I'm a Yankees fan

[Andrew in CA]

Here's what I don't get about Yankee haters: I, like many, many other Yankee fans, became a Yankee fan when I was a kid. I didn't know about payroll or the douchiness of other fans (and most are douches, I can admit that)- I knew my dad liked the Yankees, and my grandpa liked the Yankees, and my uncles liked the Yankees, and it was great watching games with them and being a part of that fan experience, just like it is for many of us with the Bills.

 

Once you realize all the other stuff, namely payroll, you're already a fan- what are you going to do? Drop your fandom on principle? If you can do that, you were never a fan to begin with. Fandom is cemented from childhood, at least for most, and it's based on location and family ties. How can you help it if the team you are connected to is the most successful and richest baseball team of all time? You aren't concerned about that when you're hanging out on July 4th with the fam, watching the game, when you're 8 years old. So what do the haters want- Yankee fans should just drop the team once they find out they have the highest payroll in baseball? Yeah, the successful teams attract a ton of bandwagon fans- what are the real fans supposed to do about it?

 

 

Also, I laugh when people on here complain about the douchiness of Yankee fans and then turn around and announce their own Celtics fandom. You wanna talk about front-running douches?! Go to Boston and ask anybody wearing a Garnett jersey who was on the team in 2005. "Uhhh, Pierce..... I think they had Allen.... uhhh..." I'm not accusing those specific posters of being douches, but c'mon, you can't complain about the Yanks and then not expect to take some heat for being a C's fan!

[cusebob]

I think Peevo put into words how I feel about the whole thing. The only title that will satisfy me down to my core is one for the Bills or Sabres.

 

I've been a Red Sox fan since 1978. Ran home from school in time to see Bucky Dent's homer and then Yaz make the final out. Suffered greatly as a freshman in college when the Mets came back in Game 6. I felt a little sheepish rooting for them in recent years because it looks like you just jumped on in 2004.

 

And Magox, I can't let you slide. Bills AFL titles in 1964 and '65 were at least worthy of mention. I know it's not like beating up on the St. Louis Browns every year on the way to one of those bazillion titles, but it's got to count for something.

[ExiledInIllinois]

Nothing more annoying than NY Yankees and their fans. MLB is so tainted. The Yankees big 3 free agent signings last year make more $$ than the whole Kansas City Royals team. Ridiculous. MLB may have a salary cap but the only penalty for going over is a tax. At least the NFL does it right, with an enforced cap.

 

And without the cap, there is only one game that has the most DIFFERENT World Series champions going back the last 30 years... Yes, you guess it! BASEBALL. The embodiment of everything american.

 

The cap=communism

 

 

Money doesn't always get a championship... When was the last time the Yankees won it all? Ralph was a perfect non-cap owner... His only problem is that he helped out other teams when they were going fail (New England and Oakland)... BFLO was perfectly fine without a cap.

[ExiledInIllinois]

I think Peevo put into words how I feel about the whole thing. The only title that will satisfy me down to my core is one for the Bills or Sabres.

 

I've been a Red Sox fan since 1978. Ran home from school in time to see Bucky Dent's homer and then Yaz make the final out. Suffered greatly as a freshman in college when the Mets came back in Game 6. I felt a little sheepish rooting for them in recent years because it looks like you just jumped on in 2004.

 

And Magox, I can't let you slide. Bills AFL titles in 1964 and '65 were at least worthy of mention. I know it's not like beating up on the St. Louis Browns every year on the way to one of those bazillion titles, but it's got to count for something.

 

 

I can't root for almost anything Boston... They are the disease. They stole our basketball team. Our football team helped theirs stay in existence and look what the Krafts of the NFL and the their cheating coaches are doing to the league today. Red Sox fans are like protestants... They claim so hard to not be catholics (Yankees), then act exactly like them... The only thing that defines them is that can't be the Yankees... It is the only reason many of the Red Sox fans exist. Just like Cubs/Maple Leafs (they exist to lose) fans, I say get a life.

 

The only team that I can possibly root for from BOS are the Bruins... Go Danny Paille (got an assist ont he winning goal last night) while the two big B's stars heel... Boston, consider it a gift from our classy hockey team (Sabres).

 

How is this for trash-talkin'!

 

[Chandler#81]

I think Peevo put into words how I feel about the whole thing. The only title that will satisfy me down to my core is one for the Bills or Sabres.

 

And Magox, I can't let you slide. Bills AFL titles in 1964 and '65 were at least worthy of mention. I know it's not like beating up on the St. Louis Browns every year on the way to one of those bazillion titles, but it's got to count for something.

 

 

Fair enough. I think Peevo is all wet. I'm easily from the Andrew in LA camp: "I, like many, many other Yankee fans, became a Yankee fan when I was a kid. ... I knew my dad liked the Yankees, and my grandpa liked the Yankees, and my uncles liked the Yankees, and it was great watching games with them and being a part of that fan experience, just like it is for many of us with the Bills." Also, I attended UF and am absolutely beside myself with their recent basketball and now football prowess. I haven't bothered psycho-annalizing myself with the degree of my fandom, but my biggest thrills come from the Bills, followed very closely by the Sabres and Yankees. I consider the Yanks my hometown team. If someone else can't 'see' this, fine. I can.

 

P.S. The mid '60's Champion Bills are still my all-time favorites.

[Pine Barrens Mafia]

Here's what I don't get about Yankee haters: I, like many, many other Yankee fans, became a Yankee fan when I was a kid. I didn't know about payroll or the douchiness of other fans (and most are douches, I can admit that)- I knew my dad liked the Yankees, and my grandpa liked the Yankees, and my uncles liked the Yankees, and it was great watching games with them and being a part of that fan experience, just like it is for many of us with the Bills.

 

Once you realize all the other stuff, namely payroll, you're already a fan- what are you going to do? Drop your fandom on principle? If you can do that, you were never a fan to begin with. Fandom is cemented from childhood, at least for most, and it's based on location and family ties. How can you help it if the team you are connected to is the most successful and richest baseball team of all time? You aren't concerned about that when you're hanging out on July 4th with the fam, watching the game, when you're 8 years old. So what do the haters want- Yankee fans should just drop the team once they find out they have the highest payroll in baseball? Yeah, the successful teams attract a ton of bandwagon fans- what are the real fans supposed to do about it?

 

 

Also, I laugh when people on here complain about the douchiness of Yankee fans and then turn around and announce their own Celtics fandom. You wanna talk about front-running douches?! Go to Boston and ask anybody wearing a Garnett jersey who was on the team in 2005. "Uhhh, Pierce..... I think they had Allen.... uhhh..." I'm not accusing those specific posters of being douches, but c'mon, you can't complain about the Yanks and then not expect to take some heat for being a C's fan!

 

Haters, the lot of them. It's all about resentment for the money, fame, and titles.

[Peevo]

Fair enough. I think Peevo is all wet. I'm easily from the Andrew in LA camp: "I, like many, many other Yankee fans, became a Yankee fan when I was a kid. ... I knew my dad liked the Yankees, and my grandpa liked the Yankees, and my uncles liked the Yankees, and it was great watching games with them and being a part of that fan experience, just like it is for many of us with the Bills." Also, I attended UF and am absolutely beside myself with their recent basketball and now football prowess. I haven't bothered psycho-annalizing myself with the degree of my fandom, but my biggest thrills come from the Bills, followed very closely by the Sabres and Yankees. I consider the Yanks my hometown team. If someone else can't 'see' this, fine. I can.

 

P.S. The mid '60's Champion Bills are still my all-time favorites.

 

 

All Day!

[Gordio]

I've always loved football, but I don't have as easy a conscience following it as I do baseball (and the Yankees). Between the sheer number of thugs and the fact that many players are either dead or suffering from dementia by the time they hit 55 purely as a result of playing such a violent sport, it ain't easy for me to ignore the social wreckage the league creates. Baseball players last a lot longer -- a good thing -- and while there is always some roster churn, it's nothing compared to the NFL. A superstar RB is good for 7-8 years at the maximum; after that he'll have been traded, in steep decline, or out of the league because of injury.

 

As for the big market/small market stuff, whatever. The Rays had the best record last year, the Cards won it in 06, the Marlins won it in 03, the D-Backs won it in 01, and the Angels in 02. And the Tigers and White Sox (a smaller market team despite being from Chicago) have done well too. As for the Tribe, they've had their chances and have blown it. As for the Jays, there's no reason they shouldn't be a dominant big-market team (as they in fact were in the early 1990s), but they've had a bad GM (a gazillion for Vernon Wells, anyone?), and they made a poor choice with that characterless stadium. The Orioles did perfectly fine for a while in the big money era, but they're another horribly managed team. As for the Pirates, cry me a freaking river. That organization is the crappiest organization in sports, and the money is the least of it. Anyway, baseball is a great game.

 

 

Sorry Dave,

 

but you really have no idea what you are talking about. As in football, baseball teams get a good portion of their money thru tv contracts. Unlike football, each team has a separate contract. The Yankees for instance get I believe $100 million & some change thru YES network per year. There is no team in the league that can remotely compete with that. No doubt Toronto is a big time city, but the interest is just not there, henve the TV revenue is not there either.

 

You mention the list of teams that won & the only team I would categorize as a true low budget small market team that won the world series was the Marlins. The first time they won it(against Cleveland) they actually had a roster of pretty high priced talent(Sheffield, Lieter, Kevin Brown). & what happened the year after that. They were forced to sell off their core players piece by piece because they could not afford to keep them together. The 2nd time the Marlins won it was just a perfect storm. All the young kids got good at once & they outstanding pitching(Becket, Willis to name a few). That was the only true low budget team that has won the world series this decade. The whitesox & the Tigers, small market teams????? Detroit maybe considered a small market team, but their owner does not treat it like one. They had a big article in SI last month about how his philosophy is you have to spend money & the people will come out. The Tigers have a payroll north of a $100 million, which can not be considered small market.

 

In baseball small markets can succed if they are near perfect. They just do not have the luxury of making many mistakes. They also have to hope their young players develop faster & they get a few good years out of them before they hit free agency. The Twins are an example of how a small market could be successfull & until recently the Oakland A's were a model of consistent winning baseball. In the end though, these teams really have to operate with a low margin for error in order to win. You better have a good front office & the twins & the A's have 2 of the best imo.

 

In the end though it is really the Yankees & then everybody else. Boston & the Mets spending capabilities are in the neighborhood of the Yankees, but if the Yankees want something they are going to get it. When the Yankees have a $190 mill payroll & the next closest team has $145 mill dollar payroll & the ave payrool is something like $77 mill, something is not right. & please save me the bull **** about the Yankees are willing to reinvest in their team & other teams are not. It is not hard to throw that kidn of money into your team when your revenues are 7-8xs more then some of the other teams.

[McD]

LOL.. They try alright....

 

 

 

Spending millions and millions of dollars and still cant win ****

 

 

 

 

 

go cards

 

I'm a diehard Yankee fan, and I root for the Cards in the NL (just casually though). The Yanks "still can't win"? What kind of statement is that? They have 26 Championships...are you serious?

[McD]

And another thing to this whole ridiculous notion that the Yankees buy championships (as if it were that simple):

 

A-Rod was acquired in a trade, after Boston got cold feet and backed out of a trade with Texas. So the Rangers went to the Yankees to get out from under the monster contract that TEXAS (not New York) gave Alex.

 

Swisher, Hairston, Marte and Gaudin were all acquired via trades in ho-hum deals that any team could have made.

 

Guzman and Molina were ho-hum free agent pickups.

 

Matsui could have been had by anyone. Damon signed with the Yankees after being low-balled by the Red Sox. Both players have been with the Yankees for a long period of time.

 

This offseason, AJ was signed to take over for a retiring Mike Mussina. Teixiera was signed to take over for a departing Abreu (bat, spot in the order) and Giambi (field). Clearly those were expensive upgrades but they were moves the Yankees had to make to improve their team. And obviously CC was an expensive addition. That's three high-priced free agents that the Yankees were able to throw their money at in order to secure them.

 

As for the rest of the current 25-man roster (Posado, Cano, Jeter, Melky, Pettitte, Rivera, Hughes, Joba, Gardner, Cervelli, Coke, Robertson, and Aceves), they are all original Yankees.

 

Do the Yankees have certain financial advantages? Absolutely. But it only seems to matter to Yankee haters when they win. Like someone said, it's an excuse people keep in their pocket to make themselves feel better.

 

I don't know if the Yankees will get to the World Series, or if they will win the World Series. But as someone who watches most games, I know this team (unlike many others in recent years) play the game the right way and the make up of this team is better than it has been in years.

 

Amen.

[McD]

In the end though it is really the Yankees & then everybody else. Boston & the Mets spending capabilities are in the neighborhood of the Yankees, but if the Yankees want something they are going to get it. When the Yankees have a $190 mill payroll & the next closest team has $145 mill dollar payroll & the ave payrool is something like $77 mill, something is not right. & please save me the bull **** about the Yankees are willing to reinvest in their team & other teams are not. It is not hard to throw that kidn of money into your team when your revenues are 7-8xs more then some of the other teams.

 

BS...the Sox could have reinvested and spent the money for A-Rod, Sabathia, Burnett and Tex, but they chose not to.

 

Yankee haters will do anything to try to prove a point. Look....the Yanks play within the rules that are laid out there. They also pay hefty fees for their "spending" which go to the Pirates, Twins, etc to help those franchises (who's owners are doing the same thing Ralph is...laughing all the way to the bank). Is it a great thing? No...I hate the big $$ being spent because it ultimately costs the fans. But, please if you're gonna B word and moan, go B word and moan to Bud Selig. Hell, I'll support it.

[McD]

So blame the Yankees that your teams owner chose to pocket the money rather than spend it. Yes the Yankees way out spend everyone else, but they out earn everyone else, because they outspend them. They put a winning team out on the field year after year, and they send almost as much money to some of the other teams as the teams actually spend.

 

They have an earnings advantage with the NY market, but so do Mets and Dodgers. Boston could easily catch the Yankees in spending, since they have almost as big of a fan base, and also put a consistent product out on the field.

 

Basically Yankees have followed the principal of you have to spend money to make money. They have been following that principle for a long time, and while it doesn't always give you the best team, it keeps their fans interested and the money flowing in. Its good a business model for them, but isn't always the greatest for the rest of baseball. Would work better if more of the owner were willing to pay to keep their good players, to make overall league more balanced. Unfortunately some of the owners pocket as much as they pay out.

 

Would work better if there was a hard cap or way to regulate the game, but as long as they just have to pay revenue sharing to the league, cant blame the Yankees owners for doing whats best for their team, and income at same time.

 

Business 101 people. Get over the hate.

[ExiledInIllinois]

Sorry Dave,

 

but you really have no idea what you are talking about. As in football, baseball teams get a good portion of their money thru tv contracts. Unlike football, each team has a separate contract. The Yankees for instance get I believe $100 million & some change thru YES network per year. There is no team in the league that can remotely compete with that. No doubt Toronto is a big time city, but the interest is just not there, henve the TV revenue is not there either.

 

You mention the list of teams that won & the only team I would categorize as a true low budget small market team that won the world series was the Marlins. The first time they won it(against Cleveland) they actually had a roster of pretty high priced talent(Sheffield, Lieter, Kevin Brown). & what happened the year after that. They were forced to sell off their core players piece by piece because they could not afford to keep them together. The 2nd time the Marlins won it was just a perfect storm. All the young kids got good at once & they outstanding pitching(Becket, Willis to name a few). That was the only true low budget team that has won the world series this decade. The whitesox & the Tigers, small market teams????? Detroit maybe considered a small market team, but their owner does not treat it like one. They had a big article in SI last month about how his philosophy is you have to spend money & the people will come out. The Tigers have a payroll north of a $100 million, which can not be considered small market.

 

In baseball small markets can succed if they are near perfect. They just do not have the luxury of making many mistakes. They also have to hope their young players develop faster & they get a few good years out of them before they hit free agency. The Twins are an example of how a small market could be successfull & until recently the Oakland A's were a model of consistent winning baseball. In the end though, these teams really have to operate with a low margin for error in order to win. You better have a good front office & the twins & the A's have 2 of the best imo.

 

In the end though it is really the Yankees & then everybody else. Boston & the Mets spending capabilities are in the neighborhood of the Yankees, but if the Yankees want something they are going to get it. When the Yankees have a $190 mill payroll & the next closest team has $145 mill dollar payroll & the ave payrool is something like $77 mill, something is not right. & please save me the bull **** about the Yankees are willing to reinvest in their team & other teams are not. It is not hard to throw that kidn of money into your team when your revenues are 7-8xs more then some of the other teams.

 

 

Then how come the Yankees are NOT winning it all EVERY... A team like the Yankees can take on somebody elses mistakes... Like the Rangers and A-Roid.

 

How much more American can you get than apple pie than baseball. There are the Royals and Pirates... The Cards and the Mariners... Businesses that are they to take on other business. It isn't collective... It is only collective in the sense there are leagues they play in. Believe the Yankees are not going to be the only team left standing, there will always be competition. If contraction happens because soem teams can't survive, then so be it. We never had a problem with Ralph in this respect, until the cap came along... Sure he was always threatening to leave... So be it, let the teams compete and let the chips fall where they may.

[ExiledInIllinois]

Business 101 people. Get over the hate.

 

 

[McD]

At its core, I will truly never understand how a fan born in Buffalo can be a true, honest, live and die baseball fan.

 

Sure, one can admire and respect the game for its attributes. Most sports fans are baseball fans. I just think being a Yankees or Red Sox fan, while also being a Bills and Sabres fan is inherently artificial. If you told me you got as upset over a Yankees loss as a Bills loss you'd be lying. Plain and simple.

 

It's easy to be a Yankees fan or Bosox fan. No worries about relocation, the long term viability of the franchise, or its long term competitiveness. Every year, these teams will field winners, or at least spend like they will. How does a fan of our teams, both hockey and football, have ANYTHING in common with that? Seriously.

 

I appreciate the game. It takes a lot of thinking and patience to really appreciate the nuance of baseball. But at the end of the day, if the Yankees win the World Series, Yankees fans here will be happy for sure. But you can not tell me its the same feeling that "we FINALLY won one" like it would be for a Bills or Sabres championship. I'm sorry, but it just doesn't compare.

 

I was born and bred in Buffalo and I grew up in a Yankee household. My first memories were of the Yanks losing the WS to the Reds in '76. I can remember my uncles cursing that it had been forever since they we winners. I didn't really understand it all, but I also remember them cursing the Bills losing and how the Sabres lost in the Stanley Cup finals...to me the Yankees were just another hard luck team my family rooted for (I was 7 at the time), but it only ingrained in me the deep passion for them as it did for my Bills and Sabres, and I'm loyal and passionate to a fault. The Yanks did win the WS the next two years and I was happy (as happy as an 8-9 yr old can get), but I then lived through some miserable years as the Yanks did next to nothing...I remained loyal as hell...Donnie Baseball and Dave Winfield are still two of my favorite Yanks of all time. Winning it all in '96 felt amazing, but I will agree that nothing...NOTHING will feel as amazing as if the Bills finally win a SB. The Sabres winning a Cup will be mighty damn close, but the Bills are my truest of all sports passions.

 

Saying all of that....it is very possible for some of us to be able to passionately root for both the Bills/Sabres and the Yanks without being bandwagon fans. I refuse to ever be that.

[Gordio]

BS...the Sox could have reinvested and spent the money for A-Rod, Sabathia, Burnett and Tex, but they chose not to.

 

Yankee haters will do anything to try to prove a point. Look....the Yanks play within the rules that are laid out there. They also pay hefty fees for their "spending" which go to the Pirates, Twins, etc to help those franchises (who's owners are doing the same thing Ralph is...laughing all the way to the bank). Is it a great thing? No...I hate the big $$ being spent because it ultimately costs the fans. But, please if you're gonna B word and moan, go B word and moan to Bud Selig. Hell, I'll support it.

 

I do not blame the Yankees, they are playing within the rules that have been laid out. I am a Mets fan, so naturally I can not stand the Yankees. The thing I do hate is fans like you that brush aside the fact that the Yankees have double/triple/quadruple the revenues of most teams which allow them to spend the money they do. It is tough for a team like the Pirates to spend money they simply do not have unless you like to see them go bankrupt.

[Gordio]

Then how come the Yankees are NOT winning it all EVERY... A team like the Yankees can take on somebody elses mistakes... Like the Rangers and A-Roid.

 

How much more American can you get than apple pie than baseball. There are the Royals and Pirates... The Cards and the Mariners... Businesses that are they to take on other business. It isn't collective... It is only collective in the sense there are leagues they play in. Believe the Yankees are not going to be the only team left standing, there will always be competition. If contraction happens because soem teams can't survive, then so be it. We never had a problem with Ralph in this respect, until the cap came along... Sure he was always threatening to leave... So be it, let the teams compete and let the chips fall where they may.

 

 

As the Yankees have proven spending a ton of money does not guaranty championships however given the business structure of baseball, they have a severe competitive advantage over every team in the league. Which is all I am trying to say.

[ExiledInIllinois]

I do not blame the Yankees, they are playing within the rules that have been laid out. I am a Mets fan, so naturally I can not stand the Yankees. The thing I do hate is fans like you that brush aside the fact that the Yankees have double/triple/quadruple the revenues of most teams which allow them to spend the money they do. It is tough for a team like the Pirates to spend money they simply do not have unless you like to see them go bankrupt.

 

 

So. I don't see teams not willing to play them... Who care how much money they have, stop Jonesing and stop thinking collectively.

 

How can the Twins be there evry year? The Sox (the real pair) won in 2005... The Marlins won. There is a playoff now... The Yankees were not given a free-pass right to the WS against the Dodgers... The Dodgers lost in the NLCS.

[McD]

Here's what I don't get about Yankee haters: I, like many, many other Yankee fans, became a Yankee fan when I was a kid. I didn't know about payroll or the douchiness of other fans (and most are douches, I can admit that)- I knew my dad liked the Yankees, and my grandpa liked the Yankees, and my uncles liked the Yankees, and it was great watching games with them and being a part of that fan experience, just like it is for many of us with the Bills.

 

Once you realize all the other stuff, namely payroll, you're already a fan- what are you going to do? Drop your fandom on principle? If you can do that, you were never a fan to begin with. Fandom is cemented from childhood, at least for most, and it's based on location and family ties. How can you help it if the team you are connected to is the most successful and richest baseball team of all time? You aren't concerned about that when you're hanging out on July 4th with the fam, watching the game, when you're 8 years old. So what do the haters want- Yankee fans should just drop the team once they find out they have the highest payroll in baseball? Yeah, the successful teams attract a ton of bandwagon fans- what are the real fans supposed to do about it?

 

Exactamundo!!

[ExiledInIllinois]

As the Yankees have proven spending a ton of money does not guaranty championships however given the business structure of baseball, they have a severe competitive advantage over every team in the league. Which is all I am trying to say.

 

So. And alot of times this decade that has blown up in their face. Last time they won the WS was in 2000. Now, of course I am not saying they are not there every year, which they are... That is another story and I may agree more with you.

 

But, the WINNING the WS is what the Yankees judge as tantamount... Maybe others should... All else is failure.

 

Sports should be recreation and not that relevant in our society... Important yes. IMO, the NFL has changed all that to where our society puts these players at the ultimate pinnacle.