Bronx Bombers Spiral Towards Earth...A Breath of Fresh Air for the Masses?

When I was a boy and my father gave me my Mickey Mantle baseball card and I had some of the history behind the man explained to me, I fell in love with idea of what the baseball gods seemed to have bestowed upon the storied franchise that is the New York Yankees. 

I looked at the players of the current era (circa 1980's) and thought "this is my team."

Growing up on an island smack dab in the middle of Lake Champlain on the Vermont side of the NY/VT border, I was surrounded by Red Sox fans. 

I've always been a bit of a rebel and loved a challenge, so between my personal instincts and good old Donnie Baseball, I had found my baseball team as a young boy—collecting every Yankee bubble gum card I could get my hands on. 

Over time, I learned there was much more to my Yanks than the Mick—he was just the tip of the ice berg. I was most pleased to discover many more historical Yanks and moments frozen in time, as I hunted for the story of my team. 

As we all know there are many chapters to the Yankee legacy, there was something else to be learned in my quest also though. 

I learned that while I was not alone in my love for the Yanks, there was an equal following of those who wish the demise of my great team.

There were those who had been on the receiving end of my Yanks glory and success.  Many, many, many times.  

In the time of my youth I found this hard to fathom, as there was no great success during this era.  The Yanks had some great players, sure, but I seem to remember the success of teams such as the Twins, the Mets, and the Royals. 

I was a toddler the last time the Yanks had brought it home to the Bronx and by no stretch of the imagination could I claim to have been a fan then. Over the next decade, things would come to change. 

Stars come and go, its the nature of the game. I will be the first to concede that our Yanks have always seemed to resemble a constellation of stars as opposed to some of those individual stars on other teams. 

Some stars burn out, only to be replaced by new brighter stars, which I am sad to say also have a life expectancy. Its the cycle of our beloved game. 

With new stars on the horizon, no one could foresee what was about to happen in the mid to late 90s and beyond. It was time for me to experience first hand, the glory and the history of my Yankees by my own eyes, not the accounts of those who loved the Yanks before me. 

The gifts of Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada, Bernie Williams, the great Captain of our current team, Derek Jeter were on the way.  We would also come to be blessed with outside forces such as Scott Brosius, and Mr. self control himself, Paul O'Neill. 

How could I forget Chad Curtis or Aaron Boone?  The stars were aligned and we were on the brink of an abyss of success which it seemed we would never be able to find the bottom of. 

Domination from the side of the dominator seems fitting, seems appropriate, seems unstoppable.  Being dominated never fits those descriptions though. Rarely is there glory in defeat. 

It has taken me many years to understand the hatred emitting from the masses of victims or just passer-bys that bore witness to the legacy my boys were building, and for many, the means by which the Yankees were building it. 

You don't have to be a BoSox fan to bare ill will towards the Yanks and their practices.  Success breeds envy, or hatred, you choose. The fall of the Yanks great run of recent years has been the bedtime prayer and Christmas wish of many a baseball fan for countless years now. 

I regret to say that I believe those prayers and wishes have been answered finally, and my Yankees will taste total defeat for the first time in recent memory. I can almost hear the cries of laughter and tears of joy coming from those who were hoping this would come to pass. I hope this brings the pleasure you hoped for. You have earned it. 

Our victories over time have raised the bar in many ways. You, as fans, and your organizations have answered the call. Our team was so great for so long that our arch-rival, the Red Sox, have stepped it up and formulated a plan for succeeding not just against the Yanks, but all of baseball.  

Our collective utter decimation of the Tampa Bay Rays throughout the division year after year has allowed them to quietly collect some of baseball's most coveted prospects over the last decade. 

These quests have come to fruition and paid great dividends to those around us in our division. It truly is a great story for those outside the Yankee box. The success of these teams is well deserved and hard earned—I can never complain about our current situation with a straight face, considering what time has done to other great teams in this wonderful sport.  

Most Yankee fans will tell you why our season is lost. Many will tell you it was injuries, others may blame individuals.

I, for one. will only tip my hat to the likes of the Rays and the Sox. These teams have outplayed and outclassed my current day Yankees as overall organizations and deserve more than excuses by us as to why they have succeeded. 

By raising the bar on our opponents, they in turn have raised it once more on us.

Will my Yankees meet the challenge?  I believe so.  I hope so.  If not, I will resort to hoping and praying and someday the stars will realign in our favor. I only hope the universe is restored to order before my time passes.

Good Luck to you and your teams in your pennant races, or if necessary, for next year. 

It's no fun winning if your not competing with the best there is. I hope that when we return to compete, we are the best Yankees you have ever seen and equally hope for the best your teams have to offer. 

This year, our best was not enough and many of your best efforts could not be topped.  We as Yankee fans owe our respect to those who have put us in our place. I believe you will have made our team stronger and hopefully also our fan base by knocking off a couple of bandwagon, fair-weather fans, too. 

Thank you for a humbling experience Tampa Bay and Boston, and good luck. 

One last thing, is someone going to get off there tush and doing something to honor Bernie Williams before this stadium closes?!  Bern, baby, Bern!