YES, GOD IS A YANKEE FAN

“It’s not easy, is it?” says the eloquent Morgan Freeman affixed in his interlocking NY Yankee cap.  Freeman is God in the popular movie flick “Bruce Almighty.” He continues with, “But no matter how filthy it gets, we can always clean it up.”  Yes, it’s true- we Yankee fans know straight up it’s hard.  Every single championship was earned because the Yankees knew it would be hard, but they did it anyway.

When Thurman Munson died on August 2, 1979, it was hard.  When Lou Gehrig was inflicted with ALS, it was hard.  When things get tough, the Yankees get tougher.  And that’s how I know God is a Yankee fan.

(In Photo: Ernest Hemingway)
“Have faith in the Yankees, my son,” said Ernest Hemingway in The Old Man and the Sea.  These words need to be embedded in our souls come June and July when games get long and more difficult.  We may be one of the oldest teams in the game today and old is usually associated with terms like “out dated” “unfit” and perhaps “washed up.”  We don’t have to be and we don’t have to listen.  We are the Yankees and we have a legacy.  We have pride and when we win, we cheer while others jeer.

 

(In Photo: Bob Feller)

Bob Feller said it best when he stated, “I would rather beat the Yankees than pitch a no-hit game.”  And the old Washington Senators called us “Damn Yankees” whenever they got too close to winning.  In fact, they would rather sell their souls to the devil than live losing to the Yankees everyday. 

We have something that nobody else in the game has.  Well, actually we have many things:  27 championships, a legacy of hall of famers, and the toughest town in all of baseball.  Those kinds of statistics don’t happen overnight and frankly, the last one is the most difficult one to deal with 365-days a year.  The Yankees play in New York, the Bronx actually and if you haven’t walked the streets of 161st Street and Jerome Avenue, taking some sidebar alleys in between or raced over the Harlem River Drive via the Willis Avenue Bridge, then you don’t know tough.  The traffic is tough and the route is long.  What about taking the Number 4 train from the Staten Island Ferry all the way to the Stadium or grabbing the D train over at 145th Street to get to the game on time?  Have you read the tabloids day after day, grabbed more than one brew at Stan’s and chatted with the bartenders and wait staff or listened to the banter from the street vendors- they are all tough and they are tough on the Yankees.  The Yankees play in the toughest, most spoiled town in baseball.  Because they have won for so many years, we expect it year after year.  And why wouldn’t we.  We are Yankees fans; hear us roar!

When our guys go down, we fans will stop at nothing to show them how we feel.  Last week, Bronx resident Buddy Niederhoffer put something magical together for our very own Mariano Rivera.  He created a sketchbook chock filled with drawings and signatures for what he calls our “Picasso in Pinstripes", read HERE. Even 15 Red Sox fans scribed their signatures in this autograph book.  Mariano will receive the book sometime during spring training.  Red Sox fans signing a book for Mo, wow that is a miracle that only God could swing. 

At the end of day, at the end of every game, no matter if we win or lose, one thing remains a constant- The Yankee Legacy.  The one that Ruth, DiMaggio, Mantle, Munson, Mattingly, Jeter and Rivera built and we honor.  For better or for worse, we fans love our team and when the first pitch is tossed on April 1st, 2013- we will all be praying, hoping, and willing a Yankee victory.  So things will never change and I for one thank God for making me a Yankee fan.

--Suzie Pinstripe, BYB Opinion Columnist
Twitter: @suzieprof




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