5.29.11
This is an Archival Site
There is now a new Rogovoy Report home
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5.18.11
Weekend Preview May 19-24
Bob Dylan tributes, Deborah Voigt, Tom Paxton, Bill Kirchen, John Kirk and Trish Miller
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5.18.11
Celebrating Bob Dylan's 70th Birthday in Style
Paying tribute to the greatest rock songwriter ever
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5.17.11
FILM REVIEW: In a Better World and Of Gods and Men
Review by Seth Rogovoy
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5.17.11
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5.12.11
Deborah Voigt Headlines Mahaiwe Gala
Opera star to sing arias, show tunes on Saturday, May 21
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5.15.11
Famed Spiritual Teacher to Speak on Nonviolence
Mother Maya in free talk at Sruti Yoga in Great Barrington, Mass., on Friday May 20 at 7pm
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5.12.11
Special Effects Wizard to Be Honored by Film Festival
Doug Trumbull to be Feted by BIFF
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5.11.11
Weekend Preview May 12-16
Cultural Highlights of the Berkshire Weekend
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6.4.09
Talk about a small world
Elaine and I grew up together, but only just recently met....
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5.8.11
Berkshire Living to Cease Publication
A Farewell from Publisher Michael Zivyak
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5.8.11
twiGs Branches Out
Lenox boutique launches new e-tail site
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5.8.11
[MUSIC REVIEW] Avalon Quartet in Close Encounters at Mahaiwe
Review by Seth Rogovoy
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5.8.11
[MUSIC REVIEW] Avalon Quartet in Close Encounters at Mahaiwe
Review by Seth Rogovoy
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5.7.11
[FILM REVIEW] Bill Cunningham New York
Review by Seth Rogovoy
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5.7.11
[FILM REVIEW] Bill Cunningham New York
Review by Seth Rogovoy
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Is Berkshire Red Sox or Yankees nation?
8.18.06
In "Where Do Rivals Draw the Line? ," New York Times writer John Branch tries to suss out the finer nuances of Yankees vs. Red Sox nation in New England and the border towns of New York State.
Branch's travels take him to many points in the Berkshire region, including Sheffield and Pittsfield, Mass., Hillsdale and New Lebanon, N.Y., and Bennington, Vt., where he tries to determine if local loyalties lie with equidistant Beantown or the Bronx.
Inscrutably, however, Branch never mentions the fact that this region is New York Mets country (at least it is to me).
The Red Sox-Yankee debate predates the Mets by perhaps 60 years. There are four and five generations of fans of both teams in the Berkshires. Mets fans, by virtue of their relative newness, are tolerated by Red Sox fans as they have a common enemy, but the Berkshires are not considered Met territory by very many people. This is an American League area.
But the reason for Yankee fans in the Berkshires comes down to two factors: ethnicity and Channel 11.
WPIX broadcast Yankee games into Berkshire homes beginning in the 1950s. In some cases, Berkshire baseball fans saw more Yankee games than Sox games growing up. That shaped their loyalties.
But even before TV, a majority, or at least a plurality, of Yankee fans in the Berkshires have some Italian connection. Not all Italian-Americans are Yankee fans and not all Berkshire Yankee fans are Italian-American, but there is a link. The Yankee stars of the 1940s, 50s and 60s, had names like DiMaggio, Rizzuto, Berra and Pepitone. They drew a huge national following, including the Berkshires. And that's why you have lots of Sox fans and lots of Yankee fans here in Berkshire County.
8/21/2006
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