Fan Divorces Yankees

[UNHWildCats]

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/27/sports/baseball/27cheer.html?_r=5&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=login

[Ivytalk]

I read that on Sunday. Go, D-Rays! They're a more exciting club than the Yanks these days, anyway.

[Khan4Cats]

Hope they're not trying to claim the house, it will be a pile of rubble in a few years.

[813Jag]

I read that on Sunday. Go, D-Rays! They're a more exciting club than the Yanks these days, anyway.
Yes they are, especially if they keep Elijah Dukes on the roster. Who knows what he'll do next. xlolx xlolx

[Marcus Garvey]

Watching Yankees fan seeth when their team is in a close race, as apposed to running away with the division, is always fun. But watching them suffer the mental anguish of a season like this makes me as happy as a pig in *****.

I wish I was back east so I could run into more guys bitching about this season (their first lousy one in like 15 years too) as if they got a vasectomy with no anesthesia. If the bitcher has a Noo Yawk accent, it's even more enjoyable!
xthumbsupx

[UNHWildCats]

Watching Yankees fan seeth when their team is in a close race, as apposed to running away with the division, is always fun. But watching them suffer the mental anguish of a season like this makes me as happy as a pig in *****.

I wish I was back east so I could run into more guys bitching about this season (their first lousy one in like 15 years too) as if they got a vasectomy with no anesthesia. If the bitcher has a Noo Yawk accent, it's even more enjoyable!
xthumbsupx


Ya its almost becomming dangerous wearing any of my Red Sox stuff on these NY streets.

Been here 2 years no problems, mostly fun poking by them saying stuff like once every 86 years....

Now however there getting more and more verbally agressive... Someone even told me to get the hell outta NY and go to Boston where I belong. xlolx xlolx xlolx xlolx

[Mr. C]

What a bunch of crybabies for fans. True fans stick with their teams through thick and thin.

[UNHWildCats]

What a bunch of crybabies for fans. True fans stick with their teams through thick and thin.

Yup!

Red Sox 1992-1993: Man them were some tough seasons. But alas still here in Red Sox Nation.

Patriots ????-1995: 1995 was when the team began its turnaround, and some of those early 90's teams were tough to watch.... I remember one year I stayed home on from trick-or-treating (we did it on the sunday before from 1-4pm where I grew up) to watch them play, and there was no real expectation of them even being competitive for the game, what a way to spend a childhood.

Celtics Post Reggie Lewis days: It's been tough, but im still confident that the team will make a huge turn next season even without Oden or Durant.

[bobcatfan06]

What a bunch of crybabies for fans. True fans stick with their teams through thick and thin.

I just wish I could have some thick times for my team.xbawlingx

[aggie6thman]

My sister's boyfriend is a huge Yankees fan so it makes me happy to see that they are doing so poorly. Especially since I hate that SOB. xnodx

[aggie6thman]

Yup!

Red Sox 1992-1993: Man them were some tough seasons. But alas still here in Red Sox Nation.

Patriots ????-1995: 1995 was when the team began its turnaround, and some of those early 90's teams were tough to watch.... I remember one year I stayed home on from trick-or-treating (we did it on the sunday before from 1-4pm where I grew up) to watch them play, and there was no real expectation of them even being competitive for the game, what a way to spend a childhood.

Celtics Post Reggie Lewis days: It's been tough, but im still confident that the team will make a huge turn next season even without Oden or Durant.

Wouldn't you consider everything between the two most recent World Series titles to be the hardest times for Red Sox fans? Seems like it would be a lot worse then just one season.

[UNHWildCats]

Wouldn't you consider everything between the two most recent World Series titles to be the hardest times for Red Sox fans? Seems like it would be a lot worse then just one season.


we're used to not winning it all. Its hard but the worst is when u totally suck. I mean in 1992 the leader in HRs on the team had 15 for the whole season.........

[NDSUFREAK]

My sister's boyfriend is a huge Yankees fan so it makes me happy to see that they are doing so poorly. Especially since I hate that SOB. xnodx

xlolx xlolx

[NDSUFREAK]

UNH, would you call yanks fans bandwagon fans?

[HiHiYikas]

The saddest part about life in the AL East these past few seasons, as evinced by the profusion of 'last-place-Yankees' type threads, is that staggering numbers of Yankees and Red Sox fans have virtually replaced love for their respective home teams with hatred for their rival teams. Lately, there are no Red Sox fans in Boston and no Yankees fans in New York. There are only Yankee haters in Boston and Red-Sox haters in New York. There are even hats with a 'Yankee Hater' logo out there. It's a fairly pathetic kind of parasitism when a fanbase becomes almost exclusively defined by hatred for another team.

Part of me wants to say "hey, isn't there enough hatred in the world already?" On the other hand, I sometimes think that, if baseball lets you express your innate hatred, maybe you won't resort to more destructive expressions of hatred.

[JoltinJoe]

I don't get this fan. One bad season and she's gone. Isn't that a textbook example of a band-wagon fan?

I'm a guy who started rooting for the Yankees when Horace Clarke roamed second base;

when a guy named Jerry Kenny "beat out" Bobby Cox and Dick Howser for the honor of making errors on the Yankees' behalf at third base;

when the first guy out of the bullpen was Joe Verbanic;

when the best pitch for a Yankee pitcher was Steve Hamilton's "folly floater";

when Fritz Peterson traded families with Mike Kekich (hey, it was the era of "free love");

when Yogi and Whitey were gone and all that linked the Yankees to their recent -- but to me unknown -- run of success was an aging Mickey Mantle:

Every team, even the Yankees, has its down years. What has happened in New York since 1995 is magical. But is not a divine right.

Let's hope management rights the ship; gets rid of the pampered high stat, low intangible players; and finds some guys like Paul O'Neill, Scott Brosius, and Tino Martinez who'd rather win the World Series than make the All-Star team.

[Col Hogan]

Last weekend, my daughter and her fiance graduated from William and Mary, and both families decided to have a joint celebration after the ceremony. Well, Tim's family is from New Jersey and loyal Yankees fans. In walks my family, my daughter with her Red Sox hat...the rest of us in various Red Sox regalia...

Thank goodness Tim is an O's fan, so he expects to lose and he's adjusted being around me...

HiHi, I don't hate Yankees fans like I hate, say a terrorist. And there's been a Yankeessuck web site for years...that's how we feel about the Bummers...

There is much joy in seeing them wither in pain over this years horrible performance...but no hate...

[Ivytalk]

I don't get this fan. One bad season and she's gone. Isn't that a textbook example of a band-wagon fan?

I'm a guy who started rooting for the Yankees when Horace Clarke roamed second base;

when a guy named Jerry Kenny "beat out" Bobby Cox and Dick Howser for the honor of making errors on the Yankees' behalf at third base;

when the first guy out of the bullpen was Joe Verbanic;

when the best pitch for a Yankee pitcher was Steve Hamilton's "folly floater";

when Fritz Peterson traded families with Mike Kekich (hey, it was the era of "free love");

when Yogi and Whitey were gone and all that linked the Yankees to their recent -- but to me unknown -- run of success was an aging Mickey Mantle:

Every team, even the Yankees, has its down years. What has happened in New York since 1995 is magical. But is not a divine right.

Let's hope management rights the ship; gets rid of the pampered high stat, low intangible players; and finds some guys like Paul O'Neill, Scott Brosius, and Tino Martinez who'd rather win the World Series than make the All-Star team.

Wow! Someone who remembers Horace Clarke and Jerry Kenney! And don't forget the immortal Jake Gibbs behind the plate. Roy White, who was a solid outfielder back then, played on some bad teams.xreadx

[Cleets]

What has happened in New York since 1995 is magical. But is not a divine right.

well...
I might use a different word than "magical"



(Payroll) might be the one word I would use...

[UNHWildCats]

I dont hate Yankees fans either, I just hate the Yankees :p

[JoltinJoe]

well...
I might use a different word than "magical"



(Payroll) might be the one word I would use...

Not really so. The 1996 World Champions had a payroll of about $60 million. But in order to keep the core of that team together, the Yankees had to extend the payroll in subsequent years.

The way in which the Yankees' payroll dramatically escalated, however, is in that as key members of that core got older, the Yankees went out and "upgraded" by paying a lot of money to players with gaudier stats -- but without the same heart.

The Yankees upgraded by getting Sheffield to replace O'Neill and paid him much more than O'Neill ever made. But I'd take O'Neill any day. Same thing with Giambi replacing Tino. Give me Tino any day.

[Mountaineer]

well...
I might use a different word than "magical"



(Payroll) might be the one word I would use...

xlolx xlolx

I think I just sent you into 6-lighted-box-land. xthumbsupx

[JoltinJoe]

Wow! Someone who remembers Horace Clarke and Jerry Kenney! And don't forget the immortal Jake Gibbs behind the plate. Roy White, who was a solid outfielder back then, played on some bad teams.xreadx

I'll tell you a funny story about 1968 -- when I was six. I was watching Yankee games that season and it seemed that for a long, long time the Yankee announcers would say every time Horace Clarke -- the leadoff batter, no less -- came to the plate that "Horace is still looking for his first extra base hit of the year."

I was six. I had no idea what "extra base hit" meant.

Some years later, I was thinking about this and I thought I must have been hearing the announcers wrong. I mean, come on, this was the leadoff hitter! So I checked Clarke's stats for 1968 and was shocked by what I saw.

Due the magic of the internet, I can now simply link to what I found (nine extra base hits in nearly 600 at bats!). Also, he walked only 23 times (he was the leadoff hitter, remember?). Apparently, his first extra base hit in 1968 came in June!

Horace Clarke Statistics (http://www.baseball-reference.com/c/clarkho01.shtml)

[UNHWildCats]

thats sad

[Marcus Garvey]

My personal favorite "bandwagon" Yankees fans are those whom I term "Skankees." (I didn't invent the term however). Those are the chicks who wear the tight pink Yankees T-Shirt with either A-Rod or Jeter's name and number on the back. They really don't understand baseball other than the fact that the team with the most runs at the end of the game wins, and they enjoy watching athletes in tight pants.

[JoltinJoe]

thats sad


At least we can be sure he wasn't juicing. xlolx

[Ivytalk]

At least we can be sure he wasn't juicing. xlolx


xlmaox xlmaox xlmaox

Gotta spread reps around before I can give 'em to Joe again...xbawlingx

[Reed Rothchild]

I don't get this fan. One bad season and she's gone. Isn't that a textbook example of a band-wagon fan?

I'm a guy who started rooting for the Yankees when Horace Clarke roamed second base;

when a guy named Jerry Kenny "beat out" Bobby Cox and Dick Howser for the honor of making errors on the Yankees' behalf at third base;

when the first guy out of the bullpen was Joe Verbanic;

when the best pitch for a Yankee pitcher was Steve Hamilton's "folly floater";

when Fritz Peterson traded families with Mike Kekich (hey, it was the era of "free love");

when Yogi and Whitey were gone and all that linked the Yankees to their recent -- but to me unknown -- run of success was an aging Mickey Mantle:

Every team, even the Yankees, has its down years. What has happened in New York since 1995 is magical. But is not a divine right.

Let's hope management rights the ship; gets rid of the pampered high stat, low intangible players; and finds some guys like Paul O'Neill, Scott Brosius, and Tino Martinez who'd rather win the World Series than make the All-Star team.

I'm a little younger but I remember the days when the hopes of the franchise rested on guys like Brian Taylor, Hensley Muelens, Steve Balboni, Danny Tartabul, Kevin Maas. UGH! Those were the days. I still remember my dad telling me that the New York Yankees are the worst team in baseball.

[813Jag]

I'm a little younger but I remember the days when the hopes of the franchise rested on guys like Brian Taylor, Hensley Muelens, Steve Balboni, Danny Tartabul, Kevin Maas. UGH! Those were the days. I still remember my dad telling me that the New York Yankees are the worst team in baseball.
I remember those days too. I was suffering watching Darryl Strawberry strike out with the Dodgers.

[AZGrizFan]

My personal favorite "bandwagon" Yankees fans are those whom I term "Skankees." (I didn't invent the term however). Those are the chicks who wear the tight pink Yankees T-Shirt with either A-Rod or Jeter's name and number on the back. They really don't understand baseball other than the fact that the team with the most runs at the end of the game wins, and they enjoy watching athletes in tight pants.

Precisely why I like watching Women's Pro Beach Volleyball.... :o :o :o :o :o

[TheValleyRaider]

Unlike Joe and Reed, my Yankee fandom came during the early to mid 1990s, right as they started their upward trend. The only time I remember not seeing them in the postseason was 1994 :D.

During this same stretch, however, I've also had the (mis)fortune of being an Islanders fan. The first year I followed them, 1994, they got swept out of the First Round by the Rangers. 8 years later, my Junior year of High School, they finally made it back. It's been 13 seasons now, and I still have yet to see them win a playoff series. In between, they finished rock bottom in the NHL several times, traded away about half the League's current players, and finished behind each of the 4 most recent expansion teams at least once in the standings. I believe this season was the first time they ever beat the venerable Columbus Blue Jackets (est. 2001). I've seen Mad Mike, John Spano, nearly leaving the Island, Fishsticks, the 40 Days of Neil Smith, 10 yrs for Alexei Yashin, and now 15 for DiPietro (although he might be worth it). As a Yankees fan, I call the Islanders my Karma.

So, if the Yanks should falter this season, I'll still be there. Because, you know, it could be worse...

"Always look on the bright side of life" xwhistlex

[Reed Rothchild]

Not to mention that I had my heart crushed when Griffey rounded the bases and they lost to the Mariners in the playoffs. Thought Mattingly was going to win his first series but it didn't happen thanks to Buck Showalter.

[Cleets]

Not really so. The 1996 World Champions had a payroll of about $60 million. But in order to keep the core of that team together, the Yankees had to extend the payroll in subsequent years.

The way in which the Yankees' payroll dramatically escalated, however, is in that as key members of that core got older, the Yankees went out and "upgraded" by paying a lot of money to players with gaudier stats -- but without the same heart.

The Yankees upgraded by getting Sheffield to replace O'Neill and paid him much more than O'Neill ever made. But I'd take O'Neill any day. Same thing with Giambi replacing Tino. Give me Tino any day.

Yes,
I remember when the Yankees out bid the Seattle Mariners (who were trying to keep Tino)
That same Seattle Team lost Jeff Nelson and Tino Martinez and Louis Sojo ...

xoopsx

[JoltinJoe]

Yes,
I remember when the Yankees out bid the Seattle Mariners (who were trying to keep Tino)
That same Seattle Team lost Jeff Nelson and Tino Martinez and Louis Sojo ...

xoopsx

Tino Martinez was not signed as a free agent. Martinez was acquired prior to the 1996 season in a trade along with Jeff Nelson and Jim Mercir for two of baseball's best prospects at the time, 3B Russ Davis and LHP Sterling Hitchcock. So the xoopsx is on you.

The prevailing opinion at the time of the trade was that the Yankees had squandered their two best prospects out of desperation to replace the retired Don Mattingly, and that they could have obtained these players by substituting another prospect along with either Davis or Hitchcock.

BTW, the Yankee payroll in 1996 was $53 million and the 1998 team (the best team in our lifetime) was $64 million (lower than the Orioles).

In 1996, Tino Martinez made $2.3 million.

[Khan4Cats]

I'm a little younger but I remember the days when the hopes of the franchise rested on guys like Brian Taylor, Hensley Muelens, Steve Balboni, Danny Tartabul, Kevin Maas. UGH! Those were the days. I still remember my dad telling me that the New York Yankees are the worst team in baseball.

BAM-BAM!!xthumbsupx

Tartabull had a few good years.

Hard to relate, I'm a lifelong A's fan. Actually started following them in 1979, when they lost 100+ games. Lot of up and down years with Oakland. Love the steady style of Beane putting out a competitive team recently and its more sustainable, but still based on a premise of drafting and developing homegrown talent and then filling in with veterans (some are chances, some re-treads, some just solid role-players).

Liked the way the Yankees built up in the mid-90's with mainly homegrown (Bernie, Jeter, Rivera). Will be interesting to see if the Boss panics and forces a trade-off of youngsters or jettisons the top-heavy $$ and plays the kids for a year or two of re-building.

[Khan4Cats]

Tino Martinez was not signed as a free agent. Martinez was acquired prior to the 1996 season in a trade along with Jeff Nelson and Jim Mercir for top of baseball's best prospects at the time, 3B Russ Davis and LHP Sterling Hitchcock. So the xoopsx is on you.

BTW, the Yankee payroll in 1996 was $53 million and the 1998 team (the best team in our lifetime) was $64 million (lower than the Orioles)

There is probably the worst example of an owner spending money solely to spend money and accomplishing nothing. More money wasted in Baltimore than anywhere in baseball. And that's coming from someone who has to listen to the Cubs talk about "this year" every year.

[Col Hogan]

BTW, the Yankee payroll in 1996 was $53 million and the 1998 team (the best team in our lifetime) was $64 million (lower than the Orioles).


There is probably the worst example of an owner spending money solely to spend money and accomplishing nothing. More money wasted in Baltimore than anywhere in baseball. And that's coming from someone who has to listen to the Cubs talk about "this year" every year.

Peter Angelos = Worst owner in Baseball in the 90's

Single-handedly ruined one of the better teams in baseball (IMHO), and in a city that really supported its O's...

[bandl]

Peter Angelos = Worst owner in Baseball in the 90's

Single-handedly ruined one of the better teams in baseball (IMHO), and in a city that really supported its O's...

So true. Not only were they a pretty decent team, they were a very well run franchise. Sold out game after game, season after season. A gorgeous ballpark (the blueprint for many ballparks built afterwards). The fan's passion for the O's was amazing. CAL RIPKEN. The O's had everything going for them. It was a great time to be an O's fan. *****ing Angelos. xmadx

[Cleets]

Tino Martinez was not signed as a free agent. Martinez was acquired prior to the 1996 season in a trade along with Jeff Nelson and Jim Mercir for two of baseball's best prospects at the time, 3B Russ Davis and LHP Sterling Hitchcock. So the xoopsx is on you.

The prevailing opinion at the time of the trade was that the Yankees had squandered their two best prospects out of desperation to replace the retired Don Mattingly, and that they could have obtained these players by substituting another prospect along with either Davis or Hitchcock.

BTW, the Yankee payroll in 1996 was $53 million and the 1998 team (the best team in our lifetime) was $64 million (lower than the Orioles).

In 1996, Tino Martinez made $2.3 million.

You might be right on this one... (You're right a lot i've noticed)
I just called my brother in Seattle and he roughly confirms your trade data

He explained that the bidding war for Tino came after his 3 yr deal with the Yanks and they re-signed him... as well as Nelson but Nelson (according to my brother) got a 2 yr deal after his original 3 yr deal...

[Ivytalk]

So true. Not only were they a pretty decent team, they were a very well run franchise. Sold out game after game, season after season. A gorgeous ballpark (the blueprint for many ballparks built afterwards). The fan's passion for the O's was amazing. CAL RIPKEN. The O's had everything going for them. It was a great time to be an O's fan. *****ing Angelos. xmadx

Well put. He ruined the team faster than you can spell A-L-B-E-R-T-B-E-L-L-E.

[JoltinJoe]

You might be right on this one... (You're right a lot i've noticed)

Try explaining that to my wife!!!xlolx

[Pard4Life]

To the lady in the article: shut the heck up and stop your belly-achin!

One lousy season (and a quarter one at that!!) and you B__h?? Get real!! Yankees have had a winning record each year since 1994!! Playoffs since 1996!! It has to end sometime!! No other team has had that streaK!! (except the Braves.. but only one title). 75% of the season is left!!

What would you be if you were a Cubs fan? Suicidal?? Get real... enjoy the game.. the Cubs fans at least take it in stride.. they love baseball and go no matter what. When the Cubs stink, Wrigley is packed.

[Pard4Life]

I read that on Sunday. Go, D-Rays! They're a more exciting club than the Yanks these days, anyway.

I agree, Pard Joe Maddon is at the helm... if the D'Rays had better middle relief and a starter or two, they would be really dangerous.