It's October, and to all you baseball fans that means one thing: postseason. I've always loved baseball, from the time I was playing wiffle ball with my brother in the back yard, to my senior year when I scored the only run of the season on my high school softball team. I'm usually a local fan; I rooted for the Cardinals when I was living in STL, and I rooted for the Giants most of this season. I even root for the Padres every now and then since they don't have any fans. But when the Yankees dominate over postseason, it's time to bring out my NY hat (and accent).
It's hard being a Yankee fan because 90% of the baseball fan population hates your team. I don't blame them, they're just jealous. Some may say we "buy our team" and I say: so fucking what. Obviously every baseball player has dreamed of being a Yankee since they were a tot watching Babe Ruth round the bases at Yankee stadium. Even Johnny Damon, a former Red Sox player who said he would never in his life play for the Yankees, is low and behold a Yankee himself and one of the top hitters! So what if we have the highest paid players in baseball history - they deserve it! They take so much crap from all those haters, then they go out there and beat the balls off their opponents. They also have the hottest girlfriends so they need money to keep them looking good.
The greatest thing about being a Yankee fan is the pride. Every New Yorker glows with pride when the Yankees are doing well. Fans unite to revel in Yankee success, and even people who claim to hate NY and say they will never move back there (ahem, me) seem to forget about all that and temporarily take pleasure in gloating with New York pride.
A-Rod. Jeter. Matsui. Posada. These are some of the most recognized names in baseball today, and probably will be for years and years after they retire (which will hopefully be never). If you've been watching this postseason, and you're a Yankee fan, then you're probably as frantically excited as me. We haven't won a series since 2000 (let it be known that we also won in 1996, 1998, and 1999 - as well as 22 other world series wins beginning in 1923), and it's about time. After winning three years in a row, we sort of tapered off for a while. We bowed our heads and gave some other teams a chance: the Red Sox, the White Sox, the Cardinals, the Phillies... the others aren't worth mentioning. In 1996 I won a Halloween window painting contest for painting a pumpkin with a Yankee hat on and a headline that read "Happy Yankeeween!" First place. That's right.
Booooo!
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