WHAT MAKES A YANKEE FAN?

What make a Yankee fan? Is it how many games we attend a season? Is it who owns the most Yankees paraphernalia? What is the deciding factor?

Last night the Yankees won their division series and are headed to the American League Championship Series and it had everything to do with our mighty New York Yankees, and a lot to do with us Yankee fans too. Why? Because sure, at the end of the day, we're not strapping on the gear...but we are in on every pitch, rooting and pushing for our guys to win it all. Last night wasn’t an easy one. Much like the regular season, the Orioles kept battling back and they made the Yankees fight until the very end. That makes us fans sweat, even though we believe but it's brutal and takes a toll, we scream and cry in frustration, it's nerve racking, but in the end, the Yankees stuck it out...and so did us fans.

The big talk this week was Alex Rodriguez, it really split the fans! DO we lower Alex in the batting order? Do we play him? Do we bench him? Who's to blame for the losses?  Who is under performing? All these questions and the fan base was reeling with a ton of different thoughts. And sure, at the end of the day, we all had one common goal. Win the ALDS and continue on the journey to the World Series.

Yankees fans come from all walks of life and different geographical locations. We all view the game differently. A ton of us are in the Bronx, but we have BYB readers in Australia, huge Yankee fans. There are fans in Oregon and England and Florida and California... Even Montana! The range is wide and that's okay. It doesn’t make any of us any less of a Yankee fan because of where we are. Plus, we love different players...us fans don't look at each other any differently because I like Robinson Cano more than Curtis Granderson and so on.  There are 2 things that we can all agree on though:

• Derek Jeter is a baseball God

• We will always root for and stand behind our team.

Okay, the first one is a joke. Kind of... Seriously, Jeter is awesome!

The point is, the only real deciding factor to being a REAL fan is that we support our team. Regardless of how you choose to show your support. Sure, we criticize players, managers and coaching staff from time to time. But that is mostly from our desire for them to perform like the superstars that we know they are. The end game is the same for every Yankee fan. Standing in the Canyon of Heroes during the Ticket Tape Parade with hordes of other crazed Yankees fans, proudly wearing Yankee Blue while our boys make their way to City Hall...That’s how to show we Bleed Yankee Blue.

Game on today! Let's go Yankees!

--Erica Morales, BYB Writer
Twitter: @e_morales1804



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