WHY IT’S OUR TIME, NOT THEIRS

The Yankees are the king of kings and to all you fans who like the Pirates or the Reds or even the Oakland Athletics, I know you get pissed when I write a title like that. The fact of the matter is, we are on a quest for #28 and we have won more than any other baseball team. So when it comes to the New York Yankees it’s about winning, nothing less. Not rebuilding or not playing 50%. It’s about winning every year!

When I woke up this morning, the first thing I said was, “Yankees vs. Red Sox tonight.” I looked in the mirror and looked at my pathetic self as if I was dressed to play. Every game against the Red Sox is the World Series. I hate them, yet respect them. They’re damn good but since I was a kid you learn that there is no other rivalry like this in baseball, or in any other sport for that matter.

I think about being outside Fenway in the summer of 2003, about 3 blocks away. I was with Mikey Blue, it was the first Series against the Sox in Boston and we were waiting for his brother to park the car. A guy was walking down the street in a home Sox Jersey; he had a thick Boston accent. We were standing there in Yankee caps. He was talking on the phone and I remember mid conversation with whomever he was speaking to, he looked over at us and said “Hold on, I’m going to be fucking sick to my stomach.” We looked at each other and laughed. The Red Sox hadn’t won anything until 2004, so we were still riding the Curse of the Babe. In Fenway, one of the great historic parks, fans were angry, and we expected it, but there was almost a sadness. Inside, they didn’t want to fight us or anything, we were all just baseball fans. We don’t razz other fans, we respect the other teams ballparks and players, but we hate the team because, that’s what Yankee fans and Red Sox fans do.

I will tell you this; believe it or not, besides that psycho, there was a mutual respect that day among fans. It was my first visit to Fenway and I expected bloodshed, punches and beer poured all over my Yankee hat. I didn’t get that. We received a little razzing being in the away team's ball park, but at the end of the game, some of us shook hands. I remember one guy with his son shaking my hand saying “Good game. We get you tomorrow.” “Wow.” I thought, “Where’d that come from?” Could it be that Red Sox fans were just accepting the fact that they would never win? Do they believe the hype of the Curse? It was bizarre to me, but that being said, it was a pleasant surprise. Maybe they aren’t all angry fans after all.

Well, in 2004, the Red Sox won, and earlier that year we visited Yawkey Way again. This time, around August, it was vicious; I saw fights. I saw whole cups of beer thrown on Yankee fans. There was venom that I’ve never seen before. I remember they cut off alcohol in the 4^th inning. It was clear to me at that moment that most Red Sox fans sensed it, this was their year. Of course, Yankee fans knew we were going to win that year too and we almost did, but I swear to God, their historic playoff run all stems back to those 2 days in that summer. They had a “feeling” and they actually believed in their team that year. There was a difference to the previous years and clearly they knew they had something good, something special going on with their team. Unfortunately, they were right.

This post isn’t to side with the Red Sox; I don’t like them at all. This post is to give a little credit to the true baseball fan. The evil Red Sox will always be our enemy. The fans however, are just as passionate as us and now that they got a taste of winning, much like us, they’re going to want it every year too. But I will tell you this, with this Series starting tonight again, let me just say, Suck it Sox, This is our time.

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