The Myth of the "Yankee Problem"

This past Thursday I headed to my mail box to check out the latest issue of sports illustrated. As I was flipping through the pages I noticed a short article that instantly had me rolling my eyes. It was yet another piece about the Yankees winning ways and the "lack of parity" in the league being bad for baseball. It's an argument we've all heard hundreds of times. Obviously as a Yankee fan my view is biased, but this is an issue I can't hold my tongue on any longer. I'd like to try and put to rest once and for all the myth that is the "Yankee problem".
The Yankees are a team that most people either love or hate. It's been said that hating them is as American as apple pie. I'd agree with that, but I also think there's something distinctly American about loving them. I admit I get caught up in the tradition of the team I root for. I love old footage of Lou Gehrig and hearing Mickey Mantle stories. Listening to my Dad tell me about the 77 team and Reggie Jackson's 3 home runs in the world series clinching game. It doesn't bother me when I hear fans of other teams call us the evil empire. In fact, I enjoy it, it means we're doing something right. But the two things I can't stand hearing from baseball fans is that the Yanks are bad for the game, and that there's no parity in the league. This past season the Yankees celebrated their first world championship in 9 years. When I tell my grandchildren about it I will always refer to it as "my championship". The Yankees other world series title this decade came in the year 2000, giving them two for the ten year span. Nothing to be ashamed of, no question, but certainly not such incredible domination that other teams around the league have no chance.
In 2001 and 2003, the Arizona Diamondbacks and Florida Marlins, two of the smallest market teams in the game of baseball, beat the New York Yankees to win the world series. The Boston Red Sox have two world series titles this decade, matching the Yankees, but they aren't treated like a team ruining the game, in fact they get treated like folk heroes even though they spend the second most money in all of baseball. In 2005 the Chicago White Sox took home rings, in 2006 the St. Louis Cardinals, and in 2008 the Philadelphia Phillies won their first championship since 1980, defeating a Tampa Bay Rays team that had finished in last place the year before. So 7 different teams won the world series this decade. This to me seems like more of a balanced league than the NBA, where the Lakers and the Spurs have won 10 out of the last 11 Western Conference titles. I dont see any shirts that say "The only thing I hate more than the Spurs are those damn Spurs fans." In fact, in a league like the NBA where only 3 or 4 teams have any chance at all, I hardly ever hear people talking about the playing field being unfair. In the NFL the Patriots won three super bowls in a row, and although plenty of people hate the Patriots, we don't complain about the NFL and it's lack of parity. People are always looking to take shots at baseball and bow down to the almighty National Football league. When a baseball player admits to steroid use, he's a terrible person, but when a defensive lineman is suspended for testing positive for a banned substance, no one seems to care. That, however, is a different topic all together.
The worst thing about the people who complain about the Yankees is that all this talk of us ruining the game has just started popping up again now that we've won the world series. From 2001-2008, instead of telling us we bought championships, people acted as if we were a laughing stock for not being able to win the world series with the payroll we had. Ah, the infamous 2009 payroll. People never mention that even after signing CC Sabathia, AJ Burnett, and Mark Teixeira, our payroll was actually lower than it was in 2008 because we released washed up veterans like Jason Giambi and and Bobby Abreu. And people always seem to forget that the core four, Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte, and Jorge Posada, are all players drafted by the Yankees. In 2009 many people contributed our success to making Phil Hughes the 8th inning guy, a pitcher we drafted. And Robinson Cano, the young up and coming second baseman that is exceptionally gifted but frustrating to watch at times, was drafted by yours truly. Yes, we spend a lot of money. Yes, no other team in baseball has the money we have. But the success of this team is still largely dependent on the draft.
As much as people say they hate the Yankees and are sick of baseball, the ratings are always great when it's the Yanks in the world series. I love baseball more than any other team sport, so if it's a Royals Pirates world series, I'll watch. But the fact is the casual viewer is more inclined to tune in if it's the Yankees taking on the Dodgers. The Yankees get ratings, and good ratings help the league, and when the league is thriving, it can bring you, the fan, a better experience. People say they don't care about the game anymore, but if you can't enjoy sitting in the upper deck with a hot dog on a cool summer night, well then I just don't see myself getting along with you.
I'm not saying that everyone should love the Yankees. If you're a fan of the Red Sox, the Rays, the Orioles, or the Blue Jays, I would expect you to hate the Yankees as a division rival. If you're a jealous Mets fan, hate away. Maybe even if you're an Angels fan after the decade long playoff rivalry the two teams have had. But if you're a Houston Astros fan, you look pretty stupid when you hate the Yankees more than a team in your own division.
I guess the moral of the story is this. The Yankees will continue to spend money and draft well. They won't win the world series every year, and when they don't the country will act like the team is a disgrace for not doing so. When they do win it all, the country will act like the team is ruining baseball. Fans in San Diego will sit in their ballpark at night with t-shirts that illustrate their hatred for a team that plays on the other side of the country. The Yankees will continue to make it possible for Major League Baseball to help pay for that ballpark. So before you decide to boo Derek Jeter but not Manny Ramirez, remind yourself that baseball is the cheapest major sporting event you can attend because it's so popular. And as important as teams like the Padres and Royals are to our game, where would the popularity of our sport be without the Yankees?

The pick.

I remember it like yesterday. I was a fresh faced 12 year old with terrible teeth and a love affair with everything Eagles. I just knew they were going to win it all that year. There wasn't even a chance we would blow it. Every game I wore the same outfit. Eagles sweat pants, an eagles t-shirt, underneath another eagles t-shirt, underneath a Donovan McNabb jersey, underneath a Duce Staley jersey. I was at the Vet when Donovan broke his ankle, and after seeing them continue their winning ways with Koy Detmer and AJ Feeley at the wheel, I knew for sure that this was the year. It was destiny. Donovan came back in time for the playoff's. The week leading up to the game, I sat around the house crying because "my dad was making me look like a bad fan by not getting us tickets to the last game at the Vet". I came home from school Wednesday and he had left a message on our answering machine telling my Mom it was impossible to get tickets. That was just the first thing to go wrong in what would turn out to be a nightmare.
I woke up the morning of the game and put my jersey's on. I had made a sign that said "GO EAGLES" and had all my favorite players names written on it. I covered my face in green marker. I looked like a nut job. I went to church at 7:15 AM with my Dad and prayed. Not that I thought I'd need the extra help. This was our destiny. The last year at the Vet would result in a championship. My Dad told me about all the great things we would do after the game to celebrate. During the Fox pregame, they had a 20 minute segment on the history of the Vet. They were giving us the game. If we won we would get to play an inferior raiders team. Tampa had NEVER WON A COLD WEATHER GAME IN THE HISTORY OF THE FRANCHISE. Jessica Simpson sang the national anthem. I was ready. I expected the game to be over quickly. This was all a formality. Brian Mitchell took the opening kickoff all the way back to the Tampa Bay 20. He would later say he never heard a stadium as loud as he did the Vet at that moment. Two plays later Duce Staley took the ball into the endzone and just like that we were up 7-0. I ran around the house screaming and knocking things over. The festival had begun! Or so we thought.
I was feeling pretty good up 7-3 late in the first quarter, although I didn't understand why we weren't winning 42-0 already. I wasn't at all concerned, remember, this was a team of destiny. Then Joe Jurevicis took a pass from Brad Johnson all the way down inside the 5 yard line of the Eagles. There was silence in the stadium and in my house as he ran free. "Oh God", my Dad said quietly. As a veteran Eagle fan, I now understand what he was truly saying when he uttered those words. We were fucked. The Eagles were going to choke.
At halftime the score read 17-10 Bucs. My Dad decided we had to go outside and play catch. It was like he wanted to explain to me the horror I was about to experience. "You still think they're going to win, right?" Silence. We did nothing in the 3rd quarter, and by the 5 minute mark of the 4th, trailed 20-10. Plain old worry had turned into panic and anger. It was then that I first said the phrase that has become as common as "hello" in my house. "SCREW YOU DONOVAN!!!!!!!!!!" The love affair was over. I hadn't lost all hope though. My Dad walked out on to the back deck to drink, too angry to watch. I tried to urge them on, "COME ON, WHAT ARE YOU DOING, WE'RE RUNNING OUT OF TIME!!!" On third down with around 3 minutes to go, Donovan found Antonio Freeman inside the Tampa ten. The Vet erupted...one last time. What happened next is something so horrifying not even satan dares to talk about it. Donovan looked for Todd Pinkston, but he found Ronde Barber of the Bucs, who took it 92 yards the other way for a pick six. The game was over. The season was over. The dream was over. We had lost. For a second, I still didn't believe it. But it was real.
The Eagles will always find a way to kick you in the balls when you start to fall in love with them. To put salt in your wound when you've already gotten your ass kicked. Still, me and millions of other people love them more than almost anything on this earth. I will always show up to watch them player, no matter how little I believe in them. They deserve every boo and fuck you that comes their way.


Go Eagles, but thank God for the Yankees.