A Pretty Good Decade

I happen to think hate is a very wonderful emotion. It's like alcohol or any drug. Sure it f*cks you up, but when used sparingly and judicially, it can enhance your life. It's liberating to truly detest something in an unbridled way. And if you can't hate intensely, how can you possibly love intensely?

It's always good to have something or someone to hate. Not the whole world mind you. Just cherry pick a few obvious things and stick with them is my philosophy. One of my things is the Yankees. I can't stand them. You'll never seem me in pin stripes of any kind.

I've been hating the Yankees for as long as I can remember. They have that arrogance and swagger. They took forever to have any sort of a racially integrated team. George Steinbrenner was an a*hole who spent so much money for players that other teams had to follow. As a result, ticket prices for games nationwide are through the roof, mostly unaffordable to families except in the bleachers. The expensive tickets. The eight dollar beer. The five dollar hot dog. It's all George Steinbrenner's fault I swear. And it's all the Yankees fault. One thing I love about hate. There's no need to be rational.

That doesn't mean I don't like Yankees players. Derek Jeter is fantastic. CC Sabathia is a hoot and a wonderful talent. Paul O'Neil is one of my favorite players of all time. Mariano Rivera is a pitching god. I'd just like them 800 times better if they didn't wear that dreaded N and Y on their caps. Love the player. Hate the team. Although I have to say that Yankees past and present like Roger Clemens and Alex Rodriguez are great fodder for me. May they both burn in hell.

So the other night when the Yankees won the World Series (actually The Parts of North America Series), I was not a happy camper. The forces of darkness have once again taken over baseball. This is no way for a season to end. Superman has died from exposure to kryptonite. Mr. Rogers has been found out to be a pedophile. Goldman-Sachs has just purchased all of the real estate in DC including the White House and decided to rename the city Goldmanville and rename the Capitol building the Sachs Pavillion. And the Yankees have won again. Evil rules the world.

But I slept on this horrible state of affairs and when I woke I had a much better perspective. All in all it's been a pretty good decade for a Yankees hater. They've won a grand total of two times. All those billions of dollars spent and that's all they have to show for it. Man those people must be idiots.

Most decades the Yankees win more than twice. The 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, and 90s were truly dreadful decades for Yankees haters. The 1980s were haters heaven. They didn't win at all. Maybe that will happen next decade as well.

There's hope on the horizon. Rivera, Jeter, Damon, Matsui, and Pettite are getting way old. That's a lot of talent to replace even if you do have an infinite budget. Plus Rodriguez is still a wanker, albeit a talented one. It's been a long time since the Yankees have found All Star talent in their own farm system. This year's World Series victory just might be a last gasp. Perhaps the light will shine on our dear planet again for all of the next decade.