Cartographic Defamation
The modern MTA Crown rivalry between the Alewife Arsonists
and
Boylston Boogers
had its fuse lit in Season 14 not by a match, but by a mosaic. In a grand act of civic arrogance, the Boogers unveiled a massive, permanent tile subway system map at Boylston station. The Boogers had commissioned the work from Bartholomew Peabody Saltpeter Katzenberger Ridonovich Finch, a celebrated (but notoriously smug) artist from Wellesley who was a huge Boogers fan. The map was a masterpiece of passive aggression. It depicted the Green Line as a thick, vibrant artery of emerald and gold tile, pulsing with life, feeding all of Boston with its energy and vitality. In stark contrast, the Red Line was rendered as a thin, pathetic capillary of cracked crimson ceramic that withered and fizzled into a gray, featureless smudge at Alewife. This public insult, dubbed the Cartographic Defamation, was the moment the "GO BACK TO WELLESLEY!" chant was first shouted by an Arsonist at a Booger.