Jake, from Bird’s Eye View, here.
I have a real soft spot for the Houston Astros. A former colleague and dear friend of mine is a Houston native, and I have seen him root hard for some not-so-loveable losers. His devotion to the Astros reminds me a lot of my own love for the O’s, which was trying for much of my adult life. But this is not the reason they are my second favorite team. The Astros are my second favorite team because they will be playing the New York Yankees for the next two days. Next it will be the Blue Jays. And when the Yankees play the Red Sox, I will root for rain.
I will never grow tired of rooting against the Yankees. No matter how far they fall from greatness, no matter how insignificant in the standings they become. Scott and I rage against bandwagonism often on the show, but it’s the sheer arrogance of Yankees fans that galls me – particularly those fans who have never been to New York. Attending Orioles/Yankees games during the Dark Period was enough to burn a Yankee hatred into my heart that will never fade. Those people make baseball less fun. And for a baseball geek like me, that’s saying something.
This made last night’s Astros/Yankees game on MLBNetwork quite enjoyable. There was a little bit of everything for a Team-Playing-the-Yankees fan to love:
- The Yankees got beat by a team looking to avoid 100 losses
- The game was ugly from the start – a big embarrassing deficit
- Former O’s played hero (Feldman, Hoes)
- Former O’s didn’t play hero (Roberts)
- Fitting start to the Jeter farewell tour
- CC Sabathia looked terrible
Look, the logical part of me realizes that the Yankees won’t be this terrible all year. It was only one game, small sample size… I get all that. I picked this club to finish 4th in the AL East, but also recognize that they could be pretty decent. But for one day, at least, the part of me that loves schadenfreude reveled in watching the Yankees lose to my second favorite team.
Just another reason that I am so pleased that baseball season is back.
