I have the distinct honor of belonging to 2 totally distinct and absolutely rabid fan bases, whose seasons were separated by a mere 24 hours this past week. I refer, of course, to Red Sox Nation (RSN) and the Flyer Faithful (FF). The two have much in common: fans who follow the team religiously, regardless of won/loss, post season success or who the coach is. There is no middle ground in cheering for these teams — you either are a fanatic or you just don’t care.

The major difference: RSN seemed to be based on a totally fatalistic mindset, i.e., what new and inventive way can the Red Sox concoct to torture us all, whereas the FF are always seemingly looking at the bright side.

The 2003 Red Sox provided more thrills than any squad that I can recall, even the “Impossible Dream” team of 1967, my senior year in HS. The days of the “25 players, 25 cabs” Sox are long gone — these guys genuinely love each other and repeatedly “Cowboyed Up” to win together as a team.

Remember that pain you felt after the Flyers 1st round NCAA loss to Tulsa last spring? Multiply that by a factor of at least 50 and that’s how dazed and confused I was when I hit the OFF button on my remote at about 12:15AM on Friday morning — while Aaron Boone’s HR was still in the air, headed to the LF bleachers. At least Cub fans have poor Steve Bartman to pin the blame on for their post-season downfall — who do you burn in effigy for the latest Sox misfortune?

Many in the Boston press are already asking for Sox manager Grady Little’s head, since he didn’t take Pedro Martinez out at the end of the 7th or until it was too late in the 8th. If you ask me, I think that Pedro should take the heat. When Grady came out and asked him if he had anything left he answered in the affirmative. Later, Pedro said that when asked that question, he always says yes, even if he doesn’t, because he wants to be the guy with the ball when the game is won or lost. Had he sublimated his ego and let Mike Timlin — who had given up one hit the entire series — to come in and pitch, I am convinced the outcome would have been different.

Woulda, coulda, shoulda.

Wait ’til next year.

As for my affiliation as a Flyer Fanatic, thankfully ‘next year’ started at 11:00PM on Friday night in the Frericks. My observations:

— In a word: energy! From Willie and the band, to the cheerleaders (including a new Knee Brace Girl), to the newly resurrected dance group, it was a high energy affair. No clowns or magicians, either.

— Having MM at the Frericks makes perfect sense, as it is really for the students. There were plenty of alums there, but the vast majority of those in attendance were currently enrolled, which is a good thing.

— I attended a lot of concerts in what used to be known as the Fieldhouse and the one criticism you always heard was the acoustics. Looks like that’s still the case. I don’t have the world’s greatest hearing, but I couldn’t understand a word that anyone with a microphone in their hands had to say.

— Jon Kingston, the 6’8′” walk-on from Columbus looks like he’s about 35 years old. Someone seated near us referred to him as “Danny Ferry” which is a dead-on description of who he looks like.

— The other walk-on is Joe Penno from Alter, the sophomore brother of Doug Penno who was a highly recruited wide receiver. Their dad is a prof at UD, so Joe doesn’t need a scholarship.

— I liked the tuxes and evening gowns on the players and coaches. A nice, classy touch for the beginning of a new era for both squads.

— I wonder how much the tooth fairy left Iggy on Friday night/Saturday morning?

— Monty Scott has some serious hops.

— Naturally, the one lubricated leather-lunged dude in the entire place was seated immediately behind the Swampettes and me. He was the kind of guy that during introductions screamed “Yeah ______” and “We love you _____” for every single player — male and female — at the top of his lungs and right in my ear. He was also guilty of perpetrating at least one case of projectile saliva on the Younger Swampette.

— We were seated upstairs at the Frericks and I noticed a group of 6-8 really young looking fellas being escorted into the proceedings by someone from the Athletic Department. Time to start filling the funnel for the future, right BG?

— Listing Sean Finn as a 7 footer is a great piece of psychological warfare, even if he really is only 6’11”.

— Geez, I’m really sorry that we left before BG and Jim Jabir busted out the Sumo suits and wrestled 2 students from the crowd!

— The next day at the Flyer football game, Logan White limped onto the sidelines and was looked at by the trainer on an examination table — they were checking out his right knee. Not a good sign.

— Whose bright idea was it to put parents in the Tiffin section for the Parents Weekend football game? We went to Will Call and were told our tickets were at Will Call on the other side. I told Mrs. Swampy and the Swampettes to wait there while I went and retrieved them. Turns out, the tickets were actually in the visitors’ section! I said screw it and walked back to the Flyers side and we just sat in 4 empty seats.