Narcissism

Usually I don’t talk much about Baseball and my Mets obsession cause I could just go on and on and well I’m a fan that boring for non-fans. And I usually don’t write much about at all about the Yankees for several reasons – one my folks came from Brooklyn and to quote a movie somewhere – the Yankees are the enemies of my blood – which I like to say to be dramatic but it means nothing really. I can’t really say that I hate the Yankees – frankly I’m just tired as hell of George, Joe, the whole 27 or 39 or whatever championships how good Derek Jeter is and who he’s dating and well I’m just bored to death with it and so pay as little attention as possible.

However sometimes something comes over transom that just shocks the shit out of me and pisses me the hell off at the same god damn time.

Yesterday – as the Yankees lost – after a team meeting - to the Blue jays the daily news published one of the biggest loads of tripe I have ever seen in my life – the piece modestly entitled “City’s in Funk as Bombers Bombing” was written by two people listed as staff writers – Noah Fowle and Dave Goldiner (I mean credit where credit is due folks).

Now there is one thing that I can’t utterly stand about certain Yankee fans (not all Yankee fans but enough of them to make it truly annoying) is their combination of smug self congratulation over being shrewd enough to root for the winningest team in baseball, a heavy dose of narcissism, and a tendency to really really whine a lot. There is also a sense of angry brittleness that comes out from time to time – Last year about the time the Mets picked up El Duque from Phoenix I was walking to my local deli wearing my Mets cap – and out of the blue this guy (in a Yankee cap) yells “he’s finished Duque’s gonna suck”.

Now mind you I had not said one word, not one – zippo to the guy – I was getting a soda – but the very presence of a Mets cap seemed to have upset him. I think many Yankee fans have huge lacks in their life that they compensate for by rooting for the Yankees and as long as the Yankees are the monolith and the evil empire they are okay they are Darth Vader and they think everybody’s jealous of them – it’s when the Yankees don’t win that things get ugly – and the panic – the panic that maybe they are still losers that has been lurking there all the time comes out and they start yelling gibberish at strangers.

Now one of the elements of Yankee narcissism is their sense that the Yankees represent the true New York – I remember in 1986 a very very odd New York Times Article written by a guy in which he said he wasn’t going to watch the Mets that year, he was going to watch the Yankees (which didn’t work out too well for him but that’s not the point). The thing I remember most is that his wife yelled at him for not watching the Yankees by saying “don’t you like New York”. It was this linking of the city to the team that struck me as being frankly fucking crazy -

Anyway on to the article – which links the fortunes of the city to the Yankees – I’m going to quote a bit from it to give you a sense of the flavor of it – if I violate fair use I’ll delete some but this garbage needs to be taken down and down hard.

And so it starts:

“The Yankees are in free fall, and they are taking the fortunes of many New Yorkers with them.
As the Los Angeles Angels finished their three-game sweep of the Bronx Bombers on Sunday, grim-faced fans streamed past rows of unsold Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter souvenir shirts.
Bars - normally filled with exuberant fans after a home win - were half empty.
Blue patches of empty seats stand out during supposedly sold-out games, a sign that fans are voting with their feet even if they bought tickets.”

Fair enough so far still there is something in the tone here that bugs one.

“But the damage stretches far beyond the emerald green outfield grass to the shops near Yankee Stadium, and even sends an economic ripple across the city.”

Uh-huh – like what?

"A lot of my regulars are disgusted," said Joe Bastone, 48, of the Bronx, owner of the Yankee Tavern. "They don't want to come if the team is losing. It's just not the hot ticket in town."

Well you know something spunky – if you name your bar after a team and the team does badly it’s going to affect business. Just sayin’

“Instead of scalping tickets for double or triple their price, season-ticket holders flood craigslist with offers to unload Yankees tickets at or below face value.”

Okay – I’m going to start cursing now – cry me a fucking river jagovs I’m so pissing sorry you weren’t able to screw your fellow fans out of the large green this year. Jesus.

"If they keep losing, I'll sell my tickets or give them away," said season-ticket holder Galo Delgado, 30, of Manhattan. "It's worse to come up here than to watch it on TV."

And after all those stories I read about the loyalty of Yankee fans the special bond they had with the team, I guess that was, what is the word? Oh yes – bullshit.

Name of god what a bunch of front running whiners – one bad year (not even a full god damn year it's not even June yet!) after making the playoffs 12 years in a fucking row and now their god dam world is ending. Jesus try rooting for a team like the Devil Rays sometime – you’ll learn a thing or two about appreciating good times. Jagovs.

Alright so far while the article has been kind of stupid it hasn’t gone into la la land – which it then does:

“And the Yanks' good runs in the late 1970s and their current postseason run - they've made the playoffs for the past 12 years in a row - seem to coincide with the city's resurgence.
Then there are times like now.”

Sweet babbling what the hell is all that about – I remember the late 70’s – Remember Ford to New York Drop dead – the son of Sam, the Bronx on fire, the blackout, – lots a crime too – that hardly counts as an up tick. I mean these guys have just gotta stop sniffing glue before they write.

“When the Yankees stumble, the whole city takes it on the chin, in one way or another. Fewer tourists splurge in sporting goods stores. Electronics giants sell fewer big-screen TVs.”

And yet somehow life goes on – there were 47,940 people at Shea last night – they seemed to be dealing with the terrible malaise that is sweeping the city quite well. Granted they might be just putting a brave face on it but they seemed pretty happy. Oh yes the Mets won last night and seem to be in first place.

Jesus what a couple of wankers.

Back to the normal Random Neural firings tomorrow.

Peace Love Lets’ go Mets.