"Hello. I'm E.J., and I'm a New York Yankees fan."

Group: "Hi, E.J."

Select people in said group: "Yankees Suck! Yankees Suck!" (Repeat ad nausium)


I've been a Yankee fan all of my life; way before their recent successes. I was at the games when Rick Rhoden, Andy Hawkins, Pasqual Perez, and his brother Melido, were the aces of the pitching staff, with recurring coke-head Steve Howe as the closer. Names like Danny Tartabull, Jessie Barfield, Mel Hall, Hensley Mulens, Alvaro Espinoza, Andy Stankowitz, Randy Velarde, Jack Clark, and Steve Sax, were part of the "Bronx Bombers" of the 80's to early 90's. Don't get me wrong, the Yanks had Dave Winfield, and Don Mattingly, but c'mon...who else was there?

I hate to give the grocery list of past players, but it almost seems like I have to defend myself whenever I say that I'm a Yankee fan. Right away some Masshole Sox fan or Met apologist jumps on my balls to tell me that I only followed them when they started winning. I have to give a sixty minute slide show presentation about my knowledge of the game itself before I convince somebody that I'm not a fair-weather fan. The thing is people like my father, or some of my pals make it tough for me to associate with them at times, because they're the shitty Yankee fans that people hate. Hell, I hate them myself.

******BLOG INTERRUPTION******

I just heard about this article on the radio. This is the shit that makes all Yankee fans look bad. These ass-hats aren't even from New York!

******BLOG COMMENCE******

I can understand to a certain degree why people hate the Yanks and their fans. The championships and the very high payroll could piss people off. Met and Red Sox fans have to stay away from that argument:

2007 Payroll (from USAToday.com)

1) Yankees
2) Red Sox
3) Mets

Small ball teams can't front either. Look at the Athletics and the Twins. They are always contenders, and this year 7 out of the 8 teams in the playoffs were not in it last year, so spending the cash really hasn't paid off (pun intended).

Last night, the Yanks were crushed by the Indians 12 - 3 in game one of the divisional playoffs. I was at my parents' house watching the game with pops, and by the fifth inning, my dad wanted Torre gone since they obviously can't come back from a 0-1 deficit. A guy that own the store a few doors down from my store was sitting outside, all depressed and saying that it's over. This is the stuff I DESPISE. As soon as the Yanks lose, people lose their shit and give up. Don't get me wrong, they Yanks didn't do well last night. They had Sebathia on the ropes a few times with the bases loaded, and didn't capitalize. Jorge Posada swung at at would have been ball four twice, thus bringing in a run and keep Sebathia on the mound and tiring him out even more. Bringing in unproven rookies to the mound in relief was not a decision I agreed with either, but to give up on the season so quickly really shows what type of people I deal with on a daily basis. I'm not cocky when I say that I'm confident that the Yanks will win this round, because I believe they really can. Anybody who thinks that they're going to breeze through these teams is obviously an ignorant baseball fan.

***************************************

A day after the Mets had that tough loss at home to be eliminated from the playoffs, I posted a bulletin on MySpace to rub it to only the Met fans who were talking trash since the beginning of the season. Here it is:

I've got my:



and I'm going to



to see the boys in the playoffs.


To all of the Met fans who were talking all that



all season long...

What are ya'll up to?



I never received so many responses to a bulletin that I've posted. Hell, I wish I had that kind of response to my boat ride postings. People read it right away and thought I was being a typical member of the "Yankee Universe" (blech) and just rubbing it in to all of the Met faithful. Nope. It says only the ones that were talking bullshit all season long. You know who you are. The ones calling into WFAN or ESPN radio trashing the Yanks in April and May (deserve-idly so in certain points) claiming "you" were on the way to win the World Series before the All-Star break. Those voices got kinda silent in mid-September, no? My uncle is one of the few Met fans that I can talk baseball getting into an argument. I really don't follow the National league much, and he doesn't get into the American league, so we can help each other out if we have a question about a certain player or team. To be honest, he's a bigger Met fan than I am a Yankee fan. He stays up late for all of the games when the Mets are in the West coast. He has to get up early in the morning to be at work at 5:00 AM. Mind you, the West coast games don't start until 10:00 PM New York time.

So the next time you encounter a Yankee fan, please give him the benefit of the doubt, and find out if he's a true baseball fan. Not like the douche bags you see on T.V. or at your local watering hole.

Thank you.