New York Yankees: To Hate or Not to Hate? Part One: Where Are Your Loyalties?

Diversity, opposition, style, passion, loyalty.  There are many things that separate us.  We are all individuals, shaped by our lives, opportunities, and the people who came before us.

Politics, religion, education, athletics.  Some things consume our thoughts, our hearts, our minds, so much so that we are unable to see the reality of truth.  We are blinded by our loyalty. 

We are so certain that we are right, we forgo reason and sense with total disregard for rational thought. 

You may have been born in Southie, Boston, Massachusetts.  You may have been born in Manhattan, New York, New York.  If you were, there is a very likely possibility that you have a hatred deeply ingrained in your heart, tightly entwined to your soul. 

The New York Yankees.

Your emotions are respected here.  Your hatred respected.  It is reciprocal, believe it.  The point is, it's part of the culture where you live, or lived.  It is part of the lifestyle.  It is a way of life.  It is fully understood, and again expected, and respected.

You may reside in St. Louis, Detroit, Oakland, or Houston.  Funny thing is, more than likely you also have a hatred deep down in your heart.  The same hatred mentioned before.  Yet you have no real rivalry or historical competition with the Yanks, unless maybe your from KC, Brett was an animal and a great competitor.  Periodically, maybe you felt like challenging or questioning, but never everlasting as a rivalry should be.

The question is why.  What motivation do you have for expending so much effort, time, and emotion to wishing the absolute demise of the Yankees?  Did a Yankee fan take your lunch money as a child? 

Your hatred, while understood, is not respected.  It quite honestly is a point of entertainment for the true Yankee fan; A laughing stock if you will.

While the Yankee fan will never agree openly with a Sox fan, they know they are the Ying to the other's Yang.  One could not be so great without the other.  This is a fact.

Every Yankee fan looks forward to a Subway Series. It's an inner city rivarly that is cherished, to say the least.  Bragging rights for an entire city are on the line. 

Unless you and your team were directly effected in some way by a Yankee victory, or you were beat out for a high dollar free agent, you really have no reason to gripe, do you? 

Your entitled to an opinion, sure, but there are too many out there who devote as much, if not more time to discrediting, and putting down the Yankees, than they do supporting their own team.

If you have spent any amount of time rummaging through blogs and articles alike on the net, you have found a plethora of annoying Yankee fans.  They are abundant. It's a sad fact.  They embarrass true Yankee fans with their rhetoric and over used bragging rights.

Twenty-six rings, winning sports franchise, Derek Jeter is timeless and not digressing, the Mitchell report was fixed, blah blah blah blah blah.  Your not the only one annoyed. That much is certain. 

Ask yourself this, have you ever spewed: bought championships, steroid-using cheaters, baseball needs a salary cap, and the new favorite...the biggest choke in sports history?  Those are similar arguments to the equally annoying one's notes before. 

Neither side of the argument holds any weight with garbage like that. 

One of the "coolest" things to be lately is a Red Sox fan, who claims to have been one since the beginning of time.  To true Red Sox fans everywhere who have endured years of agony and defeat, we all owe our salute.  Your are some of the most loyal fans in sports period, and that is commendable. 

If you just showed up in the last four years and you aren't less than 10 years old, you're a pathetic joke, and I'm sure any true Sox fan would agree, more annoying than even Yankee fans can be at times. 

If you call yourself a Yankee fan that didn't root for Don Mattingly and Dave Winfield in the 80's while the Yanks utterly stunk, but decided to show up around say '96, same to you.  You're a joke.

If you love the Cleveland Indians, but spent more time on Yankee sites talking trash than you did on Cleveland sites today, same to you.  That goes for all followers of all teams. 

Back to the top.  Where are your loyalties? 

Do you enjoy the bitter arguments about Yankee business practices, or do you spend more time wondering why your team won't step up and compete?  Would you rather talk trash about Steinbrenner throwing his wallet at the game or ask why your owner won't do the same?  Would you rather point the finger outward or inward?  Which is more rewarding for you?

Only you can answer that.  If your interest in the Yankees is simply to get a grip on the picture of the free agent market based on Yankee moves that is one thing. 

If you can't wait for them to sign C.C. Sabathia, so you can be the driver of the bandwagon that is on the path singing about one more bought championship, you're a fool.  Tell us again why your team won't attempt to sign the most dominant pitcher in the game this year for fair market value. 

Remember it was the Mets that set that bar so high. Whoever signs Sabathia will have to match it, not just the Yanks.

If you are following your team, and supporting them means spending a significant amount of time bashing and degrading the Yanks to make you feel better, you deserve our pity.

The fact that you read this far means one of two things.  

1. Either you are a respectable, respectful fan of the game, or
   
2. You're a schmuck who is analyzing this article to spout your trash in the comments.   

Either way, your comments and opinions are welcome.  The intellectual arguments that depict two sides of a very popular issue are always a treat.

One thing is certain, if you go back to your team's, page, blog, site, I Guarantee you probably wont find many Yankee fans there trashing and bashing your organization.  More than likely, you wont have to defend your team or its employees, for the arguments being made against them, their practices, or their history.     

Why is that?  Why are you here still?