With the Yankees welcoming
the Featherheads to the Bronx, it's as good a time as any to spit some
vitriol regarding the Bronx Babies.
I hate the Yankees because their fans and their media view the rest of the league as their minor-league system. Ever sit with a Yankees fan when they say something like, “Sizemore's a great player and is sure to make a great Yankee one day”?
To wit, SI.com reported this nugget today via the New York Post:
Later in
the season, the Indians may decide lefty ace C.C. Sabathia will be too
expensive to sign to a long-term deal and look to move him. The Yankees
would have to be interested.
Really?!?
The mighty Yankees would be interested?!?
Boy, we should start exploring this trade RIGHT NOW!
We can't miss
a chance to deal C.C. to (head bowed in worshipful awe) the Yankees!
How lazy is
this reporting? Did a NY beat writer look at which pitchers are
doing well this season, not check to see that he's under contract until
the end of 2008(!), and “report” this nonsense - only to have the
mindless Yankee fans nod along - “Yeah, I guess we'd take Sabathia.”
Couldn't you
replace the word “Yankees” in that sentence with just about any
team in MLB? Who wouldn't want a 26-year-old ace pitching the
next two years under a reasonable contract? But, do the beat writers
at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer write this garbage? No,
because they don't possess the insufferable arrogance of everything
that surrounds the Yankee organization.
Speaking of arrogance, how badly would you like to wipe that smug little grin off of Jeter's face? My wife can hardly contain herself when Jeter comes up to the plate. Before she knew too much about Jeter, she spotted him on TV.
Wife: “Who's this hack? What's he so happy about? Look at that smile. He's so cocky. Who is that guy?”
Me (grinning ear to ear): “That's Derek Jeter. He's a great ballplayer (he is) who has done nothing but win the World Series since he got into the league.” (Note: this was about 2001.)
Wife: “I
don't care who he is. I think I hate him…no, I'm sure of it…I
hate him.”
OK, maybe she didn't say that
last line…and maybe I just saw Tombstone again last week, but
it went something like that.
But Jeter has his fans, right?
Ever been to a Tribe-Yankees
series at the Jake? I've never seen so many big-boned girls in one
place as I do then wearing Jeter jerseys. I think there's a rule
that only girls whose weight starts with a “2” can comfortably wear
the “2”.
Speaking of Yankee “fans” (term used loosely) at the Jake, a few
years ago I ended up yelling at some kid in an A-Rod jersey, asking
him what borough he was from, then pointing out that Wadsworth and Brunswick
are not technically boroughs of NYC. He shot back that A-Rod was better
than Boone. REALLY?
The infuriating thing about Yankees fans at the Jake (outside of their obnoxiousness) is their sheer ignorance of baseball and their belief that counting World Championships ends arguments.
26 pennants? So sorry,
sir, I'll go sit in the corner.
If somebody tells you that
they're a Yankees fan, ask them who plays 2B for them. If they
can't name Cano (who's an excellent young player) and come back with
something like, “Whoever it is, I'm sure he's better than the Indians'
2B”, just walk away.
It would be easy to destroy this idiotic bandwagoner with mocking that how, with a payroll of over $189M, they are forced to throw Chase Wright and Darrell Rasner in a series, regardless of injuries. With that payroll, they should be able to afford a whole second MLB rotation in Scranton-Wilkes Barre.
But…just…walk…away.
Your mental health will thank
you.
I'm all for recognizing the history of the game and the Yankees are a very large part of that history. But, the elitist obnoxiousness and insufferable arrogance that dominates so much of the “Yankee Mystique” these days has gone from respectable to ridiculous.