Courage is Being a Yankees Fan

There is this sort of "Ho hum of course you like the Yankees.... they always win," attitude about me from folks down here Texas way when I tell them I do not in fact like the local team but the Yankees. I have always liked the Yankees. When I was small my dad made no bones about his love for the Dodgers and while he rooted for the home team I was always left feeling a little cold about them when he would complain about how they would never re-sign their star players because of lack of money. Growing up in the 70's there were national games of the week on the TV and usually the team that was on was the Yankees. As I came into sports rooting age the Yankees made the world series three of four years and won two including my first vivid baseball memory of Dave Winfield jumping over the fence in Dodger's Stadium to try and catch a fly ball. I was so impressed by this act of what seemed to me heroism that I attached to the Yankees and have been so ever since.

This annoyed my dad so much that he stopped taking my sister and I to Yankees games one night as we sat in the bleachers and cheered long and loud for the visitors as they drummed the hometown heros.

I find it strange however that being a Yankees' fan in Ranger's land is seen as obnoxious. Far aside from the abuse heaped on me for sitting quietly and minding my own business with my sons as we watch our beloved Yankees play from the oh too classy drunks who populate the Ballpark in Arlington, I also strongly object to the notion that it is somehow easier to be a fan of a great team, ie the Yankees, than an absolute joke of a team, ie the Rangers. OK that was a little obnoxious but given the recent spectacle of the Ranger's sale you have to admit they are a joke.

The point is that it takes no courage whatsoever to be a Ranger's fan. I realize that most people see this 180 degrees out of phase because it is somehow considered heroic to lose year after year after year ie the Cubs and Red Sox fans who are looked upon as sympathetic figures because their teams are or were lovable losers; not because they had actually done any grand thing to be admired or loved, but simply because they have lost for so long that their losing has ceased to be contemptible, laughable or even pitiable and has instead morphed into a cooly accepted fact looked upon with benign indifference by those too smart to root for such losing enterprises. Only in sport could a business fail to meet its known, stated objective for 100 years and be thought lovable. In any other enterprise the business would be dispatched forthwith for the common good and the losing forgotten in the grave of history as yet one more failed idea devoured by the successful and the strong.

"But no" says the losing enthusiast, "to try valiantly and fail is admirable." I suppose this is so provided that the effort is valiant. But which is more valiant; to lose 60% of your contests for twenty years in a row or to win 60% of your contests and be denied by the better team in the end? Surely the team which has failed far more than it has succeeded does not deserve to be placed on the plateau with the runner up in a tournament because that team has failed to accomplish even the level of greatness which the second place team achieved, even though they failed.

In fact the team which consistently climbs the mountain to the edge of greatness will from time to time achieve that greatness and be rewarded the winner's crown. And this is where the courage to cheer greatly is found.

If your favorite team is the Texas Rangers or the Minnesota Vikings or A&M Aggies, then you have never known the elation that comes with victory in final game. Yet you insist that your fandom of these teams is grandiose because you cheer bravely for the team which never wins and yet come back again and again loyally hoping that this year may be different. And of course on the off chance that you may actually climb the mountain and succeed, the world waits to congratulate you because your long suffering has ended at last. And why not? Who doesn't love a winner? All those who claimed to be Red Sox fans when they finally won the World Series were rewarded with glad handing all around as the feel good vibes passed from friend to friend. But where were those feel good vibes in the prior 86 years of frustration and failure? Of course they were nowhere to be found because those who root for such long shots are loathe to admit it because in their heart of hearts they love to lose. And the reason why is that it takes no courage whatsoever to root for a losing team.

If you are a fan of the Rangers or Mavericks, then you expect each year to have your team's ascent to the mountain top frustrated, and therefore when they fail you have suffered no loss since your expectations have been met. And if your team miraculously wins the whole thingthen you are granted a good feeling you have not earned because you did not anticipate your team's success and therefore have not had your expectations met either, but rather have borrowed the capital of other champions and the basked in the glow of fulfillment which cannot rightfully be called yours... Saints fans.

But let us assume you root for the Yankees or the Cowboys or the Lakers. If your team wins the championship, which is of course your expectation if you root for such teams, then you have earned the satisfaction of having your expectations met, but no one throws a parade for Yankees fans when their team wins, but instead scoffs and says, "Well of course they won... they have more money."

By the way, nothing makes Yankees/Cowboys/ Lakers fans happier than the bitter scoffing of other fans who dare not root greatly for great teams so by all means scoff away.

In fact the basic assumption is that you have only rooted for the Yankees because you thought they would win. Well.... yes, and? I suppose your bitchin' new Saints jersey was bought because you thought, "Well even if they don't win they have done great getting this far." No of course not, the spike in Brees Jerseys is because the Saints won, and everyone loves a winner.

Unless of course that winner is from the upper echelons of previous achievement.

But if you root for the great teams and they don't win, as even the greatest of teams are destined to do far more often than not, then your expectation of greatness is destined to be frustrated much more frequently than fulfilled, and when your team doesn't win, those lovable losers' fans do not pat your head as the condescending world does to them, but instead try to rub your face in your team's lack of victory; bitterly assuming that you now are dragged down to their level having not accomplished that for which you so greatly hoped.

But Ranger's fans don't expect to win and therefore cannot understand the mindset of the fans who do, and therefore the Yankees fan will never be on the level with the Ranger's fan because the Rangers fan will never be frustrated whether his team wins or loses.

And for that reason the true sports' fan is the one who dares to root for great things. And that is why teams like the Lakers and the Yankees and the Cowboys will always have more fans who are more dedicated who put more of their treasure into their teams' coffers knowing their teams will turn that treasure into winning season after winning season to try greatly to meet the great expectations of their great fans.

And I see no reason as a fan to apologize for that to anyone.

I'm not kidding.

Just thinking.