Familiar Subject Matter - II

When the subject matter involves hate, strife and conflict, Shank bangs out another column which almost seems to write itself.

Hard feelings, hard fouls, and hard-core brawls have been part of our professional sports rivalries for more than a century. Posters of Jason Varitek smashing his catcher’s mitt into Alex Rodriguez’s face adorn half the bars in Boston, and Celtics fans still speak fondly of the day Kevin McHale altered a playoff series with his full-speed clothesline tackle of Lakers forward Kurt Rambis.

New England fans in the last two weeks have seen ballplayers throwing deadly objects at other players’ heads, a bull rush/smackdown on a hardwood court, dust-ups where guys are pulling other guys away from conflict, and a nonstop narrative of “your mother wears army boots.’’

All that, and it’s not even hockey season here in the Hub.

Nice touch, that last one!