Yankees Vindicated

I am not fan of the New York Yankees. But I am less of a fan of haters. There's a harmless element to sports fandom when it comes to rivalries. I am a Cleveland Indians fan, and for whatever reason I have found myself not liking the Yankees, mostly because of George Steinbrenner. But this is not personal. If I saw George on the street, I would say... "Holy Crap! That's George Steinbrenner!" I would say this out loud and that would be it. A Red Sox fan might punch him in the throat, or sick his brainwashed ravenous son or daughter on his ankles, but this is taking a game way too seriously. But within the realm of sports, I think George is kind of shady and have a difficult time respecting his organization.
Here are bad but common reasons to dislike a sports franchise.
Reason # 1: They win all the time
This is pathetic. Get over it. Tell your owner to get
some players.
Reason # 2: (And this is the one of concern to this
particular blog post) The Yankees take all
of the good players because they have all the
money. Small market teams have no chance. It's
not fair.
There are several problems with this line of thinking. Let us name off last decades World Series winner and losers since they were pretty good teams too. Yankees, Mets, D-backs, Angels, Giants, Marlins, Red Sox, Cardinals, Tigers, White Sox, Rockies, Phillies, Rays. 4 out of 13 of those clubs are "big markets". Albeit that the Red Sox and Yankees won twice, that the Yankees went to the world series three times, and that the Phillies went twice. Perhaps the Big markets have an advantage, but this does not mean they are worthy of hatred. It is after all a business. It's just plain communism to think that it ought to be fair. If the Yankees have millions of fans, are compelling, and can afford to pay these guys, have their own television program, why shouldn't they? Your team would. Maybe if they were killing everybody every year, and there were struggling teams without ever the chance, but...? Really last year's lineup was the first all star lineup that the Yankees ever won with. When they won their four out of five around the turn of the millenium, they did it with all homegrown guys who were just good ball players. The 2004 Red Sox are names now because they won the World Series. So baseball rewards excellence, and the 2007 world champions were stacked. If you payed your dues like the Red Sox did and won a championship, people will start to like your team and they will pay to watch your team, which increases your team's revenue. The Yankees started getting these high profile free agents in 2000 with the acquisition of Roger Clemens, and won one World Series before last year's championship. And if you think about it, how many new high profile free agents did the Yankees have last year? Sabathia and Texeira. The rest of the team was old guys. Arod, Jeter, Jorge, Rivera, Petitte, Damon, Matsui. If you ask me I say it was veteran leadership, and pitching that won last year's title.
Stop whining haters! The Yankees are helping you buy a championship too. Baseball has this thing called revenue sharing, and the Yankees are the biggest contributor to small market charities. Guess who the richest owners are. They are the owner of the Twins, the Nationals, and the Pirates. The Steinbrenners are actually down there, and the reason I suspect is that they want a winning product. So what would you rather have? A money grubbling owner who can afford to spend money and put a team on the field but doesn't. Or I guy who spends the money and gives you a winning product. As much of a weasel as ole' George is. He genuinely wants the Yankees to win as much as you do, and tries to make this happen. Who can blame him for that?
The one legitimate reason to dislike the Yankees: You grew up in Northern Ohio, but now live in Scranton, PA, and you never stop hearing about them Yanks.