WHY I'M NOT A BANDWAGON FAN, I'M A YANKEE FAN

I was born into this team. I think as early as 6 or 7 I remember watching the New York Yankees on TV with my dad and as the time I didn't know any of the rich history. It was a baseball game on television. I remember the pinstripes and I remember Ron Guidry and he being a lefty and me being a lefty, I immediately found a guy I could latch onto. I fell in love with him and the team. You know the story, he became my idol.The Yankees won in 1977 and again in 1978 and it was just good timing I guess, but at that age, it was clear I became a fan. Some could claim that at 6 years old I jumped on the bandwagon, but I could argue that the New York Yankees were the first team I remember seeing and liking and it was the only team I knew.

Growing up I loved baseball and I loved guys like Rickey Henderson, Alan Trammell, Robin Yount and even guys like Jay Buhner and Tony Gwynn, but it always went back to the Yankees.(In Photo: Alan Trammell, 1984)
Now I've heard the argument a thousand times about how the Yankees "buy" championships and I hate hearing it because I don't get it. The whole goal of winning a championship is you put the best guys on the field to represent your team. Plenty of teams have done it, and Yankees have too. So what's the argument? The Yankees didn't invent Free Agency, they follow the rules like every other team. I remember the Yankees sucking the life out of me some years, like in 1990 finishing in last place, but I didn't abandon my team, I still sat there game after game hoping they would eventually turn it around. (In Photo: Andy Hawkins)
They finally did in 1996 and it just so happens they did in 1998, 1999 and 2000 too. Sure, it was a good run and that's when the protests were the strongest..."The Yankees buy championships." I don't remember the country bitching when the Chicago Bulls "bought" their three-peat. Hell, isn't it possible the Yankees, or Bulls were just damn good?

When it comes to great teams, I have never once thought a team "bought" their championships. It's easy to say and it's easy to be jealous, especially if the team you like doesn't win, but for teams like the Detroit Tigers or the Miami Marlins or the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, well, they're just doing what the Yankees have done, going out and getting the best guys they can to go out and represent their team and good for them. At the end of the day, every team wants to win it all...so why not give your team a shot... it just makes sense, that's what I think at least.

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