The Switch

What's up with New York Yankees Fans?
Malach has noticed a steady change in the fan base of the New York Yankees over this past decade. There has been a switch . . . Gone are the self confident, we are gonna win it all fans, here are the paranoid, and downtrodden fans that have populated Red Sox nation pre 2004.

Was it the 2004 series, the Titanic Choke job to these same Red Sox that did it? Is it the lacks of winning the big one since the beginning of this century? Is it the two championship by their arch rivals who could never seem to get over the hump in the past? Is it the deteriorating health of George?

I don't know, but I can tell you that Yankees fans, are turning more and more into the Curse of the Bambino Red Sox fans. Not only the fan base, but the team.

There was one thing we always got used to as pre-2004 Sox fans. Every year you would field a team that could bash the Hell out of the ball, but couldn't pitch, especially when you got into the late innings. So, they would go through the season, beating up on lesser talent, trading games with the Yankees, but always be one play short. We had a shoddy farm system at best, and our bet young players ended up on other teams. We were willing to over pay former superstars at the end of their career in hopes they would catch fire one more time. We would overpay to keep our current players as they came to the end of their career. There were constantly philosophy battles between baseball operations, the team manager, and ownership, on the direction of the team, who should be playing, what moves should be made, etc . . .

Does that now perfectly describe the past approximately decade of Yankees teams?

As fans, we expected the worse, expected bad things to happen, felt cheated of glory, and would do stupid thinks like chant "Yankees Suck" when they didn't. We would get into fights over or dysfunctional team. We would have eternal hope every spring and say things like: "Maybe Saberhagen can regain his form from the prime of his career". We would spend hours lamenting and ranting about this team with co-workers, talk radio, and fan forums.

Does that now describe your typical Yankees fan?

Now we spend our time not worrying about this team, feeling that everything will be fine by the end of the season, and they will go on yet another playoff run.

I really think nothing indicates this more than the 2008 All Star Game. All the Sox Players were booed, which is to be expected, but intensely booed, more that usual. And the real kicker was the JD Drew home run, the stands exploded as he hit that game tying homer, until the mostly Yankees fans realized it was Drew that hit it, then he was roundly booed before even crossing second base. This is the type of paranoid behavior you got from Red Sox fans in the past. It is kind of sad . .

And besides, their just jealous of our rain delay!

I am Malach, Blame it on the Rain