I’d like to thank Mighty Mike and Gutsy G in advance for making me a contributor to this site. I realize that I’m extremely opinionated and I do a lot of shouting on this forum in a manner similar to the people I criticize. It’s a double-standard I suppose. Anyway, I’m saying this because I feel a mini-diatribe coming this morning…
Last night a friend named Jake pointed me to a competing sports blog where I read an amusingly benign article in conjunction with the blogger’s ranting commentary (the article is True Yankees and the ranting commentary is at the top of the page at http://www.firejoemorgan.blogspot.com/). A lot of the stuff written in the “True Yankees” article is crap but, when one considers the source, comedian Jay Mohr, it doesn’t warrant too much thought. Mohr’s qualifications as a national sports commentator are about equal to George W. Bush’s qualifications for his current position. I digress. The reason I bring it up is because of the venomous tone of the competing sports blogger’s commentary.
I’ve never quite understood why Yankee Haters get so mad that Yankee fans call some of their favorite All-Time Yankees “True Yankees.” Doesn’t just about every team have a set of “True ____” that represent the ideals and characteristics of the city and the team they play for? Sure, there might not be a large list of “True Devil Rays” or “True Marlins” since those teams are either too crappy or too new to have made a lasting connection with their fan base but I just don’t see what the hubbub would be if there were such a phenomenon. The writer makes a big deal of pointing out unsuccessful or unheralded players who have played in New York (Irabu, Groom, and Small) but he misses the point. The point isn’t that all those players wore Pinstripes (thus making them Yankees) it’s that certain of the Yankees transcend the uniform because they had heroic performances in high profile situations for the team.
No Yankee fan is making a case for Scott Brosius, Paul O’Neill or Joe Girardi to make it to Cooperstown, but we’re entitled to call our favorite players whatever we want to. If the national media picks up on that, so be it. Whether the writer or any other Yankee Hater likes it or not, it’s an undeniable fact that the New York Yankees are the most successful franchise in sports history and their name is synonymous with winning and excellence (as the YES Network likes to say). It’s natural that the best players from those good teams would evoke the moniker “True Yankees” because that’s what the brand is all about. Of course, the Yanks have had some crappy teams (1903-1919, 1965-1975, 1988-1992) and, consequently, there aren’t too many players from those eras worth giving the “True Yankee” label to.
At the end of the day, fans can do what they want. No one begrudges Red Sox fans for having a slavish devotion to Manny Ramirez, even if he did openly quit on the team last week. If fans think of Manny as a “True Red Sox” guy, that’s their right and it isn’t the place of any person to question it. So, having said that, I’ll take my Paulie, my Scottie, my Tino, my Donnie Baseball, my Joey G., my Andy P. and the rest of the True Yankees and I’ll tell that competing sports blogger to shut the f*ck up.
Last night a friend named Jake pointed me to a competing sports blog where I read an amusingly benign article in conjunction with the blogger’s ranting commentary (the article is True Yankees and the ranting commentary is at the top of the page at http://www.firejoemorgan.blogspot.com/). A lot of the stuff written in the “True Yankees” article is crap but, when one considers the source, comedian Jay Mohr, it doesn’t warrant too much thought. Mohr’s qualifications as a national sports commentator are about equal to George W. Bush’s qualifications for his current position. I digress. The reason I bring it up is because of the venomous tone of the competing sports blogger’s commentary.
I’ve never quite understood why Yankee Haters get so mad that Yankee fans call some of their favorite All-Time Yankees “True Yankees.” Doesn’t just about every team have a set of “True ____” that represent the ideals and characteristics of the city and the team they play for? Sure, there might not be a large list of “True Devil Rays” or “True Marlins” since those teams are either too crappy or too new to have made a lasting connection with their fan base but I just don’t see what the hubbub would be if there were such a phenomenon. The writer makes a big deal of pointing out unsuccessful or unheralded players who have played in New York (Irabu, Groom, and Small) but he misses the point. The point isn’t that all those players wore Pinstripes (thus making them Yankees) it’s that certain of the Yankees transcend the uniform because they had heroic performances in high profile situations for the team.
No Yankee fan is making a case for Scott Brosius, Paul O’Neill or Joe Girardi to make it to Cooperstown, but we’re entitled to call our favorite players whatever we want to. If the national media picks up on that, so be it. Whether the writer or any other Yankee Hater likes it or not, it’s an undeniable fact that the New York Yankees are the most successful franchise in sports history and their name is synonymous with winning and excellence (as the YES Network likes to say). It’s natural that the best players from those good teams would evoke the moniker “True Yankees” because that’s what the brand is all about. Of course, the Yanks have had some crappy teams (1903-1919, 1965-1975, 1988-1992) and, consequently, there aren’t too many players from those eras worth giving the “True Yankee” label to.
At the end of the day, fans can do what they want. No one begrudges Red Sox fans for having a slavish devotion to Manny Ramirez, even if he did openly quit on the team last week. If fans think of Manny as a “True Red Sox” guy, that’s their right and it isn’t the place of any person to question it. So, having said that, I’ll take my Paulie, my Scottie, my Tino, my Donnie Baseball, my Joey G., my Andy P. and the rest of the True Yankees and I’ll tell that competing sports blogger to shut the f*ck up.
3 comments:
I'm still confused how Jay Mohr gets a column. No seriously, how was he able to figure out the complex activity known as typing? I assume he had assistance from a helper monkey. If only he listened to the helper monkey for the content.
I think that only a certain amount of players become synonymous with the team they play for giving them "True" team status. The whole Paul O'Neil situation is quite interesting because Paul O'Neil played only half his years in NY and won a WS prior to coming to NY. It was cool how NY kinda adopted this Ohioan as their native son. I believe that in order to be a "true" something, you have to say their name and then think of that team. When I hear Paul O'Neil's name I think of the Reds. However when I hear the name of Steve Yzerman, I think of the Red Wings; Michael Jordan, the Bulls; Tony Gwynn, the Padres, and Brett Favre, the Packers.
What you said is why its ridiculous when Yankee Haters get all out of whack about the "True Yankee" moniker. In your eyes, you think of Paul O'Neill as a guy on the Reds, even though he was a part-time player and had far more success in NY than in Cincy. To us, Paulie will always be a True Yankee and all that this phrase represents. There's no right or wrong. Yankee Haters are far too dogmatic about their position.
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