Ratatosk Predicts Red Sox Victory
Posted by: Loren Coleman on August 30th, 2007
I’ve spent some time here discussing melanistic or black squirrels.
It seems only logical, perhaps even nuts, to not ignore the significant publishing of an article in today’s New York Times regarding some squirrel lore that can be seen to unfold in the coming weeks. What is being set up is a testable experiment.
If a scholar of Norse mythology had been in the stands of Yankee Stadium on Tuesday night, he or she probably would have advised Yankees fans to not make too much out of the 5-3 victory against the Red Sox.
The result, after all, still left the Yankees trailing Boston by an imposing seven games in the American League East. But more significant, perhaps, was the pesky and distracting squirrel that scampered up and down the right-field foul pole during the game and that, according to Norse mythology, just might have foretold that the Yankees will not prevail over the Red Sox this season.
Believe it or not, the squirrel’s actions closely resembled those of Ratatosk, or “gnawing tooth,” a squirrel in Norse mythology that climbed up and down a tree that represented the world. Snorri Sturluson, an Icelandic scholar and poet, recorded the story in his 13th-century work “Prose Edda.”
As the story goes, Ratatosk carried insults as it traveled to opposite ends of the tree, fueling a rivalry between the evil dragon residing at the bottom of the tree and the eagle perched at the top.
“Oh, that’s perfect,” said Roberta Frank, a professor of Old Norse and Old English at Yale University, when told of the squirrel’s antics at the stadium.
Frank was born in the Bronx and is a Yankees fan. She said in a telephone interview yesterday that in the Bronx version of this myth, the Yankees would probably represent the eagle and the rival Red Sox would represent the dragon. The Yankees, after all, are the home team this week, more or less making them the good guys. And if there were a sports team identified with an eagle, it has to be the Yankees, who have begun any number of postseason games with a visit from Challenger, the bald eagle who swoops in from center field.
But being the eagle is not such a good thing, Frank noted.
“The dragon will destroy the world in Norse mythology,” she said, adding that the eagle would be on the losing end of a battle that was only made worse by the malicious squirrel.for the complete article, see “For Yankees, Squirrel’s Visit May Be Omen (a Bad One),”, by Teddy Kider, New York Times, August 30, 2007.
Being a member of Red Sox Nation, my loyalities are not in doubt. I’m on the side of the squirrel.
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Looks like that squirrel is as irritating as most Red Sox and Yankee fans. Go Tribe!
Being a life long Yankee Fan, I have to thank the Red Sox for Babe Ruth, the curse still lives by way of Roger Clemens.That squirrel on top of the Foul Pole will appear as a Free Agent when the Circus comes to town.
I’m a huge baseball fan and loved this story! Of course I’m an All-Weather fan and will always route for my hometown Astros, but I also hope that this squirrel omen is true! Go RedSox!
Yankees suck, squirrels rule.
As both a baseball fan and a fan of black squirrels, I loved this one! Awesome, just awesome!
I follow the AL East closely, so this post was right up my alley and the timing is perfect. Nice job of pulling these two together Loren and connecting the dots.
Well, I’ll have to say that I’m not a baseball fan but a huge football fan. I will agree that the squirrel is cool though. Oh, in football you wear shoulder pads and a helmet. In baseball you wear a CAP! Ha Ha Ha