One of my most vivid memories of the 2007 Yankees season came when leaving the Stadium after only the second game. Walking to the subway, dejected after a close loss in which Alex Rodriguez made a late-inning out in a clutch spot, I heard a female voice chanting, "Fuck you, A-Rod! Fuck you, A-Rod!" She was joined by a fellow Skankee, forming a vile mixture of pink and rhinestone that debunks any idea of the New York metro area being an altogether ahead-of-the-curve set.
A game earlier, in the opener, A-Rod helped cement a victory with an eighth-inning home run. Through two games, A-Rod was hitting .300 with 1 HR, 3 RBIs and 1 SB. At the time, he was on pace for an even better season than the incredible one he will finish up with this week. Yet, two trashy whores were crucifying him in an ignorant pile-on.
They weren't Yankees fans. Couldn't have been. A few days earlier, I had written a post titled, "Real Yankees Fans Will Cheer This Man in 2007," outlining how no person with any sense of logic and a genuine interest in Yankees success would boo the most talented and productive Yankee since Mickey Mantle.
To me, this season was for the real Yankees fans. Those short-sighted Skankees aren't invited to this postseason party, and if they celebrated our playoff berth last night they should be ashamed.
I make these charges even though I thought the Yankees were cooked this year. Even after righting the ship a bit, the Tigers and Mariners surged, and I thought, "We're done." That doesn't mean I handed in my loyalty card. It means I understand math and probability.
What the Yankees did — drive to the postseason despite 50 starts from rookie pitchers — some of whom you may not remember (Chase Wright) and at least one you want to forget (Kei Igawa) — with a modest-at-best 6-6 record from hired gun Roger Clemens, was improbable and, at least to me, borderline impossible.
Michael Kay had a great line at the end of Wednesday's playoff-clinching victory. Let's not pretend this is the Little Engine That Could, he said. That is true. But what this team did was validate that it really is fun being a Yankees fan. Remember when the haters couldn't grasp that concept, when he were advancing to six World Series in eight years from 1996-2001?
It's fun. The real fans know it. Watching the 2007 club celebrate was fun. The new generation that we hope to see for a decade to come, mixed with old faces who, to my chagrin, are looking their (and my) age. And lest we forget the annual Joe Torre Blubber-Fest. Whoever gets tired of that?
The first time we were a wild-card team: 1995. A most electric time to be a Yankees fan. Here's hoping this postseason is filled with an equal amount of passion, with a more extended run, till we once again walk the Canyon of Heroes.
Yankees fans should root for whatever mercenaries the team brings in.
Posted by Nominal Me at September 28, 2007 9:53 AM