The NY Times (Registration Required) has a fun article today about the "fiercest rivalry in all sports" and how the rivalry plays out geographically. The article details the methodology used to obtain a dividing line between Yanks and Sox fans similar to the famous Mason-Dixon line separating uncouth Yankees from Genteel Southerners. The article states that the slightly un-scientific methods used were to "use a company-issued 2002 Pontiac Grand Am to traverse the highways and back roads of Connecticut, New York and Massachusetts. Roll into towns unannounced. Choose a person or group of people — preferably those with a bead on the area, like police officers and firefighters, politicians and postal carriers, bartenders and barbers — to be the proxy for their village. Excuse me, but is this a Yankees town or Red Sox one? When possible, irrefutable data — a choice of baseball caps, for example, or the sale of team-logo cookies, or an office straw poll — would be used for confirmation. This one is a Red Sox town? That one is for the Yankees? The border goes between. And so on."

The results? Of the 8 counties in Connecticut, 5 were determined to be Red Sox Fans. Thus it appears that the phrase "Connecticut Yankee" should be changed to "Connecticut Sock". For a nice map showing the results of the dividing line click on the graphic on the first page of the article. Its nice to know that the NY Times is hard at work providing us with all the news that's fit to print.