DEREK JETER IS FOREVER OUR LEGEND

You walk through life being a Yankee fan and hearing about the stories of guys like Babe Ruth or Mickey Mantle or Bobby Richardson. My dad would blab about how he never saw anyone hit as well as Yogi Berra and how "Back when I was a kid, the monuments were out in center field. There would be times when the ball would roll back there and the fielder would have to go retrieve it."

I vaguely remember seeing the fans storm the field after the 1976 ALCS and Chambliss's homer. Like actually seeing it on TV... not the recaps years later. I mean, I was just a kid and even back then I was thinking "Oh, they're gonna get in trouble."  

I remember the brawl between Reggie Jackson and Billy Martin in the dugout.  I remember Bucky Dent's homer and the 1981 World Series Game 1 when Ron Guidry pitched and I sat in the mezzaline in right field with my dad. The Bronx was electric that night.

I remember Jim Abbott's no hitter, Coney's perfect game and the night Derek Jeter was anointed Mr. November in a time where this country needed the biggest hug of our lives.  And I remember this young skinny kid named Derek just help carry the Yankees with one of the greatest teams I have ever seen as a Yankee fan.

Derek Jeter wasn't supposed to be a superstar, but Derek Jeter worked his tail off to become a superstar.  And let's take it further... it wasn't him selfishly looking to be a superstar during his workout routines and extra BP. It was his goal to help a team be the greatest, because, that's what baseball is... a team effort every step of the way.  And I think if you were ask Derek about his career, that is what he would say, something like... "Good teams win championships... if I could contribute in every game to make that possible, I did my job as a ballplayer." 

All this fanfare about the Captain making it to the Hall of Fame is almost too much for the guy. He's not that dude. Ricky Henderson? He knows he's the greatest and he'll tell everyone that would walk by. Jeter had swagger, but not the guy you'd hear squacking about how amazing he was. He did it with his glove... his bat and his leadership and loyalty to a team and fan base for his entire career.

Derek Jeter is going into the Hall of Fame today.  It is one of the biggest things a Yankee fan will ever witness. Jeter never gave us much when it came to the media and there probably won't be much today as well, but one thing I do know is his poise and professionalism helped him become a true leader, growing up in front of our eyes.

John Quincy Adams said "If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader."

Jeter has done more to the kids of this generation to help move that inspiration forward. I know for a ton of kids out there, seeing #2 on their little league jerseys only means one thing... Jeter's an inspiration, a role model... and a fantastic ballplayer to boot.  That right there is signficant.

Congrats to the Captain. You have proven you can do anything and have shown everyone, including the Yankee haters that respect is earned, not given. I applaud your hard work and leadership and a huge shoutout to your parents who raised you right.

I look forward to getting up to the Hall real soon and seeing your plaque.

Respect... from everyone here at Bleeding Yankee Blue.

YOU LIKE THIS? WANT MORE JETER? CHECK OUT SOME OF THESE:

JETER IS A GREAT ROLE MODEL FIRST, A GREAT PLAYER NEXT

WHAT JETER DID FOR A GENERATION OF BALLPLAYERS

JETER MAGIC & A HAPPY ENDING. THANK YOU, DEREK

THE SECOND COMING OF DEREK JETER

MY TRIBUTE TO OUR CAPTAIN

O CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN!

RE2PECT & NEVER FORGETTING #2

DON'T BE JETER... BE YOU, KID!

WITHOUT DICK GROCH, THERE IS NO DEREK JETER

MIXED MESSAGES IN THE SPORTS WORLD ARE MAKING MY HEAD SPIN

Day Number I DON'T KNOW of self quarantine. I have lost track at this point, and also have lost a lot of sanity in the process.

This weekend I found some old games that were airing on television. I'm sure you found a bunch of them too and maybe you were like me and you tuned in with hopes to find some nostalgia and some good vibes. There were some good games on this weekend, I gotta hand it to the networks.....but it didn't work.

I found Jim Abbott's September 4th, 1993 no-hitter against the Indians but I didn't watch it for long, it just wasn't the same. I found one of my favorite hockey games of all time but I didn't watch it for long either, it just wasn't the same. Then I tried baking and I only finished that because once I started I couldn't stop mid project...but it wasn't what I was looking for.

So finally I just had to do it. I started searching the internet for something hopeful....but I didn't find it. Instead I found article after article of confusing and contradicting information. Boy, was that a mistake.

NBC Sports is telling us all HERE that our President had conference calls with commissioners from 12 professional sports leagues that he wants leagues to open doors to their fans by "August or September" and at that point baseball should just chalk it up to a lost season. That's just one source.

Then I see another article from FOX HERE that says MLB will consider quarantining players and playing games in empty spring training parks to start the season. But wow, that is stark contrast to what the New York Post said HERE about Ron Darling's opinion that MLB's season looks more and more doubtful with every day that passes.

Honestly, if football can start in September which is their regular schedule then they are golden. Of course, that's a big IF at this point. But, what about baseball? If baseball can't start in empty spring training parks like FOX suggests and an August or September time frame is most realistic.....do we even play this year? Do we have a "lost" season?

I hope not but, NJ.com has an interesting idea HERE where they interviewed David Cone and he laid out his plan IF he were commissioner and he got to call the shots. He said he would consider a round-robin tournament IF NEED BE. That's definitely creative, not quite sure exactly how that would work though.

And oh man....is your head spinning yet like mine? I should've stopped there, but I didn't. Then I made the mistake of going to twitter and just reading my feed when I see a quote from the NFL's chief medical officer and his grim opinion on not just the NFL....but ALL sports.

That statement is not directly related to us. It's not from our world, but it is still very telling. We all heard what happened almost a month ago now when the Jazz-Thunder game was stopped just before tip-off. Then eventually the NBA suspended the entire season, and then of course MLB and NHL were quick to follow. If one chief medical officer is saying and thinking this way....others from other sports are at least thinking the same way and I would put money on that.

At this point, I can't read anymore. I just need to step away because reading all of this is just draining. I don't know what to think anymore, and the sources that I have come to know and trust over the years are questionable. There's too much "chatter" out there and it isn't helping all of our fragile states of mind right now.

We all just want a normal life again, and we want our sports. We miss our sports but at this point I think a social media time out is in order. I'm a writer and a sports journalist....but even I am tired of hearing about what the media thinks. I just want the facts, that's it! Spare us all from the flashy sports headlines that are used for click bait.

So no more for me, I am going to step away and stop getting sucked into the click bait. Sports will be back, at some point. We will be back with the facts, but until then don't be like me and don't get sucked into the splash sports headlines that may or may not be true.


 

--Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa
BYB Managing Editor
Twitter: @nyprincessj 

LOVING WADE BOGGS

Every Yankees fan alive in 1996 will forever remember the Yankees first World Series win in almost two decades. Many will remember Jim Leyritz’s huge game tying home run in Game 4 in Atlanta. Many remember John Wetteland jumping into Joe Girardi’s arms following the final out.
 

But everyone surely remembers Wade Boggs riding on the back of the police horse as they did a victory lap around the perimeter of Yankee Stadium after he earned his much deserved, and only, World Series ring.

The YES Network and one of BYB’s favorites, Nancy Newman, recently did a story on Wade Boggs for Yankees Magazine and what he is currently up to with his life as part of their year-long 20th anniversary of the 1996 Championship.



Boggs is the baseball coach at Wharton High School in Tampa, Florida. As he said in the YES Network piece, he joined the coaching staff in 2002, leaving his job as the Tampa Bay Rays hitting coach, when his son entered high school and loved it so much he never left.

But what stands out to us Yankees fans is the undeniable contribution he had on the 1996 World Series team, and the years prior to that, as the Yankees went from bottom dwellers to champions.

We all know that Wade Boggs signed with the Yankees prior to the 1993 season after playing for the arch rival Boston Red Sox from 1982-1992. The Red Sox are honoring Boggs this summer by retiring his number, just the tenth number to be retired in Red Sox history. But don’t worry Wade, we don’t hold being on the Red Sox against you. You deserve the honor of having your number forever retired.

While with the Yankees, Boggs was one of the cornerstones of the lineup. While he never hit for a lot of power, Boggs was a hits and on base machine. He batted .311 with a .383 OBP during the Championship season and finished his career with .328 average and a .415 OBP while joining the exclusive 3,000 hit club. During his tenure with the Yankees, Boggs also won two gold gloves and made a diving stab I’ll always remember seeing in person during Jim Abbott’s no-hitter, keeping the no-no intact.

Beyond what he did on the field, one of his greatest attributes was what he did in the clubhouse. Boggs was revered for his leadership qualities and his approach at the plate was an everyday lesson for the younger Yankees as they began their climb to greatness. Boggs was named to his 12th-straight All-Star Game in 1996 as well.

I remember Boggs for his great, patience at-bats and terrific defense over the years. I was just a youngster when Boggs was with the Yankees, but as a fellow lefty, I always admired his ability to go deep into counts and hit the ball the other way. He and Tony Gwynn are two of the hitters that I remember being very controlled and simple with their approach. Boggs is a player you should want to emulate your game after.

Who knows if the Yankees would have achieved their late 1990’s success if it weren’t for Boggs being a clubhouse leader from 1993-1997. Luckily we never have to ask that question. Boggs was a great Yankee, a great Red Sox player and I’m sure a great baseball coach.

If it weren’t for him, Paul O’Neill, David Cone and the other vets, the Yankees may never have developed the team, from the clubhouse to the field, that won them four World Series Championships over just six seasons.

Wade Boggs was truly one of the great players and baseball people of his generation and watching him win the World Series while in pinstripes in something none of us will ever forget.



 --Dan Lucia
BYB Senior Writer
Twitter: @DManLucia


   




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MEET THE BYB FAMILY: INTERVIEW WITH DAN LUCIA

We continue now with our last writer for BYB, Dan Lucia.  Dan's still relatively new to the BYB family and has been with us alittle under 6 months.  No matter. He 's a good dude who writes from the heart and that's what we love here at Bleeding Yankee Blue. 

By the way, If you haven't gotten to know the other BYB writers, be sure to check them out by just clicking on them below.  MEET THE BYB FAMILY is one of our most popular series of all time here and we appreciate it:

• Meet Alexis
• Meet Erica
• Meet Ike
• Meet Jeana
• Meet O'Hara
• Meet Steve
• Meet Suzie

Any how, here he is, another one of my friends and a great writer Dan Lucia. Enjoy this, I did.

 BYB: First off, did you play baseball? Were you always a baseball guy first?

Dan Lucia: I did play, ever since I can remember. We lived in a brick house as a kid and I drew a strike zone on the house and made a mound and would just pitch and pitch and pitch against the house even when I was alone. 

 I played in high school, American Legion and dabbled at a Division III college for a couple years as a catcher. I didn't hit enough in college, but always felt my biggest strength was my defensive ability. I compared myself to Joe Girardi in terms on how I played. Kind of a slap hitter who handled the pitching staff very well. The only year of my life I did not play or coach baseball was last summer.

BYB: Tell the audience what drew you to BYB.  You were asking me quite a bit about wanting to write for us.  I finally gave in, even though I wasn't going to take on any other writers. Fill in the audience.

Dan Lucia: It was kind of an easy decision. I had written for a couple NFL blogs and both folded. When the NFL season was ending this December, I wanted to get to my real passion; baseball and the Yankees. I had read some pieces over the years and went through several Yankees blogs reading articles and seeing what they were each about. I really enjoyed the free-style kind of writing that BYB offered and thought it would be a good fit! I'm opinionated and feel I'm knowledgeable and informed on the subject matter I write about. Thanks again for the opportunity and to the rest of the writers who welcomed me when I came on board. I really enjoy it!

BYB: Who is your favorite Yankee of all time and why?

Dan Lucia: Don Mattingly is my favorite Yankee of all time. My Don Mattingly poster from when I was a kid is now hanging in my six years old's room. I can't really remember "why" per say. But I know ever since I was a little guy, 3-4 years old in the mid 1980's, I've always been a Donnie Baseball fan!  I was the bat boy for a team my dad coached when I was about four and wanted to be number 23.  He and his buddy thought it'd be funny and made me number 2/3 instead since I was a little runt. Some of the players on that team will still call me 2/3 occasionally when I see them!

BYB: I find your occupation fascinating.  Tell the audience what you do for a living.

Dan Lucia: It's a pretty good gig! I work on the Communications, Navigation and Electronic Countermeasures systems on the U.S. Air Force's C-5 cargo aircraft. I'm a reservist and work full time as a civilian for the Department of the Air Force. It's a pretty interesting and satisfying job. I get to do some traveling and have been to Europe a few times and spent a couple weeks in Alaska. It took nine months of training in Texas and Mississippi and several more years at my base to get fully qualified, but it was sure worth it. I'd make the decision to commit to this again in a heartbeat, plus I get to serve our country.

BYB: So how do you find the time to write for BYB?

Dan Lucia: Sometimes I barely do! Between juggling the family life with my wife, Angela, and two kids, Evan and Amelia, plus work, housework, coaching two teams and taking a college class, it's not easy! I try and utilize the few spare moments I have or will sit at the computer during my lunch break and scarf down some food while I try and throw something together. It's worth it though. It's a great hobby to have and it's terrific to be part of the BYB family.

BYB: You've been with us for nearly 6 months now and you've put together some terrific pieces for us.  Which one of your pieces did you consider your favorite?

Dan Lucia: My favorite would have to be I ALMOST RUINED JIM ABBOTT'S NO HITTER. It was so much fun to reminisce about being at that game! A fun little side note, I'm a Green Bay Packers fan and was pretty disappointed after they lost to the Seahawks this January, but Jim Abbott reached out to me on Twitter about a half-hour after the game in response to the piece which helped soften the blow! It was good timing from him. He was the first player to ever respond to anything I had written. That was really neat!

BYB: If you could sit down with 3 people, a Yankee, a world famous writer and any other person for a pint, who would they be and why?

Dan Lucia: It would have to be the Babe. He was just so much better in his heyday than anyone else. I'd love to sit and talk with him about the game back in his playing days. Plus, rumor has it, he was pretty darn good at drinking! 

As for a writer, that's a tough one. Probably Mark Twain. He lived in Hartford, CT just about 15 minutes from where I grew up, and who doesn't love The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. I'd just like to talk about how and why he wrote that book. 

The third one would be my grandfather, my Papa Gino. He got sick just prior to me leaving for Basic Training and he unfortunately passed away while I was there, so I never got to say good bye one last time. He was a Sergeant in the Army and I just wish I could speak with him one more time. That still kind of stings.

BYB: You and I are both coaches.  Tell the audience about how important coaching kids is for you?

Dan Lucia: Next to my family, coaching is probably the most important part of my life. I coach a Babe Ruth team now and coached American Legion for eight years. I love the game, I love teaching the game and I want it to be played correctly. I've seen lots of kids who were just never really properly coached and need to be.  Plus it's more than baseball. If I can make a positive impact on one kid, it's all worth it. We all come from different walks of life and some kids need a good influence or someone who will correct them when they're wrong and praise them when they're right.  If I can teach them some lessons in discipline, respect, attitude and other things, it's a win for the both of us.

BYB: If the Yankees called you to get your advice for what to do with Masahiro Tanaka, what would you tell them?

Dan Lucia: This is another tough question!  I'm not the one who invested $155 million dollars so I sure don't have as much to lose! It seems to me though that there is something that just isn't right. I was rooting for the PRP therapy to be effective, as we all were, but he just doesn't seem 100%. I'm going to defer my answer to the Yankees brass and physicians, but surgery should be an option if he reinjures the UCL at all.

BYB: What is your favorite BYB piece of all time... you know, the one that you started reading and said, hey, I really like these guys?

Dan Lucia: I don't think there was one piece. I followed the Yankees and many blogs over time but really enjoyed the style of writing here at BYB. It can be brass, opinionated and controversial but it can also be heartwarming. Plus the BYB team has done so many exclusive interviews! That's awesome that the Yankees players, wives, journalists and so on of the past and present take the time out to contribute to, and be part of, the BYB family. That was definitely a huge selling point over the last couple of years.

BYB: Finally, I run BYB and it can be a rough gig, but for the most part I try to allow all my readers to live their lives, but always make deadline.  How am I doing at the Skip?

Dan Lucia: You do a great job! I'm not always able to get things done as I say I am going to with all my obligations and you respect that! But you're also not afraid to give me a hard time when I deserve it. I need that occasionally! I really enjoy the way we are able to discuss ideas and brainstorm. You allow the opportunity to write not only about the Yankees, but personal pieces in regards to baseball and that's awesome. It allows us writers to speak our minds on non-Yankees related subjects, like the Women's Professional League pieces that have been written recently. Those are cool! Thanks for the time and effort you put into it. I know we all appreciate it and I am grateful to have had the opportunity to join the BYB family.

Thanks for being here Dan, we appreciate your hard work.

Who's next? Me... Stay tuned.

You've made BYB the fastest growing Yankees fan site in history. Now shop at the Bleeding Yankee Blue store!  Follow me on Twitter @BleednYankeeBlu and LIKE Bleeding Yankee Blue on Facebook!  Also, don't forget to check out the BYB Hub!

I ALMOST RUINED JIM ABBOTT'S NO HITTER!

“Hey Dad, it’s the fifth inning and he still hasn’t given up a….”  I said before I was stopped short.

“Are you crazy??? You’re going to jinx him!” my Dad shot back.

It was a month after my ninth birthday. What the heck did I know? You can jinx a pitcher throwing a no-hitter by talking about it? I didn’t know that on September 4, 1993, but I learned that day you absolutely do not talk about it!

At the time my Dad lived in West Haven, CT and we would take the trip down I-95 to I-87 to go to Yankee Stadium rather frequently. Back in those days, tickets, parking, a hot dog and soda didn’t cost a week’s pay.  As always, I was excited to go see the Yankees play. We would listen to WFAN 660 along the way. My Pops always listened to sports radio. He would call me a Goober because I would sing the jingle “Sports radio 66, THE FAN! W-F-A-N, New York!” You guys know what I’m talking about! Anyway...

We were heading to the game that day, without tickets, to see the Yankees take on the Cleveland Indians. It was an afternoon game and "the one-handed pitcher", Jim Abbott, was starting for the hometown Yanks. He was to face a tough lineup that included guys like  Kenny Lofton, Carlos Baerga, Albert Belle, Manny Ramirez, Jim Thome and Sandy Alomar Jr.

To be honest, I never realized how stacked that lineup was. That makes that day that much more special.

The day was, as Abbott put it, “… a cloudy day. A day game, the kind of game I like to throw.”  If he liked cloudy day games, he proved it that day.

Yankee Stadium to me is like a grown man’s Cinderella’s Castle. It's magical. From the big NY behind the plate, to the organ, to the vendors yelling "Get your hot dogs here!" to the sticky ground from split soda and beer mixed with peanut shells.

We arrived at the Stadium and had to find some tickets. If my memory serves me right, we bought some tickets off a scalper outside the stadium and he told us we had great seats. Lower level on the third base line. He showed us a seating chart and that sealed the deal. Awesome. Good price, good seats, right?

It turns out we were alittle misled. We were actually out by the left field foul pole...welcome to the Bronx... right?

My Dad wasn't happy, but have no fear though; he was always the master at making his way to better seats! We ended up sitting behind the third base dugout in the lower level under the overhang. They ended up being almost perfect!  I remember being nervous because we were pretty close... I was afraid of a foul ball nailing us.  My Pops told me not to worry.

Early in the game, Paul O’Neill sliced a foul ball that just missed the protective net and screamed over our heads! But we were alright. No harm, no foul. But if I was nervous before, I was scared as hell right then!

I remember my childhood hero, Don Mattingly manning first base that afternoon. He went 1-3. Donnie Baseball was always my favorite. Still is to this day. I was the bat boy for a youth team my Dad coached when I was about four years old and I wanted to be number 23. My Dad and his friend thought it would be funny, since I was a little guy, to make me number 2/3. Still to this day, people from my hometown of Windsor, CT will occasionally remember me as the bat boy and call me ‘two-thirds”. I’m 30 years old and about once a year someone will bring it up. As goofy as it is, I still enjoy it.

In terms of specifics about the game, I don't remember all that much. Randy Velarde hit a home run and I remember looking at the scoreboard in the fifth and nearly ruining the no-hitter. I recall a great diving play at third base by Wade Boggs to rob the Indians of a hit. Most importantly, I definitely remember the final out.

The whole stadium was on our feet, screaming and cheering for that one final out, as we had done for the final three innings. It was a ground ball off the bat of Baerga, a curve ball down and away. Baerga slapped it to short where Velarde fielded it cleanly and flipped it over to Donnie for the final out. Mattingly then raised his hands in the air as the team rushed to the mound to congratulate Jim Abbott. As Scooter would say, “How do you like that?!”

My Pops and I at Yankee Stadium is always a great day. But the added benefit of seeing Mattingly, a Yankees win and an incredible pitching performance by a man who was born with one hand, well, it was even more incredible. Jim Abbott never made an excuse for why he couldn’t do it. He just went out and did it. It will forever be one of my greatest, special moments of my childhood.

The former first round pick, who made his MLB debut without ever pitching in the minors, had his greatest day on the biggest stage in baseball. With the exception of the five walks Abbott allowed, he was nothing short of spectacular that Saturday afternoon in 1993.

It is a day, I’ll never forget it. Thank you Jim for that day. It was just plain awesome!


 
Dan Lucia
BYB Writer
Twitter: @DManLucia



You've made BYB the fastest growing Yankees fan site in history. Now shop at the Bleeding Yankee Blue store!  Follow me on Twitter @BleednYaneeBlu and LIKE Bleeding Yankee Blue on Facebook!  Also, don't forget to check out the BYB Hub!

YANKS SHOULD PIN BOVADA'S ODDS ON THE CLUBHOUSE WALL

You want motivation? Tell someone they "Can't".

Bovada came out with their odds and according to them... it don't look good for the Yanks.

NJ.com writes:

"The gambling website gives the Yankees a 22/1 chance at winning it all."

Here are the odds...

Los Angeles Dodgers 15/2
Washington Nationals 15/2
Detroit Tigers 10/1
Los Angeles Angels 10/1
San Francisco Giants 12/1
St. Louis Cardinals 12/1
Kansas City Royals 16/1
Seattle Mariners 18/1
Baltimore Orioles 20/1
Oakland Athletics 20/1
Pittsburgh Pirates 20/1
Atlanta Braves 22/1
Boston Red Sox 22/1
New York Yankees 22/1
Cleveland Indians 25/1
Cincinnati Reds 33/1
Tampa Bay Rays 33/1
Texas Rangers 33/1
Toronto Blue Jays 33/1
Chicago White Sox 40/1
Milwaukee Brewers 40/1
New York Mets 40/1
Chicago Cubs 50/1
Miami Marlins 50/1
San Diego Padres 66/1
Philadelphia Phillies 75/1
Arizona Diamondbacks 100/1
Colorado Rockies 100/1
Houston Astros 100/1
Minnesota Twins 100/1

Do you think Rocky listened to Mickey when he was worried about Rock fighting Clubber Lang and blurted out "You can't win Rock! This guy will kill ya to death!"


Rocky won... remember that.

Did being called small and insignificant on the field stop Rudy Ruettiger from playing for Notre Dame? Doubt never entered his mind.

(In Photo: Ty Hensley)
Obstacles never stopped Jim Abbott, Jorge Posada, and up and comer Ty Hensley... and it sure as hell never stopped Bleeding Yankee Blue. Here's one of my favorites:

@BleednYankeeBlu Your Opinions are stupid no thought put into them! Get real Please!
— joe bond (@joebones265) December 3, 2012

I hate odds, because odds mean nothing.  It's what's inside you, the individual, the team, that changes the playing field.

Just ask the Kansas City Royals who made it to the World Series. No one believed in them. But they did, and their fans did. I tip my cap.

If the Yankees were smart, they'd take those odds and hang them on the clubhouse wall.  Not to abuse themselves, but to motivate themselves.  The Yankees can be champions again... these Bovada odds mean nothing.

Go Yanks!

You've made BYB the fastest growing Yankees fan site in history. Now shop at the Bleeding Yankee Blue store!  Follow me on Twitter @BleednYankeeBlu and LIKE Bleeding Yankee Blue on Facebook! 

FEELING THE STING & COMING BACK STRONGER

2 years in a row, the Yankees have not made the playoffs.  2 years in a row iconic Yankees have retired. Yankees that had helped bring the club to the World Series 5 times.  It’s a damn shame, but that’s life and as Yankee fans, as spoiled as we may be, we are tougher fans because of it.  Don’t bow your head in shame. Stand tall.  Don’t start talking smack to your Dodgers fan friends and Orioles buddies.  The lesson is simple; their team won, ours did not.  If you’re a true baseball fan, you tip your cap to the better team and then we think about what’s next for ours.  It brings me back to the Bronx last Thursday night.

Derek Jeter stood there after his walk off and said to Meredith Marakovits, and I'm paraphrasing... "Congrats to the Orioles this year." Then there was alittle booing.  Then Jeter said, "They deserve it." They do.

We can discuss what went wrong in Yankeeland all we want.  The debate on firing everyone or no one and why our Yankee offense sucked isn’t going to solve a damn thing right now.  But now the seasons over, and now our team will regroup.  Here's the reality; Looking at our lineup on paper, we were ready to take on the world.  But that didn’t happen.

At the end of this season, did you think for a moment that guys like Chris Capuano and Brandon McCarthy would keep us going? I sure as hell did not.  I was wrong and I feel bad about that. When players believe, great things happen.  I’m thankful to those guys. Some things worked this season and some things didn’t.  But the worst thing we can do as fans is blast the competition because they beat us.  There wasn’t cheating or name calling… they just beat us. Get over it. We’re Yankee fans, we’re not children. We need to act like we expect our team to act.  Remember class and pride and tradition? Well, that means us too ladies and gentlemen.

A few weeks ago I stopped being mad.  It’s not my nature. My nature is to fight, stay angry and keep plugging away, and we’ve never stopped here at Bleeding Yankee Blue.

Glad everyone liked my Jeter By The Nos piece. But it wasn't aimed at @KeithOlbermann. Keith thinks Jeter mania is over the top. He's right!
— Jayson Stark (@jaysonst) September 24, 2014

But here’s the truth;  Despite the rest of America and New York writers like Jayson Stark claiming the Jeter Farewell Tour was too much, it happened anyway.

The best part of us being Yankee fans is, we get it.  The reporters, the commentators will never truly understand fandom like we do because we’ve seen Derek walk tall since day one and fell in love with his professionalism and character.  The reporters, the non-Yankee fans don’t see what we see.  That’s OK. We get it… they don’t.  The sports reporters need to report first.  That’s their job.  If they need to press buttons to sell papers and tell us all that Derek Jeter’s a hypocrite and Jeter is not the greatest ever… they know they’re gonna get to all of us.  But you need to ignore it, we really do. Why? Because the reality is… they have a job to do… we are the fans.  Hey, in some regards that’s why Bleeding Yankee Blue is here.  We ARE fans, and we give you the fans perspective and that’s why you read us.  The sports guys aren’t gonna do that.  Here’s the thing though. Once you understand their craft, ignore it.  Read them, comment, but know it’s a game… it’s a job for them. We are the fans… ultimately, we control it.

The Derek Jeter Farewell tour was amazing down the stretch, but there is no question, it could have been better if the Yankees made the playoffs and perhaps won the World Series.  But we didn’t. But look... no one died.  The reality is, as a team, we didn’t have what it took to make it.

It’s disappointing… it sucks. Again though… you power through and as a fan, you rise above it. I’m not 18 and in college anymore and I’m not gonna punch a hole in my Yankee poster on the door because they lost… Those days are over.  I’m still the same fan. I just lived alittle more all these years later.  We lost, and now we need to fix it. I guess that's my fatherly instinct... sue me.

Put it in perspective. Are you gonna tell your kid to run over to the opposing team’s pitcher and kick him in the shins after a bad loss? No. You line them up and they say, “Good game”, even if you don’t mean it. The reality is, “The best man wins” and we weren’t the best man. Hell, we may not even been second or third best… but we tried with what we had.. and we failed.

I’m gonna leave you with this; Failure makes you stronger.  I belief that losing and allowing that sting to happen once, maybe twice, makes an individual see the eye of the tiger.  No one wants that sting to happen again.  You get a fire in your belly.  You see the big picture.  You believe that you can overcome failure.  That’s a life lesson. That’s what makes an individual come back with more ferocity the next time.  That’s why I always fell in love with guys in sports history that never gave up…

Olympic Gold medalist Dan Jansen. Michael Jordan. Rudy Ruettiger. Yankee pitcher Jim Abbott.  Jorge Posada.  Yankee Prospect Ty Hensley.  And yes… Derek Jeter.  Believe, fight, win.

2014 wasn’t our year, but losers don’t pack up and go home. Losers dig deep to find that flame again.  The Yankees will be back ladies and gentlemen as a team and even though Derek Jeter won’t be there, it doesn’t mean we fold.  The tradition is there.  The character and leadership is there. We will be back and come Opening day, when the New York Yankees take the field… guess who else will be there… all of us.

We’re the New York Yankees…. We’re family. We’re winners and will will rise again. I know that… and I know you know that too.

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