Balkinization: Cheering for the Evil Empire

Cheering for the Evil Empire

Mark Graber

These are glorious days for true fans of the evil empire, sometimes known as the New York Yankees. The hated Red Sox, humilitated on Friday and Saturday, had their hearts broken on Sunday and Monday. ESPN, committed to discovering every imaginable statistic possible (are any of their research assistants interested in going my law school!), points out that the Yankees have not won five from the Sox in more than a half century and that this is the first time since 1923 that a first place team has swept a 5 game series from a second place team.

Vigorous support for the New York Yankees is not politically correct in many progressive circles. How, I am often told, can I cheer madly for a team that succeeds by outspending its opponents. Besides the owner donates to Republican causes and our sacred manager, Joe Torre, has a public friendship with Rudy Guiliani. One response is that better an owner who spends lots of money trying to win than an owner interested only in profit lines (the Yankees also make a nice profit), and that the star of the Red Sox, the politically correct team, publicly used the one success the Red Sox ever enjoyed to push the re-election of George Bush. The better response is that the United States is too polarized already and that choosing our sports teams (or matinee movie idols) on the basis of politics will further aggravate things. Sports has historically provided what Robert Putnam describes as bridging social capital, a means for bringing persons of different races, ethnicities, and politics together. My passion for the Yankees (NY Giants, Ny Knicks, NY Rangers) reflects an identification as a traditional New Yorker, even though I have not lived in New York for almost 30 years. Given the great difficulty many Americans and many self-identified traditional New Yorkers have talking with each other on such issues as abortion, the war in Iraq, and welfare, preserving a space where we can celebrate and mourn together seems valuable. Cross-cutting identities are good for democratic societies and sports are a major source of such identities.

So, fellow Yankee fans, whether you be democratic socialists, libertarians, militant supporters of the Iraqi war, committed Zionists, proponents of bans on abortions ofr gay marriage, let us rejoice together in the success of Derek Jeter and company, and remind Red Sox fans, be they advocates of complete withdrawal from Iraq or President Bush's wiretapping program, that they will again have reason to celebrate, though only in May, when the games do not really matter.

Posted 9:09 AM by Mark Graber [link]

Comments:

I would have hoped that Balkinization would have remained a demilitarized zone for this sort of thing. Since it hasn't....

You'd think that Yankee fans would have learned a just a little bit of circumspection, a little humility, a little reticence, a little respect for human frailty having watched their team teeter, fold and crash in the single most gargantuan, most appalling choke in the entire century-long history of major league baseball--a choke that makes the long history of Red Sox chokes, even taken together, pale by comparison. I refer, of course, to the 2004 League Championship Series, in which the Red Sox became the first and only team in 105 years to beat a team in the post-season that held a 3 games to none lead over it.

You would think that, however, only if you you knew nothing about Yankee fans. To those who have seen them up close, or preferably, from a distance, they are the most arrogant, puffed-up, swaggering, loudmouthed, ignorant pack of bullying jerks to be found bathing in the borrowed glory of others anywhere.

So this little strut is entirely to be expected.

Even if the pinstripes have dispatched the Sox for this year, which is by no means certain, their chances of getting past the Tigers, Twins and White Sox--much less of winning it all in the Series--are nil.

So enjoy the mania while you can. It won't last long.

# posted by

Don : 11:23 AM

Someday the Kansas City Royals will make a comeback, beat the Yankees *and* the Red Sox, and then we'll see who has the last laugh!

# posted by

JB : 11:38 AM

the one success the Red Sox ever enjoyed

The Red Sox, since you're interested in going back to 1923 for statistics, were the first great dynasty of major league baseball, winning five of the first fourteen World Series. So, not the "one" success--not by a long shot.

And by the way, that's one more than the Yankees have enjoyed the last half-decade, even as they have shoveled four-fifths of a billion dollars in payroll down the toilet.

# posted by

Don : 11:38 AM

Their new motto should be:

The New York Yankees: Produly spending four times as much as the Atlanta Braves did in the 1990's to achieve the same results since 2001. (a little wordy for a motto, but I still find it humorous)

I mean seriously, aren't they approaching 1 billion dollars in payroll for 0 championships over that span? Hooray outrageous economic inefficiency! The hallmark of any true champion!

But it's okay, as Yankees fans you don't have to put up with reasoned arguments about why your team is actually really pathetic, because anyone who points this out is blinded by their haterd of America... I mean the Yankees. So we don't need to listen to any arguments about the public good... I mean good of the game.

# posted by

Steven Maloney : 11:48 AM

"...they are the most arrogant, puffed-up, swaggering, loudmouthed, ignorant pack of bullying jerks..."

to my new found friend, gee, i would point out that the above description is used more often to describe me than my brother mark. i would further point out that unlike mark, i am a mets fan. finally, just so you know just how screwed up both mark and i are, our mother is originally from boston (via providence), and is a red sox fan. there you have it. our shame is public...

# posted by

phg : 12:38 PM

unlike mark, i am a mets fan.

Now, Mets fans--them, I don't mind.

:)

# posted by

Don : 1:36 PM

i vote that we move on, but only after fully and exhaustively analysing what is wrong with cubs fans...

# posted by

phg : 4:50 PM

What's one choke? Versus years of futility. I love the Yankees. May they win it all!

# posted by

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# posted by

Unknown : 5:39 PM