Will the Real Yankee Fans Please Stand Up?!

Its a cold and dreary Friday morning and yes, we're dejected. One nightmare and two heartbreakers later, we're 0-8 to Red Laundry. It's not pretty. Thrilled we are not. But, when the anger and styrofoam cups of beer wear off, we're also realistic. Beating the Sox is more about personal pleasure and redemption at this point than anything else. It's about proving a point. It's about backing up fiery rhetoric in 46 message e-mail chains. We're two games out of first with 102 games left. Not exactly a shoddy position to be in come mid-June. At the end of the day, we know all that matters is our respective records and who wins come the leaves of October. It might be mental with the Sox. It might be the way our line-ups match up. It might be that we've played six games in Boston and only two in New York. It could be Youkilis's little at bat dance (timed to music, its pretty amusing). Maybe its the rain falling mainly on A-Rod's plain. Hell, we do not know. With most of the eight games close, we know its within our grasp. We know we're better than what we've presented on Fenway field this week. And, as much as we want to plead with the MLB to switch our August games with games, starting say tomorrow, we know thats not how this operation works. We have to regroup and focus on winning the rest of our series's in June and July. We've got to live with the trash talk from the greater MA area until we get another shot in August. Even then, we'll have to swallow the fact that we dropped eight straight games to them and that this hasn't happened in 100 years, blah blah blah. That stuff does not matter if we show up playoff ready. Instead of ranting and raving about the Sox, we're going to take issue with an animal of a different color (because frankly red is making us sick at this point).

We want to talk about Yankee fans in NYC. Rather, fans in general in this city of ours. We watched two out of three games in bar situations. The facts are these: a lot of our present company were Sox fans. The NBA Finals were on both nights and the Stanley Cup one. We understand that we chose who we came with and that attention at bars is divided. Those other games are in the post-season. Finding Yankee fans, however, for one of the greatest rivalries in sports was like searching for a tiny unicorn. Crickets. Where are you people? A 102 fever couldn't keep us from one of the games and we had to look behind corners and barstools to find someone NOT wearing pink Sox gear or I-banker getup in Hell's Kitchen. A group of Mets fans cheered against us even though we were rooting for them against the Phillies. When we clapped for getting a Yank on base (yes it was the little things in Tuesday nights game that mattered), a guy actually informed us we were down 7 runs. Yes, we know. We've been here all night. Sorry, we didn't know that meant we were supposed to become mute. Now is when they need us more than ever. Fair weather we are not. Then, theres the people who aren't even Sox fans. No, they just hate the Yankees so they choose to root for you to fail. We get the Yankee hatred. We weren't born yesterday. We even get why. Personal reasons are personal reasons. It's still not classy to only root for a team to fail when you don't care for the other team playing. Do we want the Red Sox to win all their other games? Not exactly, but we don't travel up to Copley Square and get in fans faces when they are playing the Twins. To all the random haters: We actually do care. Our emotions are riding on the team bus so the fact that you get enjoyment out of our misery is worse than all the things you probably hate the Yankees for. The real Yankee fans in NYC need to get off their oversized couches and show a little team spirit. Regardless if we can't win a game against the Sox all season (which we will), they need to GET UP. THIS IS YOUR TEAM PEOPLE. To the Mets fans that are rooting against us, please stop. Its not helping anyone. When we play each other fine, go nuts. Otherwise, remember: the Yankees have a New York infront of it for a reason. Let's enjoy a small slice of comradery. And to the people that get in our face when we're not even playing you, our guess is that your own team could probably use all that energy you spend being hateful.

So, we're gonna end this on a positive note because we too sometimes get a little too carried away. It sucks boys. We know you wanted this. We did too. Bad. Last night, really really bad. But, its the nature of the beast. You have incredible fight in you. We have lots of heart. Now let's go get first back.