First Things First

Upon undertaking this responsibility of blogging about, arguably, the greatest sports franchise in the world, I knew that there would be some things I needed to write about first and get out of the way.  So with that said, let’s talk about the three biggest perceptions surrounding the New York Yankees nowadays, shall we?

1) The Yankees “buy” their World Series

Well, if we went the literal route, so does every other team.  However, I understand the insinuation here, so I’ll simply say that the Yankees are playing within the rules, they pay the rest of the league a lot of money in shared revenue, a lot of small market teams don’t always put the shared revenue money back into their product, the Yankees haven’t used the best judgment in whom they pay tons of money (Carl Pavano anyone?) and most importantly, the Yankees have not won a World Series in nine years.  Yes, feel free to laugh, point, and curse the organization that is the Yankees.  However, you’ll rue the day! (Shakes fist)

2) Alex Rodriguez is a steroid user and cheater

Okay, fine, you’re right.  There is no way for myself or A-Rod to deny he took steroids because we’d just get our stories all mixed up and I might blame my cousin’s brother-in-law’s college roommate for whipping out a needle and injecting that juice into … wait, that’s not a good visual.  In any case, yes, Rodriguez took steroids.  However, how many other users were (are) there?  He couldn’t have been the only player taking steroids.  In fact, in that infamous 2003 MLB survey on steroids, there were 103 other players on a list of positive testers along with Rodriguez and, technically, there were no penalties for a positive result back then.  Not that A-Rod’s admission doesn’t tarnish his legacy the way Barry Bond’s purported use (knowingly or not) has tarnished his.  Yes, Yankees fans can accept this because in most of our eyes, Rodriguez hasn’t earned his stripes yet, and even if he does, he’ll still never be Derek Jeter.

3) The Yankees are arrogant and it all starts with ownership

Arrogant?  I wouldn’t say the players are arrogant at all.  I think there is a certain confidence when a person puts on that Yankees uniform and steps on the field, but I wouldn’t say it’s arrogance.  However, there’s no denying the pinstripe pedigree as the proof is in the 26 World Series championships they own.  However, I can agree with people saying that the Steinbrenners are arrogant, which I don’t see as a negative thing.  I always thought of George Steinbrenner as sincerely always wanting to win, which is why he meddled so much with personnel, and disparaged anyone that went against him or his team.  However, you had to respect George for his strong desire to succeed and win.  His son Hank Steinbrenner, however, I sometimes feel his arrogance is a show.  I mean, he’s been so outlandish in some of his comments, he has to be kidding, right?  Okay, nevermind, Hank is heightened arrogance at its best.  In conclusion, the arrogance is there and it starts at the top, however, I’d like to think there isn’t much of a trickle-down effect within the organization. However, Yankees fans are a whole other story and you know who you are. Hahaha.

Okay, I think I’ve hit the main points of contention about the Yankees, but if not, I’d be happy to talk about it some more, so leave your comments below and let me know if I missed anything.  And, just for the record, I love the Yankees, but don’t blindly love them, so I’ll have no problem calling them out on such and such or this and that.  It’s all about keeping the ball between the poles and being fair.