Respecting the Enemy: New York Yankees

Too often in sport and in life we are negative. Too often we are hateful and too often we focus on bad stories. When I started this site, I wanted to point out the good guys in sport. However, I too sometimes fall into the captivity of negativity. I have posted my fair of negative stories as well. Here in America though, we are better than that. We do not need to physically fight for our team in sports. It is not necessary to hurt others to get our point across. While disagreeing with somebody, we can be civil and we can show respect. Therefore, I decided to do a little project.

This project was to point out likable things about the sports teams that I cannot stand. I decided to pick the three professional sports teams that I disliked the most and point out three brilliant people in their organization. Three people that I would love to have in my organization. Three people that I respect. I will say why I do not like that organization, but also point to brilliant people in that organization. This will be done for the Seattle Seahawks, the New York Yankees, and the Boston Red Sox.

Yesterday, I talked about the Seattle Seahawks.
Today, we will discuss the Evil Empire, the New York Yankees.

These guys are the Evil Empire. People who do not like the Yankees call them the Evil Empire because they fear one day that their team's superstar will leave to the Yankees for more money. A lot of the time, that is what happens. However, more recently the Dodgers have started to spend far more than even the Yankees eliminating that notion a little bit. They are still the most hated team in baseball. These guys used to be my most hated professional sports team. Now, they are my #2 most disliked pro team. Their main rival passed them for reasons to be discussed tomorrow.

Don't be fooled though, I still cannot stand the Yankees. I still loathe Joe Girardi. The arrogance of Girardi to turn down a MLB managing job with the Baltimore Orioles. While it worked out better for the Orioles and we got Buck and a playoff bid, I still dislike Giradi. He still turned us down. He still insulted the entire organization and our fanbase. He thought he was too good for us.

For much the same reasons, I dislike Mark Teixeira very strongly. He gave the Orioles hope that he wanted to come home and help bring the franchise back to glory. This guy kept feeding the media and O's fans nonsense. He used the Orioles to drive the price up on other teams. The one positive I will say about that is that I am very glad the Yankees overpaid.

Finally, I hate the Yankees because they have been our main rival as long as I can remember. This is the 1st sports rivalry that I got really into and understood. The rivalry cooled down when the Orioles sucked, but in the mid-90s it was awesome. Except when their fans cheated and that punk kid gave the Yankees a playoff win. The punk kid who actually affected the game. Bartman gets crap for hitting a foul ball. The kid who helped the Yankees touched a ball in fair territory and won the Yankees the game. He gave them a home run. This guy cost the Orioles a shot at the World Series. However, we haven't chased him down and made his life miserable. That just shows the difference in class between Orioles and Cubs fans, but I will drop that here.

As much as I hate the Yankees, there are a few guys in recent memory that are a joy for even me to watch. It is hard to admit, but some involved with the Yankees have been pure class.

Here are the guys I have liked in pinstripes in recent memory.

Derek Jeter

Derek Jeter is the golden boy in baseball. He is still the face of the game. This guy is everything that is right and pure with baseball. Sure his game isn't the same, sure he isn't as good. That's how it should be though. We shouldn't have people getting better at the back end of their careers. It is one of the many reasons that Jeter is that one guy we can all be confident in not being a user. When I hear comments like they are all using, I say not Jeter. Out of all current players, he is the guy I am most confident never took a performance enhancing drug and that says something about Jeter.

This guy should be a guy I hate as an Orioles fan, but I just can't do it. Eventhough, he hit the homer in question, I cannot dislike Jeter. He is too classy, he is too good of a guy, he represented Team USA in the World Baseball Classic, and most importantly he is clean. Jeter was excellent and he did it the right way.

Mariano Rivera

The greatest closer of all-time is Mariano Rivera. Heck, the greatest relief pitcher of all-time is Mariano Rivera. It is a fact and nobody disputes it. Nobody disputes that this guy is/was pure class either. That says a lot that nobody disputes this guy being nothing but class. What a testament to Mariano's character that everyone says he is a class act.

One of the coolest things about Mariano and another testament to his character is that he is the last baseball player to wear #42 full-time. If it was anybody else, I don't think MLB says its okay for them to wear Jackie's number full-time anymore. However, with Mariano it is okay and it was a great tribute to Mr. Robinson. This guy is a baseball legend and clearly deserves the respect of every baseball fan.

Buck Showalter

Finally, I always loved Buck Showalter. Even back when he was the manager of the New York Yankees. He was on the greatest sit-com of all-time playing himself as Yankees manager on Seinfeld. He was hilarious then and is still one of the funniest guys in baseball. How many managers can say they were on Seinfeld anyway?

Showalter didn't stop when he left New York. The guy managed brilliantly for the Texas Rangers and Arizona Diamondbacks before joining ESPN's baseball coverage. In my opinion, he was the best guy on that coverage team and gave great analysis at all times. Then he became our manager and I was thrilled.

Buck is beloved by all Orioles fans. After so many losing seasons, Buck gave us hope. Then he sent our beloved Orioles into the postseason and helped turned them into a team that can compete year in and year out. With Buck at the helm, the Orioles will eventually get that World Series win that I have not seen in my lifetime. He started with the Yankees, but he eventually joined the good guys.

-Noland