Megan takes a stand.
Alex Massie ponders the question. Myself, I don't care what they say or do--"they" are a bunch of troglodyte enemies of freedom whose outsized envy of a success motivates them, not to try to surpass our achievement, but only to tear down ours. I will never denounce, much less renounce, the proud franchise I was born to. Nor will I permit others to do so in my presence. And no matter what Alex may argue, I will never, ever bring myself to believe that a rank political opportunist like Hillary Clinton could possibly get us out of the mess we are in.Hell yeah. USA USA USA!!!!! The only thing separating this from a Pam Atlas or Debbie Schlussel rant was a reminder than anyone who disagrees is anti-semitic.
Sticking your fingers in your ears and shouting "LALALALALALALALA" is neither patriotic not intelligent, Megan. Then again, this post makes me wonder if that's all you've been doing for the last 6 years.
It's not a monolithic "they", Megan. And I'm going to say no more, because the stream of expletives is proving hard to choke back. Ye gods you are an idiot, Megan.
Update:
Anon in comments warns me this was meant to be a joke about the "fall" of the Yankees. I feel a little foolish, but let's remember not to blame the audience when Megan's material falls flat. Also, there's that old 2x4 crack, which was very much in my mind while reading this.
Additionally, Yankee fans know why the rest of you hate us. It's called jealousy. Some of us have, by birthright, the chance to enjoy the efforts of the most successful sports franchise in history. Yeah, yeah, Steinbrenner is a dick, but unlike, say, Jeffery Loria, he cares about his team's success and takes a substantially smaller profit to try and contribute to it.
And just remember this, folks. If the Yanks didn't spend that money on payroll, it'd be going into Steinbrenner's pockets.
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16 comments:
Brad,
Click the link at her post. This was actually an attempt at humo(u)r on her part. A sad one, but still...
Some of us have, by birthright, the chance to enjoy the efforts of the most successful sports franchise in history
I didn't know you were from Manchester, UK . . .
16 < 26
Damn, that was fast. But wrong:
16 First division / Premiership titles.
11 FA Cups.
2 League Cups.
2 Champions League titles.
And some other stuff that isn't all that prestigious.
So 16 + 11 + 2 + 2 = 31 > 26.
And I hate Man U as much as I hate the Yankees. Maybe even more.
Um, yeah, I'm really jealous of a $200,000,000 "team" of creaky mercenaries, HGH freaks and MVP candidates who stop hitting when October arrives. And can't handle small, winged invertebrates (that don't even bite).
Birthright? Heck, such a sense of entitlement wouldn't be out of place at you-know-who's place. And making a straw-man of Steinbrenner...
Are you becoming what you behold, Brad? Cuz then I'll have to start FB.
The Yanks can only compete for the WS title. They don't play the Caribbean Series winners.
How am I making a straw man? What was inaccurate about what I said?
Mercenaries? Jeter, Posada, Cano, Cabrera, Rivera, Wang, Petitte, Hughes, Chamberlain, Kennedy- all developed by the Yankees. A-Rod and Abreu came by trade, and yes, of course, the Yanks' money was at play in those trades, but only Abreu was a utter salary dump. Giambi, Matsui, Clemens, Moose, Damon, mercs, fine, but the fact is they haven't won in the time since they started buying those guys.
And aside from the Marlins, name a recent champ that was truly homegrown.
I say by birthright because a standard hater comeback is to call me a bandwagon jumper. If you think that's a strawman, you've missed a few things at S,N!
Clem, I'll put it this way. There are tons of lefty baseball fans who love to rag on the Yanks, and a significant percentage of those who extend that to ragging on Yanks fans. There also happen to be a large number of lefty Yankee fans. I don't ask for or expect sympathy, but neither am I going to meekly turn the other cheek. I'm not turning Steinbrenner into a strawman, I'm doing the exact opposite.
The Yanks are going to take in massive revenues. Choosing to spend them on the field, and in revenue sharing and luxury tax payments, is a choice many baseball owners don't make. The Yanks do spend too much, but the real question should be why certain teams spend so little.
The Yanks can only compete for the WS title. They don't play the Caribbean Series winners.
That doesn't matter. You said "most successful sports franchise in history," with no qualifiers. You cannot arbitrarily say that certain achievements that very much *do* indicate success in other sports leagues in other parts of the world, do not count because of the structure of Major League Baseball.
Sorry, but winning the FA Cup, the Champions League and all that stuff
are all measures of "success." Sports history includes more than just American teams.
(continuing)
See, to me, it's just like how idiots on ESPN will say, "Which is the greatest rivalry in sports? Yankees-Red Sox? Cowboys-Redskins? Oklahoma-Texas? Vote now on ESPN.com!"
Um, try Glasgow Celtic - Glasgow Rangers. Look up the history of that rivalry and try to tell me Michigan - Ohio State is more ferocious. People fucking die when Celtic plays Rangers. Not every time, of course, but you can bet there will be fans of both clubs hospitalized pretty much every time they meet. That rivalry makes Yankees-Red Sox look like a fucking garden party.
I guess I find the implied idea that Americans are the only ones who have sports to be annoying in the extreme. People in other parts of the world care a *lot* more about sports than we do.
Rant over.
I know the world outside the US exists. I've been there, more than once. I just happen to feel 5 extra titles out of dozens if not hundreds of extra chances doesn't make Man U more successful. It's like using simple yardage totals to argue Jerome Bettis was a better running back than Jim Brown, sorta, vaguely, not really.
After you dismissed Yankee haters as jealous milk-babies, you invoked Steinbrenner twice: "Sure he's a dick...", followed by "At least the money isn't going to him." The entity known simply as Steinbrenner ranks low on the list of things Yankee haters find fault with these days Team ethos, individual behavior and ineffectual managing rank much higher on our list, but I think you'd rather not discuss those things. So, you trot out Steinbrenner, hoping we'll go after that moldy, arrow-riddled figure instead. So, yes, I call strawman, and yes, I do read for comprehension at S,N!
Who lit your burner?
Brad, I wasn't trying to imply you've never been outside the US. Sorry about getting all het up there - you just managed to touch a nerve with the "history of sports" thing.
But as far as relative success goes, I stand by my argument. You can't exclude Manchester United's various Cup victories just because MLB's structure doesn't allow for an equivalent. Yes, the systems probably are too different to be compared directly (I don't know how much you know about English soccer, but the organizational nature of their pro leagues is nothing remotely like what we've got here), so I guess we'll have to agree to disagree on that one.
So perhaps a better barometer is money, which is after all the universal language. If you can establish that the New York Yankees have sold more merchandise than Manchester United have, I will concede that the Yankees are, in fact, the most successful team in sports history global, as Pastor Swank might say. Or we could do TV revenue.
But then, that's a bit far afield of the original argument, which probably can't be resolved.
Also, it should be noted that I never thought I'd be arguing so strongly on behalf of Man U. I think I need to spend the next half hour smacking myself in the forehead with a ball peen hammer.
Wait a minute -
Junventus have 27 championships in Serie A (Italian top division).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_football_champions
Also, Rangers have won the Scottish Premier League 51 times, with crosstown rivals Celtic winning 41 times.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_football_champions
So there's three clubs with more league championships - excluding national and European cups - than the Yankees have.
51 > 41 > 27 > 26.
So you're wrong after all.
And let's not forget Real Madrid, with 30 La Liga championships.
Wait, Clem, Yankee haters hate Joe Torre for being an old and out of touch manager? I thought that was reserved for Baseball Prospectus reading Yanks fans. If you hate the Yanks you should be glad Torre is having a mildly negative effect on their success.
Same thing with team politics. Yes, Jeter should have stood by A-Rod in public last year. Yes, A-Rod is a whiny primadonna. Again, aren't these things Yankee haters should be glad for?
You sound less like a hater than a baseball fan who wishes the Yanks would return to the excellence they showed in 96-00.
And fine, you got me Fishbone. No snark, I give.
Brad -
Really, though, you should have put up an argument about both Celtic and Rangers; the SPL is a little more than 100 years old, yet 92 championships are split between just those two? It's a weak, weak league, so they probably shouldn't be a part of this discussion (and I say that as a Celtic supporter).
At any rate, um, go Rockies, I guess. *shrug*
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