"Like my father before me, I'm a working man. And like my brother before me, I took a rebel stand. Oh, he was just 18, proud and brave but a yankee laid him in his grave. I swear by the blood below my feet you can't raise a Cane back up when he's in defeat."
- Joan Baez, The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down

"It aint over till it's over."
- Yogi Berra

"Hitting the ball was easy. Running around the bases was the tough part."
- Mickey Mantle

"When I was a little boy, I wanted to be a baseball player and join the circus. With the Yankees I have accomplished both."
- Graig Nettles

"We play today. We win today. DAS IT!"
- Mariano Duncan

October 5th, 2003

Ever want to smack a complete stranger upside the head?..... Yeah, me too.

Okay, here's the situation. Once a month, I have to go to the post office to get a money order to pay my debt consolidator. It's a hassle but it keeps me honest. In any event, while at work in New York, I'm at the post office and there's a huge line. In front of me are two women who are babbling about their life and a third in front of them.

The third woman asked the other two idiots if they knew if the Boston Red Sox won the night before. They said that they didn't and went into their own little editorial on why they were upset about that. Being a Yankee fan, I just love hearing about the Boston Red Sox losing. Eighty years of losses isn't enough for me. And chances are, if you live in New York, you are either a Yankee Fan or a Mets** fan. If you like winners, you are a Yankee fan. If you think following a loser builds character, you are a Met fan and are currently building a LOT of character. Either way, the rivalry between the Yanks and Bosox or the 1986 World Series Met Win over Boston warms hearts.

One of the women said, "No, I'm not a Boston fan... I just hate seeing the Yankees win. They just win too much. Ya know, I just wish they'd lose this year and then Joe Torre could just walk into George Steinbrenner's office and quit."

Huh? That was probably the stupidest thing ever uttered in human existence next to "Let me get that out of the toaster with my fork."

At this point, I had to control my right hand from automatically taking justice and smacking this woman upside the head. Whenever I get a good dose of Bizarro logic like that I have to do something or lose my own sanity. I bit my tongue instead. I shouldn't have been listening anyway. Plus, why would Joe Torre ever want to quit a job he loves? Just to give up a couple of million dollars a year, respect of his peers, only to give an old man a piece of his mind.

Yeah, that'll show him.

Here is what I can't understand. How do people like this exist? How do they hate the Yankees... for no reason. The following is a great example of an idiot in the mix. He writes for a publication and gets paid for being an idiot.

I couldn't take the guy seriously when he said, "I've detested the Yankees since I was knee high...." I have two great teams for this guy - The Boston Red Sox and the Chicago Cubs. These two teams bring losing when it counts to an art form. He can cheer for them this year. They are both in the post season.

And so are the Yankees.

As I write this, the Yankees have just finished beating the Minnesota Twins in the American League Division Series.. in only four games. Being arrogant had nothing to do with it. As a matter of fact, the Yankees did not handle anything about this series "matter of factly". They took it very seriously.

Through no fault of pitching and many errors made, the Yankees lost the first game of the series. Oh well, you can't win em all. The second game was won by some unbelievable pitching by Andy Petitte. The series was now tied 1 to 1. The winner was the best of five games. Ron Gardenhire, the Twins manager, blamed his loss on Ronan Tynan of the Irish Tenors for singing "God Bless America" too long. According to him, the song ran sooo long that the Twins pitcher cooled down too much and lost the game.

Right, sure. I give him an "A" for originality. Originality not seen since the Yankees/Royals "Pine Tar" game of the 70's*.

The 3rd game was played in Minnesota Now before I go on, let me tell you about the Twins Stadium. Apparently, only the Twins can really play there successfully. It was built as one of the first domed stadiums of its time, so there's a lot to say about noise echo. When the crowd gets going, it can be deafening.

The second problem is a bit more of an obstacle. When they constructed the dome, they made the ceiling white. The same color as the ball. When balls get pop-flied out into the outfield, it is very difficult to see. The Twins having the home field advantage are used to this. The Yankees were not.

So, what did the Yankees do?

During the day off between games, the Yankees spent the day hitting fly balls to the outfield. They spent the day learning the turf. What did the Twins do? They rested and stayed home. Lee Mazilli, the first base coach, had the players working out two hours before the game.

The Yankees were pumped. Roger Clemens, the Rocket, was on the mound. Despite the fact that Roger Clemens is a six time Cy Young Award winner and is 41 years old and still pitching, it did not stop ESPN from saying that Roger's specialty is beaning batters on the head.

The Yanks won the third game. They won because they worked for it. I think the Twins' manager is going to blame the tides this time or his personal biorythms.

The fourth game was won by 40 year old David Wells. The Yanks killed the twins 8-1. So much for not being able to hit the ball. Why did they win? Hard work, focus, and dedication. They took each game one game at a time and won because it was serious business. And that's the way the Yankees since 1994 have handled it... seriously.

A lot of people hate the Yankees because the believe that since the New York Yankees franchise is one of the richest in the world, they can afford the best players. That is just a bunch of garbage. As a matter of fact the Twins this year had a higher payroll.

The reason the Yankees payroll is so high is because they wish to keep and reward the players they have. The Yankees best players came up through the teams farm system. Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Alphonso Soriano, Jorge Posada, Bernie Williams, and Andy Pettite all came up through the Yankees farm system. David Wells came to the Yankees because he is a Babe Ruth fan. In fact, his shirt number 33, is Ruth's number.. twice. Roger Clemens came to the Yankees because after years of playing with the Boston Red Sox, he wanted a championship ring. That would not happen on the Boston Red Sox. Jason Giambi grew up in Staten Island, NY. Jason Giambi's number in every team was 7. Why? That was Mickey Mantle's number. Since he couldn't have Mantle's number on the Yankees, he selected 25. (2 + 5 = 7). They want to be Yankees because they love the tradition of championship.

These guys follow the rules and play fair in a world that hates them for stupid reasons.

Yankee fans get the worst punishments. Even Cablevision decided to punish the Yankee fans. They denied Yankee fans of their games by not offering the YES network. New York and New Jersey residents had to either get a satellite feed or wait until they were on National TV. Other than that there was radio. At least we got to hear the games. It took the New York attorney general to step in and order Cablevision to provide the Yankee Entertainment Sports Network to everyone. They almost didn't do it despite the overwhelming demand of local consumers.

But before that happened Yankee fans had to endure Fox Sports National coverage. 3 bigger idiots never broadcasted as stupidly as the Fox Sports Commentators. I call them the weather vanes. The cheer wherever the wind blows.

I find it sad that when an organization excels in excellence and does what they are supposed to do with class and style is shunned by idiots who hate them for that reason. People in competition play to win. If they aren't doing that, they are just wasting time.

I started watching the Yankees when I was dating my wife 10 years ago. She was the baseball fan. It was just coincidence that when I started watching in 1994 they started their winning streak. I cheer for a winner. I cheer for the Yankees.

If people want to cheer for a loser, I suggest they just not watch the Yankees. That's just a no win scenario... which is what they want anyway.

** - I personally believe that Mets is actually an acronym of My Entire Team Sucks.

* - An incident still talked about. When George Brett of the Royals had hit a pivotal home run against the Yankees, Yankee manager, Billy Martin had his bat inspected and said there was pine tar too high on the bat and had the run thrown out. Martin wasn't the most ethical of managers.