I think most of you know that I have been a Yankees fan my whole life. Babe Ruth was my hero when I was a kid. I memorized statistics of all the best players from the Yankees history: Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Mantle, Berra, Maris, Mattingly etc. Mickey Mantle was always my Dad’s favorite player since he grew up in New York City in the 50′s. Needless to say, Yankees talk was common in my house, except around my brother, who decided for who knows what reason that he was a fan of the Red Sox, and remains so to this day. I respect him, I just don’t understand it. Sure we lived in New England for seven years, but we lived in New York first.
Point of the story: I’m very happy and excited that the Yankees won the World Series. It’s great to have the team you cheer for win. This is why I watch and enjoy sports. This year’s Yankees finally displayed the determination and the consistency to end the regular season with the best record, and carry that success into the playoffs enough to win it all. Sure, say all you want about how they committed $420+ million in last year’s offseason alone, which doesn’t even include the $300+ million contract that A-Rod has, but the Yankees also employ 4 of their best players (Jeter, Posada, Pettitte, Rivera) who started their careers as Yankees, and have stayed with the team the whole way (minus a blip for Pettitte, before remembering his true calling). It’s been a pleasure for me to cheer for those guys the last 14 years.
That being said, I can enjoy today and look forward to the next time one of my teams wins it all.