I always say that rooting for the Red Sox is like rooting for Pepsi. Sure, it's not as big as Coca-Cola, but they are far more powerful than any of the competing soda brands and thus for the BoSox faithful to cry foul makes them the biggest hypocrites in pro sport. I'm sure teams like the Royals, Pirates and Twins don't feel too sorry for the BoSox and their outragous payroll.
Not to mention the 2004 Red Sox roster was almost exclusively players that they either signed as a free agent or made a trade for, while the Yankees had its stable of players they brought up through the farm system like Bernie Williams, Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettite, Jorge Posada, Derek Jeter, Robinson Cano, etc.
The reality is that BoSox fans were just downright jealous that the Yankees were continually making the right, free agent grab or trade and if not for them finally winning a WS, they would wish that the team would make the same deals that the Yankees make.
YAKUZA