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Yankees Game-Day Outfit

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Title: Yankees Game-Day Outfit

General Information about Item:

  • Type of Folklore: Customary Folklore – Tradition
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: LT
  • Date Collected: 5/18/20

Informant Data:

  • LT is a Washington University in St. Louis student in the class of 2022. He was born and raised in New York, NY. He has been an avid New York sports fan his entire life, especially passionate about the New York Yankees. During his time at Washington University in St. LT, LT is a marketing representative for a sustainable beverage company. After Washington University, LT hopes to become a professional art advisor.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: The Yankees are one of the most accomplished teams in professional baseball. They have one of the longest histories in the sport, and recently they built a new stadium in 2009 to replace the old Yankees Stadium which they had played within since 1923. The stadium is located in the Bronx, hence the team’s nickname “the Bronx Bombers,” and attending live games is a major positive aspect of many fans’ experience.
  • Social Context: Many fans have specific traditions and rituals they perform in order to, in theory, help increase the chance of victory for their team. Often these include personal choices on what to wear and do before a game. The Yankees have two main jerseys, home and away, and many people have specific jerseys or specific shirts they wear for and to games.

Item:

  • LT has been participating in his own personal tradition involving the apparel he wears when attending Yankee games, and he has been doing this tradition for as long as he has been a fan. This tradition involves two Yankees jerseys he owns, one home uniform and one away uniform. He wears one of the two to the first game he attends each season. Then, if the Yankees win that he game, he wears the same jersey to the next game. If they lose, however, the next game he attends he will wear whichever jersey he had not previously been wearing (ie. If he is wearing the home jersey and they lose, next game he will wear the away jersey). This tradition is based on superstition, as LT believes that it is a way to help increase the team’s chances of winning.

Celebratory Yankees Fans in Home and Away Jerseys

Transcript:

  • “For when I go to baseball games, I have two Yankees jerseys, a home jersey and an away jersey. I always wear a jersey to a game, which is normal, but, if they win, I will wear the same jersey to the next game that I go to and I will keep wearing that jersey as long as they win. If they lose, then I will switch from home to away and wear that until they lose, and I alternate while I go to these games [throughout the season].”

Informant’s Comments:

  • He enjoys going to these games with friends and family, especially his dad.
  • His dad also likes to collect bobble-heads from baseball games and will show early to the game if they are giving one out.
  • LT also participates in the stadium atmosphere and collective chanting during Yankees games.
  • LT does this tradition to support his team and as a superstition.
  • He also likes to see how long the Yankees can keep a win streak, during which he will not swap jerseys because of this tradition.

Collector’s Comments:

  • This tradition seems very similar to many others that have been observed across different teams. Many fans have a distinct “uniform” they wear to games, often encompassing a jersey. Fans believing that following a certain superstition or routine when going to games will result in the team having a better chance of winning also appears to be very common. I find LT’s spin on this idea interesting especially because it has the added benefit of creating another reason to be excited when the team goes on a long winning streak.

Collector’s Name: James Baumann

Tags/Keywords:

  • Tradition
  • New York Yankees
  • Jersey

 

 

 

Patriots Beer Burial

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Title: Patriots Beer Burial

General Information about Item:

  • Type of Folklore: Customary Folklore – Tradition
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: ET
  • Date Collected: 5/7/20

Informant Data:

  • ET is a Dartmouth student in the class of 2022. He was born and raised in Framingham, Massachusetts. He has been an avid Boston and New England sports fan his entire life, whether that is the Red Sox, Bruins, or Patriots. During his time at Dartmouth, ET enjoys skiing competitively as part of the Club Ski Team. His plans after Dartmouth include becoming a foreign policy analyst.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: The New England Patriots are both one of the most hated and most beloved teams in all of American sports. Their fans are also regarded as being rowdy, and are considered to be obnoxious by some fans of rival teams. Much of this disdain stems from the fact that the Patriots are also one of the most successful football teams in recent memory. The Patriots’ home field is Gillette Stadium, outside of which many fans choose to tailgate before home games.
  • Social Context: Tailgating is the practice of many fans gathering before a game that is going to be played at their home stadium. Tailgating consists of driving to the parking lot of said stadium, and then often drinking copious amounts of alcohol in the hours leading up to the start of the sporting event.

Item:

  • ET’s family has a long-standing tradition that has been occurring during the Patriots’ season for as long as he can remember. The extended family of ET all meet to tailgate at the exact same location outside of the McDonald’s restaurant nearest to Gillette Stadium each game of the Patriot’s season. Friends of the family can also be present, and before the first game of the season, the group digs a hole near the McDonald’s parking lot and buries several cans of beer in this same location. Then, they leave the beers buried for the entire 17-week regular season, and then before the Patriots’ first playoff game of the season, the group uncovers and drinks the beers they have been storing in that hole.

Image of typical tailgate at a Patriots Game

Associated File:

Transcript:

  • “[My family and I] have [a tradition] for the Patriots. We tailgate at the exact same spot in the McDonald’s parking lot every single home game. So, the first game of the season, we dig a hole in the ground and bury a bunch of beers in there, and then at the first playoff game we dig them up and drink them. This will be right when we get there, about two or three hours before the game starts. It is us and some family friends who share season tickets.”

Informant’s Comments:

  • They have been doing this tradition since before ET was born. He thinks that it brings the Patriots good luck for the season.
  • The beers usually freeze and expand so they are actually full of dirt when they dig them up in early January. ET joked that they “marinate in the earth to get some of those nice earthy notes in the beer.”
  • ET also wears a specific game-day outfit for these Patriots games. This consists mainly of a jersey he wears on top, with a specific shirt underneath. He only washes the shirt if the Patriots lose.

Collector’s Comments:

  • I was very interested in this tradition. It seems completely counter-productive and wasteful to bury multiple beers in the ground for months. Additionally, the fact that many beers burst or become filled with dirt adds to the less-than appetizing taste of the beer. However, the argument that it brings the team good luck is a common theme in many traditions similar to this one.

Collector’s Name: James Baumann

Tags/Keywords:

  • Tradition
  • New England Patriots
  • Burial
  • Beer