Boston was the first city in the region and was for a long time considered the most important. Oliver Wendell Holmes called it the Hub of the Universe. Over time, New York grew bigger and more important, leaving Bostonians feeling a little wounded. However, Boston remained the scholarly capital of the world, with two of the world's best universities a mile apart. Over the last half century, the world has celebrated academics less and money more,furthering the New York/Boston divide and intensifying the hurt feelings and envy. The final straw was Boston sports teams lackluster performance in the 1990s which led to the popularity of the Yankees Suck T shirts. With the number of Boston sports championships over the last 15 years,I can't imagine Yankees Suck shirts are still that popular.

Outstanding. I sort-of knew these things from living here, but rarely have I seen such a succinct summary of historical trends. Thanks for taking the time to explain it so well.