Seeing Alex Rodriguez hold a championship trophy just seems unnatural.
On Wednesday, November 4th of 2009, Alex Rodriguez became a World Champion and a proven postseason performer.
Soon after, my brain began to bleed and I slipped into an A-Rod-was-actually-clutch caused coma for nine days. I have since recovered, but my baseball-morale is at a decade low. Ever since Luis Gonzalez slapped a ground ball up the middle to score Craig Counsell in Game 7 of the 2001 World Series, I haven’t had to see the Yankees be the best at anything — barring their ability to disappoint the most obnoxious city this country has to offer. I enjoyed that, it genuinely made my life a little easier to live.
However, I’ve realized this: If the Yankees have been crowned World Series champs just once for the better part of a decade, I have to chalk that up as a ‘W’.
Considering the amount of money they spend to field a championship-caliber squad, it’s bound to work out once every eight years or so. It doesn’t matter if New York signs inferior players to bloated contracts – the Yankees have the assets to cover their mistakes with more cash.
Does Boston possess the same advatage over the average franchise? Yes, but to a much lesser degree.
The Yankees — and the Yankees alone — have the ability to assure they’ll have a cast All-Stars on the diamond on each and every opening day. Sooner or later, a team of overpaid talent is going to break through.
It’s not a matter of if; it’s a matter of when. Which is why nearly every fan of every other franchise in baseball tends to dislike (at minimum) the Yankees. It hurts the game when some World Series winners’ faces paint the picture of relief (Jorge Posada in particular), rather than the giddy excitement you’d expect to see from a Little Leaguer.
When any other franchise wins a World Series, it’s pure bliss for that city and their fans. When New York wins, it gives back an arrogant fan base their sense of entitlement to a World Series parade every year.
There’s nothing worse than an obnoxious, arrogant New York Yankees fan. For convenience sake, let’s call this particular type of fan “Frankie B.” — doesn’t the name just scream douche bag?
“Frankie B.” sincerely believes he is God’s gift to Earth. He is the best, his teams are the best — and he’s certainly going to let you know it. Anyone that disagrees? They’re bias or jealous or both. We all know a “Frankie B.” and most of us would tremble at the thought of being trapped in a room for more than 18 minutes with a person like this.
Mind you, although there are some respectable Yankee fans. “Frankie B.” is not one of them.
It’s the “Frankie B.’s” of the world that make a New York championship so intolerable — even more than A-Rod coming along for the ride.
-Tidbit
Nice stuff!
Whaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!!!!!
I’m a Red Sox fan. I’m all knowledgeable and not arrogant at all. The Yankees suck. What? They won the World Series? They finish above the Red Sox virtually every year of my life? That’s ok, they still suck. And they are gay. Yeah, the king of NY, is gay. With everyone. First it was Knoblauch, then Posada, now he’s gay with A-Rod.
Red Sox fans have such a red-headed step child complex. The Yankees have always been this way. Being perennial champs or close to it, is something they have been doing since the 20′s. The jealousy started with Ruth and Gehrig, but then they hated how DiMaggio and Mantle’s teams won 16 titles in 27 years. It’s ok, it’s natural to dislike whoever you are trying to dethrone. But just don’t act like it’s something other than that. You might enjoy Theo using Sabermetrics and Money Ball methods to win a couple titles. Me? I like the proven theory of bringing some studs up through the minors, and using your resources to acquire power and gloves to complement the core pieces.
The Yankees have their own TV station. They have a billion dollar stadium. They generate miles more money than the Red Sox. So you think the Steinbrenner’s should pocket that money instead of putting it back into the team?
Do you hate on Nike for spending millions for each of the athletes they sign for endorsements? It makes them a monopoly in the shoe business… kind of like the Yankees, in the baseball business.
so bowdown, b**ches, Yanks are kings once again!!!
Thrilled to see that post gave you the motivation to write a lengthy tirade with a couple legit points.
Yeah, the Yankees completely dominated the 20s through 60s — and they did it with great scouting and development.
My beef is with the current regime, and if you think they just won that championship thanks to developing “some studs”, that’s a joke.
The Yankees have a so-so farm system, if they don’t throw down nearly half a billion dollars in free agency, they maybe get to the playoffs.
The Sox core is nearly all home-grown talent: Pedroia, Youk, Ellsbury, Lester, Buchholz, Papelbon to name a few; might as well throw in Beckett and Lowell, who were acquired thanks to Hanley Ramirez (not a bad prospect).
Do I blame Steinbrenner for throwing around his billions? No. Never have.
It’s the system that’s broken. If Nike only had a certain amount of money they were allowed to spend, they’d have to be much more careful with the selection of its athletes.
The Colts have been near the top of the league every season for the past decade because they took Peyton Manning over Ryan Leaf in the ’98 draft. If the Yankees get stuck with a Leaf their system and they have the luxury to cover that mistake by chucking cash at nearest free agent. Is it New York’s fault they own that advantage? No. But it doesn’t make it any less infuriating to watch.
Does that make Red Sox fans “red-headed step children”? Nope. Just supporters of legitimate competition.
Luckily, it’s still fun to root on a team to pull the upset over a team — that thanks to the system — is supposed to win.
Good points…..
I’m glad you didn’t respond to my ending tirade, which is just aimed at the “pink hats”…. and maybe a bit childish, but hey, I got caught up in the moment….. haha….
This is the greatest rivalry in sports, and it has made several autumns great for me and your Red Sox brethren. I was lucky enough to go to both Game 7′s, one good, one bad, but it is the pinnacle of rivalries, and I guess we’ll always have two major arguments against each other; Red Sox fans will complain that we spend too much, and Yank fans will gloat that we expect and (while I don’t agree with this part, but most New Yorkers spout it) “deserve” it, but the Sox do their fair share of spending as well, and most of the time, when EITHER team makes a splash in free agency, it is a bust (see: Matsuzaka, Clement, Lugo, Renteria, Pavano, Giambi, Kevin Brown, Weaver, etc.), this year, we just happened to hit the jackpot. It’s like winning the lottery, but you bought half the tickets, I know, I get it.
I appreciate your response, and glad this won’t turn into a pissing match, because every time I go to Fenway, of course I run into one or two a-holes looking for trouble, I always have an intelligent conversation about baseball with the majority of people. When I go to, say, the Trop, in Tampa, they are a bunch of morons looking for fights.
Alas, I have run out of rambling, so good luck on the hot stove, I hope Jeremy Hermida isn’t the end of it, you guys have a ways to go if you want next year’s division!!!!
PS- By my count, the 2004 Red Sox had 2 players who were home-grown (Youk, who really didn’t do much anyway) and Trot Nixon.
Let’s break down the homegrown guys:
Sox:
Youk
Pedroia
Ellsbury
Lowrie
Lester
Bucholtz
Bard
Papelbon
5 of those guys are “real contributors”
Yanks:
Posada
Jeter
Pettite
Rivera
Melky
Gardner
Hughes
Joba
Cano
Wang
Aceves
Phil Coke
David Robertson (those last 3 were heavily relied upon out of the pen in the play-offs)
I won’t say Gardner, Wang (even though led the majors in total victories over the course of 3 or 4 seasons), Aceves, Coke or Robertson will fit into the real contributors category, but you’ve still got 8 guys who are major contributors on this championship team.
So if the Yanks system is so-so, what does that make Boston’s?
Sure, we have all traded prospects for studs, like the Hanley example. We traded Alfonso Soriano!
Here’s a rule of thumb: If a guy is 35 or older, he’s not a compliment to the current farm system. So cross off Rivera, Jeter, Posada, Pettitte. The Yankees simply have enough money to lock up the few players that are actually worth keeping.
I’ll take Ellsbury over Melky, Pedroia over Cano, Papelbon over Joba, Buchholz over Hughes, and Bard over nearly any young bullpen arm in baseball.
Anytime you have your 39-year-old closer pitching two innings because you’re not sure other guys can do the job — they’re not “heavily” relied upon. Although, I’ll admit, they did have their solid moments.
Other than ’06 and ’07, Wang has never had more than eight wins.
Soriano was good — emphasis on was — but he’s no Hanley.
According to Keith Law of Scouts Inc., coming into the 2009 season the Red Sox had the No. 7 farm system in the league — not dominant — but the Yankees… No. 15, I’d say that defines “so-so.”