I was in a bad mood after the Yankees lost Game 5 of the ALDS, and I’m still peeved this morning. But frankly, most of the my peckishness is directed at some of the Yankees fan base than at the team. The way some of these fans carried on last night, both online and at the Stadium, you would think that the team hadn’t won a playoff series in 50 years.
Please understand that I’m not talking about all Yankee fans. But some of the team’s fans need to hear this: Get over yourselves already. Acting like spoiled, entitled jerks doesn’t make you good Yankee fans. It just makes you spoiled, entitled jerks. Newsflash: The Yankees won the World Series TWO YEARS AGO. It really wasn’t that long ago, folks. Show a little gratitude for once in your miserable lives.
You think you have it bad? Imagine being a Pittsburgh Pirates fan, who hasn’t seen their team even sniff .500 in nearly 20 years. Or a Chicago Cubs fan, rooting for a franchise that hasn’t won in 103 years. Or a New York Mets fan, being in the same town as the Yankees, but having dumb owners who lost their money in a Ponzi scheme and are now making it clear that they’re going to run a big-market team with a very small-market budget. I could go on and on, but you get the point. How many teams’ fan bases would love to make the playoffs every year but one since 1995?
Back in March, the Yanks weren’t expected to win anything this year, not with CC and the Has-Beens and Never Weres in the starting rotation, let alone win the AL East with 97 games. I certainly didn’t think so this spring. No Cliff Lee, no Andy Pettitte, and no hope. The joke was that Brian Cashman had assembled a team that would have been great for 2005; not so great for 2011. It was supposed to be the Sox’s year, not the Yanks.
And the Bombers had a ton of injuries throughout the year, including to Derek Jeter, Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes, Alex Rodriguez, Bartolo Colon, and Rafael Soriano. Not to mention A.J. Burnett pitching horribly for the second year in a row. Yet the team overachieved, got key contributions from the Class of 2005, and made it to the postseason with the best record in the league.
Sure, I’m disappointed and ticked off that the Yanks lost the series. And I can point to a lot of things that went wrong — like Joe Girardi refusing to pinch-hit for anybody last night, and the Yankee hitters’ inability to get much done in runners in scoring position (and frankly, when you only score two runs against the Tigers at a home game, and one of them was driven in by a bases-loaded walk, you don’t deserve to win.)
But it’s one thing to be upset over the series loss (although for me, it doesn’t even make my top five worst losses, and nothing will ever match the pain of 2004.) It’s another thing to act like some unruly, hateful mob, scapegoating one player (you know who, of course!) Some of the very same “fans” who couldn’t open their mouths to cheer on their team in the ninth inning — the Yanks were behind by just one run, but the place sounded like a morgue — found their voice outside the Stadium after the game, chanting “A-Rod sucks.” Sure, Alex had a bad series, but this was a collective loss, and shouldn’t be pinned on one person. Ross Sheingold of NYYStadiumInsider.com was at the game, and described the scene this way on Facebook:
Never been more embarrassed to be an New York Yankees fan. Hundreds (if not more) were chanting “A-Rod Sucks” in unison as they exited the stadium and headed down River Ave. In the past, chanting as a crowd down River Avenue was reserved for joyous moments. Now, the fans are entitled and only enjoy the game of baseball if the team marches to a World Series victory. It is sickening, and not enjoyable to be a part of.
Do those Yankee fans think this makes them look good? As Sully Baseball, a Red Sox fan friend of mine, put it last night on Facebook, “THIS is why people hate Yankee fans. Most fan bases would salivate to have a 2 time MVP who led their team to a World Series title. You cry that he hasn’t given you more. Next time you wonder why the rest of the planet Earth cheers when the Yankees lose, look in the mirror. (That is if they allow mirrors in Bellevue.)” Exactly!
I just hope A-Rod has bodyguards with him anywhere he goes in this town. The unbridled hatred for him out there is out of control, and more than a little frightening.
Not only have too many Yankee fans forgotten 2009, they have forgotten who led them to that title. When I pointed out online to some Yankee fans last night that A-Rod carried the team on their shoulders that postseason, they either denied that he was the reason they won, or said “that was two years ago,” like it’s ancient history, or said that he only did it once, and implied that it somehow didn’t count (tell that to Bucky Dent, Aaron Boone, Jim Leyritz, etc….) When I then pointed out that the Flip Play was ten years ago, but people still talk about it incessantly, I was chastised for daring to put Rodriguez in the same category as Derek Jeter. Good grief. What a bunch of ungrateful clowns.
Sure, it stinks that the Yanks lost, but they did do much more this year than I expected them to. Besides, things could be worse — the Red Sox humiliated themselves way more this season than the Bombers did!
What do you think? Tell us about it!
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