December 22, 2018

This Is Not Your Father's Blog Post

1996

Dan Shaughnessy, At Fenway: Dispatches from Red Sox Nation: "The charm of Fenway is that it is your father's ballpark."

1997

Dan Shaughnessy, Boston Globe, March 29: "This is not your father's Fenway anymore."

1999

Gordon Edes, Boston Globe, February 21: "[C]learly, these are not your father's Red Sox, or your grandmother's."

2000

Joel Sherman, New York Post, May 29: "These are not your father's Red Sox. This is not a team simply around to break New England's hearts. This club is conceived to topple the Yankees ..."

2003

Hartford Courant, April 7: "These are not your father's Red Sox. These are the Whiz Kid's Red Sox. These are the Red Sox who don't need a closer."

George Vecsey, New York Times, October 9: "'They hate us,' Derek Jeter said Tuesday, with a dollop of respect. He gets it. Jeter knows these are not your grandfather's Red Sox."

2004

Dan Shaughnessy, Boston Globe, May 16: "He [Youkilis] is not your father's third base prospect."

Jayson Stark, ESPN, October 5: "The Red Sox are going to win the World Series. ... We're not used to Red Sox teams that look at life as one giant chucklefest. But these are not your grandfather's Red Sox."

Dom Amore, Hartford Courant, October 23: "[T]hese are not your father's, or grandfather's Red Sox."

Martin F. Nolan, Boston Globe, October 29: "Not My Father's Red Sox" (headline)

Mark Sappenfield, The Christian Science Monitor, October 29: "These were not your father's Sox ..."

2005

Chris Snow, Boston Globe, April 3: "[T]he team you will see opposing the Yankees is not your father's Red Sox."

Stephen King, New York Times, April 3: "These aren't your father's Red Sox fans. No longer are they o'ercast with sickly gloom; their faces are as bright as the day."

2007

Dan Shaughnessy, Boston Globe, April 11: "As home openers go, this was not your father's Toyota."

Bill Ballou, Worcester Telegram & Gazette, July 3: "These are not your father's Red Sox, or your grandfather's, or probably not even your great-grandfather's."

Richard Griffin, Toronto Star, October 29: "These are not your father's Red Sox. Gone are the fears of ghosts, demons and curses, replaced by expectations of success and post-season success."

Tom Verducci, Sports Illustrated, November 5: "Mike Lowell further defined it when he said, 'With the Red Sox, people expect you to win.' ... These are not your father's Red Sox."

2008

Jayson Stark, ABC News, March 25: "They're not your great-grandfather's Red Sox anymore. They're not the tragic, accursed figures of not-so-long-ago anymore."

Bob Stern, Patriot Ledger, March 27: "Under Theo Epstein, these are not your father's Red Sox."

Boston Herald, April 4: "Not Your Father's Sox" (op-ed headline; broken link)

Collin Hager, Bleacher Report, October 14: "These are not your father's Red Sox. This is not the team nor the city that it was when racial divides caused players to not want to show up."

2009

Jeff Goldberg, NESN, October 10: "[T]hese are not your father's Red Sox. More importantly, they're not your goofy uncle's Red Sox either ..."

2012

Sean McAdam, NBC Sports, March 2: "In 2004, when the franchise rid itself of the ghosts and ended the title drought, it was said: These are not your father's Red Sox anymore."

Geoff Baker, Seattle Times, September 3: "This is certainly not your father's Boston Red Sox team coming in today to face the Mariners ..."

2013

Kevin Flanagan, Boston Sports Desk, July 19: "This is not your father's, or for that matter your older brother's Red Sox/Yankees match up but I guess it will have to do for now."

Wesley Morris, Grantland, October 8: "These aren't hipster beards. They're ... not your father's facial hair but his great-grandfather's."

Bob Duff, Windsor Star, October 12: "These aren't your father's Red Sox, nor are they your grandfather's Red Sox. But they could be your great-grandfather's Red Sox."

Jesse Scardina, Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel, October 26: "Not Your Father's Red Sox: Youths Expect World Series Showing" (headline)

Larry Lucchino, NESN, December 24: "We joked that this was not your father's Oldsmobile, this was not your father's Red Sox."

2014

Bill Chuck, Gammons Daily, May 13: "Not Your Father's Mayor's Trophy Game" (headline)

2015

Joseph Coblitz, The Comeback, December 1: "These aren't your father's Red Sox ..."

2016

Steve Melewski, MASN, February 28: "This Is Not Your Father's American League East" (headline)

2017

Steve Buckley, Boston Herald, May 3: "Put another way, these are not your father's Tom Yawkey-era Red Sox."

Bill Speros, Boston Herald, July 13: "But this is not your father's 'Red Sox-Yankees' rivalry. It's no longer your older sister's 'Red Sox-Yankees' rivalry, either."

2018

Evan Drellich, NBC Sports, August 4: "The premise here, as the Sox sit on the cusp of a four-game sweep of the Yankees, is not your mother's sense of Boston fatalism."

Bill Speros, Boston Herald, October 4: "This is not your father's Sox-Yanks hatefest. Not even close. Nor does it approach the vitriol shared by many earlier this century."

Nick Friar, Southcoast Today, November 1, 2018: "These aren't your father's Red Sox."

It's Everywhere!

1997: "These are not your father's expansion teams."
2004: "These are not your father's Orioles."
2004: "This is not your father's bocce. Actually, it's your grandfather's bocce. And your great-grandfather's bocce."
2006: "This is not your father's Great White Hope."
2009: "This is Not Your Father's School Nurse"
2011: "This Is Not Your Father's Democratic Party"
2011: "[A]n edgy, not-your-father's-Nike brand positioning"
2011: "This is not your father's Berkshire Hathaway."
2012: "[T]his is not your father's stadium hot dog!"
2013: "This is not your father's Little League."
2013: "No, these are not your father's [Cleveland Baseball Team]."
2013: "Not your father's VA"
2014: "[N]ot your father's blues band"
2014: "Not Your Mother's Motherhood"
2014: "These are not your father's Yankees"
2014: "But it's not your father's 'Moneyball'."
2014: "These are not your father's Tigers."
2015: "No, these are not your father's Atlanta [Baseball Team]"
2015: "Not Your Uncle's Gold Watch"
2015: "These are not your father's Yankees."
2015: "These are not your father's Yankees."
2016: "These are not your father's Yankees."
2016: "[N]ot your father's (or mother's) SI"
2017: "But this is not your father's federalism anymore."
2017: "Not your father's leadoff men."
2017: "These are not your father's Falcons."
2017: "[T]his is not your father's SportsCenter."
2017: "New 'King Arthur' is not your father's Camelot."
2017: "This is not your father's football box score (and probably not even yours)."
2017: "Not Your Grandfather's Shop Floor"
2017: "Not Your Mother's Jersey Shore"
2017: "These are not your father's Vikings."
2017: "This is not your father's 401(k)."
2018: "Today's marijuana is not your father's pot."
2018: "[W]e are 'Not Your Father's Museum'."
2018: "So these were not your father's Rockies."
2018: "This is not your father's Ohio State running game."
2018: "But at 46-26, this is not your father's Mariners."
2018: "It's Not Your Minnesota Uncle's Political Season"
2018: "Not your father's Pittsburgh Pirates"
2018: "[N]ot your grandfather's mining industry"
2018: "Not Your Father's Chicken Dinner Banquet"
2018: "[T]his is not your father's NFL."
2018: "This is not your grandmother's lumpy cream of wheat"
2018: "These are not your father's Democrats, nor your mother's Liberals."
2018: "This is not your grandfather's Democrat party."
2018: "In other words, this is not your father's Rockies team."
2018: "But this is not your father's Virginia Tech squad."
2018: "This is not your grandfather's L.A.P.D."
2018: "This is not your Father's Yankees team."
2018: "It's not your father's sports section."
2018: "It's not your father's orthodontist office."

13 comments:

johngoldfine said...

My mother was at the game the day Tony C was beaned, so just as well they're not my mother's Red Sox....

FenFan said...

HOLY COW! How much time did this take to research?! Hats off to you on this post.

allan said...

I'll just say it was not all at once.

The process:
Reads the overused, cliched phrase yet a-fuckin-gain.
Thinks I've been reading this phrase for years!
Wonders how long have lazy writers been doing this?
Gets hooked on how many are found and cannot stop stockpiling them.

All the non-Red Sox ones were from last night, right before I posted it. I realized I was seeing them for many other teams too - and then for just about anything. I wondered how long the list would get and it just kept growing! I had to stop at some point!

(I also have a list somewhere of sportswriters' references to bloggers living in their mothers' basements. That also goes back a few decades. I should resurrect that project. I really wanted to find the FIRST mention. I need LexisNexis or something.)

johngoldfine said...

What FenFan said!

laura k said...

Amazing research! Bravo!

I dare one commenter to come along and say you have too much time on your hands. I dare you!

laura k said...

I really wanted to find the FIRST mention.

I always feel this way about these ridiculous, lazy, tired cliches. I'm pretty sure it cannot be done in the era of social media.

Best just to go with whatever the OED says, and go about your life.

Jere said...

"I really wanted to find the FIRST mention."

Can confirm you have to back to at least 9/25/02.

allan said...

My list does not go back very far. I have CHB and Glenn Beck using it in 2007.

allan said...

I'm pretty sure it cannot be done in the era of social media.

Also, early uses of phrases or words may have been on now-defunct websites.

Jere said...

"My list does not go back very far. I have CHB and Glenn Beck using it in 2007."

Your own Pedro site has an instance on 8/26/03! Callakkklan in the Herald. (The 9/25/02 one I found is from BSMW--it is a radio instance though.)

allan said...

Your own Pedro site has an instance on 8/26/03!

How about that! Later that day, The Joy of Sox was created. (I wonder why I did not copy that post into the new blog.)

CentralMassDad said...

It’s a good line! He heard it in an Oldsmobile ad

Zenslinger said...

My Dad says to leave him out of it! Ha ha.