flare up out here on the edge of allegiance, we

urge everyone to remember that in November we will have to patch up our

differences and tame this Connecticut frontier so we can all sit down together

at Thanksgiving. Then we can turn our attention to the basketball season.