Sunday, September 24, 2006

If You're Looking For A Reason To Root Against The Yankees...

First things first - there's no doubt in my mind that baseball's postseason is always enhanced by having the Yankees around. There's nothing quite like the atmosphere in Yankee Stadium in October, and there's nothing like a Yankees crowd that's really into the game - as they always seem to be in October.

Having said that, the canonization of the Yankee mystique gets a little old after a while, and it's already begun this year with this week's cover story in Sports Illustrated, "A-Rod Agonistes." Lots of talk about slumps, dark abysses, having to prove oneself in pinstripes, etc. Ho-hum...does anyone really care? Would this be newsworthy, let alone a cover story in SI, if it were any other team? Of course not. I can think of, oh about 30 other teams that wouldn't mind having the troubled and slumping A-Rod on their team team right now.

It's particularly amusing to see Jason Giambi say things like, "Alex doesn't know who he is. We're going to find out who he is in the next couple of months." Anyone remember how many World Series titles Jason has led the Bombers to? Oh yeah, that's right - none. Just like A-Rod. I get it that everything is magnified in New York and that the expectations are higher than everywhere else, but man I sure hope any team but the Yankees represents the American League in this year's World Series. Even the best soap operas get old after a while.

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