From SI.com's Ten Spot:
With the Yankees clinching their ninth straight AL East title on Wednesday, I can no longer keep these feelings of rage (and, perhaps, envy) to myself. So here are the Top 10 Reasons I Hate the Yankees. (And in the interest of full disclosure, yes, I am a lifelong Mets fan.)
1. Arrogant Yankees fans: When I moved away from New York for a few years in the mid-'90s, my anti-Yankee feelings softened. I even found myself rooting for the likable '96 champs, especially since Mets fans always enjoy watching the Braves lose. Then I moved back to New York and realized anew what drove me most crazy about the franchise -- its fans. Yankees fans have a greater sense of entitlement that the Hilton girls. If, heaven forbid, the Yanks ever failed to make the playoffs, Bombers backers would view it as a sign of the apocalypse. Consider that this fan base has just in the last decade turned on both the greatest hitter (A-Rod) and pitcher (Roger Clemens) of their generation because they didn't instantly deliver a World Series title. "Spoiled" would be a step up for these louts.
2. Bandwagon Yankees fans: Even if they view winning titles as their birthright, I don't (entirely) begrudge fans who have rooted for the team through thick and thin. (Valid reasons include that your dad rooted for the team, that you picked them at a young age, etc.) But the hordes of Yankees "fans" who have hopped aboard in the last decade make me nuts. Sure, rationally speaking, I can understand the reasons. If you moved to New York City at some point during the past decade -- as millions have -- it's hard not to get caught up in the undeniable excitement of postseason baseball, which the Yanks have delivered every year since '95. But to have these latecomers brag about "their" Bombers, while simultaneously viewing Mets fans as some lesser life form, is intolerable. Listen, chumps: I know more about "your" team's history than you ever will, so pipe down. And yes, there was a time not that long ago (1986, anyone?) when New York was a Mets town, and just because your fresh-from-Omaha mind can't fathom that doesn't make it untrue.
3. Unintentionally patronizing Yankees fans: Some Yankees fans, secure with the near certainty that their team is headed for the playoffs, will magnanimously "root" for your team as well. (This doesn't happen, though, if your team is the Red Sox.) What's unspoken, of course, is the understanding that your team is no real threat to the Mighty Yanks. Thus it can come off like patting a team of Little Leaguers on the cap, congratulating them on the "home run" that was really a ground ball that went through the shortstop's legs. Ugh. I'd rather you showed my team some respect by hating it.
4. When national media assume that all of New York roots for the Yankees: Never was this more prevalent than during the 2001 World Series, which took place just after 9/11. While I appreciated the sentiment that the country was standing behind New York, I didn't need Joe Buck waxing eloquent with statements like (and we're paraphrasing here): "Nothing will bring a salve to the people of New York City like a victory by their beloved Yankees." Sorry, Joe. I'm a New Yorker, but I couldn't care less about how the Yankees perform. I'm a Mets fan, and there are millions more like me. It's a two-team town. Did Cubs fans rejoice when the White Sox won last year? Of course not, and no one expected them to. Yet somehow all of greater Gotham is assumed to be Yankees territory.
5. The cult that has grown around average players that were part of the recent Yankees dynasty: This was touched on in Thursday's 10 Spot. While legitimate superstars who somehow don't qualify as "true Yankees" like A-Rod are pilloried, career mediocrities such as Scott Brosius and Luis Sojo are lionized because fans focus on the few clutch hits they contributed in their many postseason opportunities. Since we discussed Brosius on Thursday, let's take a look at Sojo. The pudgy middle infielder is lauded primarily for his 92-hop single up the middle that delivered the winning runs in Game 5 of the 2000 Subway Series against the Mets. Of course, the eminently forgettable Kurt Abbott was playing shortstop that night in place of the injured Mike Bordick (who was replacing the injured Rey Ordonez.) Am I bitter? OK, just a little.
6. When Yankee defenders downplay their team's financial advantages: Yes, other teams with fat payrolls have failed to win. Look at the Orioles, some past Dodgers teams and many recent Mets squads. Indeed, the Yanks still need to make some smart baseball decisions, and over the past decade they have made many. But the Yanks' $200 million payroll gives them a bigger margin of error than any franchise. If a few big-money acquisitions don't pan out, the Yanks just make some more. If the franchise needs a midseason boost, they look for high-priced players that other teams can't quite afford (hello, Bobby Abreu) and pick them up on the cheap in terms of prospects because they alone can foot the bill. Level playing field? Yeah, like Mount Everest.
7. The myth of Yankees' scouting and player development: Bronx Bombers fans like to talk about their "homegrown" stars, but in reality this is an outdated notion. Sure, Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Bernie Williams and Jorge Posada get credited to the Yanks' farm system, but none is younger than 32. Increasingly, what is billed as the Yanks' drafting acumen is anything but. Rather, the Yanks excel in throwing money at players who aren't subject to the draft at all, those from baseball-rich areas such as the Dominican Republic and Asia. The Yankees' best current young players -- Chien-Ming Wang, Robinson Cano and Melky Cabrera -- were all available to the highest bidder as amateurs. Gee, guess who that was?
8. Joe Torre as genius: Hey, it's hard to say anything bad about Torre. He seems like such a nice fellow, and in truth he is unusually well-suited to his current position. If you need a guy to massage complicated but extremely talented players in a pressure-cooker like New York, Torre has proven himself to be the perfect man for the job. Still, let's not forget that Torre managed 14 seasons before landing with the Yanks in 1996 in what was then a widely panned hiring. His record at the time? A thoroughly mediocre 894-1,003 (.471). Did he not acquire his genius until late in life? Or does the Yanks' typical surfeit of store-bought talent have something to do with Torre's success in pinstripes?
9. The griping we're about to hear about tearing down Yankee Stadium: Traditionalists have already starting carping about the supposed travesty of the Yanks replacing the House That Ruth Built. Sorry, but that park is already long gone. Sure, the current Yankee Stadium sits on the same site, but the reconstruction of the stadium in 1974-75 already dismantled that piece of history. The current Yankee Stadium has as much a tie to Babe Ruth's home as Chicago's U.S. Cellular Field has to the Comiskey Park of the Go-Go White Sox. Of course, it's understandable that Yanks fans want to ignore the two seasons the team spent in Shea Stadium, which is admittedly a crappy park.
10. The constant talk about how the Yankees are all about winning: Increasingly, the players who spout the bromide about how all the Yankees care about is winning the World Series are guys like Mr. BALCO, Jason Giambi. Last time I checked, Giambi owned as many World Series rings as I do. The philosophy that only a World Series championship is sufficient for a successful season supposedly comes straight from the top, owner George Steinbrenner. Funny, I don't remember hearing much about that when manager Stump Merrill was sending out the likes of Mel Hall and Andy Hawkins in the early '90s. So were those Yankee teams all about winning too? How did that work out?
