Rob Corddry is hardly a stats junkie -- "If I hear 30 seconds of sports statistics, I reach for sharp things to shove in my ear," the "Daily Show" correspondent says. Still, the Massachusetts native and U-Mass. grad has maintained a passion for the Red Sox throughout years spent behind enemy lines in New York.
Did you cry when the Sox won the Series?
CORDDRY
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When they won, I didn't really believe it, so it was a little anticlimactic. It was only a couple days later that I really let myself enjoy it. I cried in '86 -- that's when they broke me. I don't think I've even cried since then. I don't have that emotional capacity anymore. They built up walls around my heart, Green Monsters around my heart.
So what's it like being a Red Sox fan in New York?
It's amazing. I love it. I got a lot of [grief] this year from people at my gym who would see my Red Sox hat, and they would disdainfully say, 'Oh, seen a lot of those around lately,' inferring that I got on the bandwagon or something. It was all I could do not to grab them around the throat and push them up against a locker and say, 'Listen, this Red Sox hat has been to Yankees Stadium more than you have, [unprintable insult].' The day after we won it was very quiet, a very quiet city. A lot of people wouldn't meet my eyes. I was one of the gloaters, and nobody would meet my eyes. It was a really different city -- it was like New York after the blackout, or like Wall Street circa 1933.
Are Yankees fans bad people?
They're bad people, yeah, I'll definitely go on the record saying they're just bad people. I think they're uncreative, unimaginative bad guys. They're the bad guys, they're the ones that wear black hats. If I was born in New York, I think I'd still root for the Red Sox. That's just the way I'm built. But if there were no Red Sox, I'd just be a Mets fan. What's fun about rooting for the Yankees? They're just unlovable. I really think Yankees fans are uncreative and normally -- normally -- stupid. Mostly stupid.
Any thoughts on Terry Francona's hairstyle?
No, I don't ever comment on people's hairstyles. I don't want to gloat, because I was lucky enough to be born with the balding pattern I have, you know? I don't like to throw that in people's faces. I'm one of the lucky ones, one of the beautiful ones.
Let me ask you about this paintball movie you made, 'Blackballed: The Bobby Dukes Story.' Did it demand grueling physical training?
Actually, I'm totally serious, I lost 30 pounds to play that role. I started working out and running and eating right, only because I was worried I wouldn't be able to run the length of a paintball field without throwing up. Even with losing the 30 pounds it was a little hard. Now I'm on an all cheese and whipped cream diet.
Jon Stewart's a Mets fan, right?
Yeah, a die-hard Mets fan. We don't really talk about it. We have mutual respect: He has respect for my choice and I have respect for his mistakes.
Any Red Sox predictions?
Predictions? I predict that balls will be hit, bases will be run, there will be at least one fight with the Yankees, A-Rod will be booed, and we'll no longer hear the chant, '1918.' That's what I'm really looking for, going to a game and not hearing that.
-- Dan Steinberg
