Michael Kay ranting about 'hate-watching' Yankees fans after first loss is wild

The New York Yankees haven't given their fans much to get upset about so far this season. Their starting rotation has absolutely dominated, rendering obsolete the issue that only half of the lineup is hitting, and the club is 5-1.

Only in New York's lone loss (the first game of a series against the Seattle Mariners) did the Yankees' weak spot rear its head in the form of a bullpen breakdown, with manager Aaron Boone's decision-making possibly contributing to the unfavorable outcome.

Through six games, the Yankees were 5-1 and looking every bit like a contender, but some fans still wanted to rip into Boone and the team, which is something that really got on Michael Kay's nerves.

The longtime Yankees broadcaster tore into Yankee fan "vultures" (his word) from his hotel room in Seattle, pointing to the ludicrousness of fans turning on Boone for the bullpen misstep, despite the Yankees (and their bullpen) being pretty much perfect through the first three games and eight innings of the regular season.

Michael Kay momentarily forgot that engaging with Yankees trolls is a losing battle

Kay accused fans of "hate-watching" the Yankees and espoused a theory that there is a segment of the Yankee fan base that genuinely prefers to see the team lose so that it can scapegoat Boone and Brian Cashman.

As part of this theory, Kay also suggested that a World Series win for these Yankees would be a bad outcome for the hate-watchers, as it would give them no ammo for criticism. "(But) as long as they don't win (it all), you're right," Kay dryly surmised, speaking to the accused party directly.

Kay's suggestion here is sure to receive plenty of pushback, as he's basically saying that certain fans would rather feel validated about their hateful criticisms than see the Yankees win a championship. He also made a related claim during the rant that the Yankees "always have a really good bullpen," which is objectively inaccurate.

Kay's overall take was decent, though. Fans who hate-watch do stink. At the same time, this whole conversation from Kay kind of felt like a man descending into the Manhattan sewer and complaining that the water is dirty there.

As Kay described his experience of engaging with Twitter trolls this week — of both Mets and Yankees fan affiliations — it became clear that Kay is still wrestling with the upsetting reality that many of these fans don't have any desire for rational discourse. It's an undeniably fine line that Kay must straddle, as his profession begs he engage constantly with fans and listen to their opinions earnestly. This isn't some weird obsession from Kay; it's part of his job. Ignoring his audience or placing himself in some unattainable tier above his listeners would be a mistake.

Still, though, why are we giving a larger platform to this small percentage of unruly individuals that nobody wants to associate with anyway?

Unfortunately, Kay just got caught in a hurricane crapstorm of online trolls this time around. We've all been there. It's one of those weird things that keeps drawing you back in, even when you consciously know to walk (or even run) in the opposite direction. It's wild to see a voice as prominent as Kay's falling prey to the same trap we all fall into, but it actually makes him more relatable here.