We'll give a pass to the construction worker -- described in the New York Post as a "hulking mason" and a "Boston-loving boob" -- who buried a Boston Red Sox jersey in the concrete foundation of the new stadium being built for the New York Yankees. And we can almost forgive the fans on both sides of the Other Coast's fiercest sports rivalry for thinking this might somehow lay a curse on the plutocrats in pinstripes.

But when somebody in the Yankees' front office ordered construction workers on Sunday to drill chunks out of the foundation -- a five-hour job that cost a reported $50,000 -- in order to remove the voodoo Fan Merchandise of Doom, it became clear that this incident was more than just a harmless sports prank. It was a reminder that for all of humanity's pretensions to modernity and reason, we are essentially just bald monkeys who wear shoes.