I have a problem with Yankee fans.
How can anyone root for the Yankees?
It is like pulling for Goliath to smash David and then stomp on his pesky little slingshot. Or standing firmly behind the IRS when it audits your grandma.
Frankly, I see being a Yankee fan as a moral failure and even a bit un-American.
On the other hand, being a Met fan builds character. We hold our head up high, win or lose. Okay, mostly lose. But we take comfort knowing that like clockwork, every twenty or thirty years, we will get agonizingly close and maybe even (Ya Gotta Believe!) win it all.
Why live in a Yankee bubble rooting for Darth Vader when Luke Skywalker is available in the next borough?
Enough about their 27 championships. Hearing them yammer on is déjà vu all over again. We have our own history. From Casey’s lovable loser Amazins to a miracle championship in only seven years!
And such coastal elite arrogance. They think they are the straw that stirs the drink. Pleeeeze! We take comfort in life’s simple pleasures. A winning record in April. Meaningful games in September.
For one thing, the Yankees spend shamelessly on free agents. Do they really need Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge? What are they creating, a basketball team?!
Okay, we now have Steven Cohen’s billions and we have spent our share as well over the years, just not very effectively (see Bobby Bonilla).
We can partly blame 24-hour partisan cable sports coverage for Yankee fans living in their isolated YES Network bunkers. Holy cow! Such one-sided fake news that only confirms their pre-existing beliefs. It is true that we mostly watch SNY, but we have Keith, Ron and Gary. Enough said.
Social media does not help. It is very easy for a Yankee fan to make a derogatory remark about Jacob deGrom by tweet. Much harder with a straight face in person. Such alternative facts - - I would surely cancel them.
Holidays are especially hard. It makes me dread Thanksgiving. So awkward trying to avoid the subject with ignorant Yankee fan relatives.
I suppose that all of us live in our own ideological silos, geographically sequestered with most of our close friends and neighbors sharing the same team loyalties. We have beautiful Willets Point and they have the Bronx. I seldom even interact with Yankee fans anymore. We no longer speak the same language. They spout Yogisms and we talk Stengelese.
Sometimes I even pull for the Yankees to lose to the Braves or Phillies just to own the Yankee fans, even when it works against my own interests.
Yes, disliking the other NYC teams is a tradition that goes back to the great Yankee-Dodger-Giant rivalries. Jackie Robinson certainly had no problem coming in spikes high to steal home in the World Series (he was safe Yogi, so you did not stop the steal!). But today’s sentiments seem deeper. More tribal. Polling shows that each fanbase views a championship by the other as an insult to Abner Doubleday and a threat to our national pastime.
There is even a question as to whom we would welcome into our families. Would I voice disappointment if a family member married a Yankee fan? Well, ...
This polarization cannot be healthy. Studies show that interaction primarily with like-minded others turns people into more extreme versions of themselves. Are there any moderates who count themselves as both Yankee and Met fans? A Met fan might express the civilized sentiment that he or she will pull for the Yankees when not playing the Mets. A Yankee fan would never give credence to such a high-minded approach (troglodytes clinging to their team!), but a Met fan expressing such a view is probably just blowing some orange and blue smoke.
We would all be better off if we found a way to bridge the divide and stop demonizing the other team. After all, as baseball fans there is more that unites us than divides us. If we can come to agreement about the designated hitter, then maybe anything is possible.
I suppose I should try to find some common ground with my few Yankee fan friends, notwithstanding that they still buy into the big lie that anything less than a World Series championship is a lost season.
Perhaps we start slow. After all, it ain’t over till it’s over.
We could all agree to listen to each other and not be too judgmental. Accept and even celebrate our differences. We could ease our way in with a Braves vs. Red Sox game. A bit less emotional.
Or maybe an L.A. Dodgers game. Everyone hates the Dodgers.
© 2022 Alan Katz