(no subject)

[drydem]

So, let's imagine a story.
You have two groups
One group who has been successful frequently in the past through spending large amounts of money and consists of a group of very clean cut people without much in the way of distinctive personality, including people who had the individuality drained out of them when they joined the group.
The other group is the perennial underdog, the biggest losers in sports who despite odds against them fought their way to the top. They are a diverse bunch of people with individual styles from lots of different parts of the world, some of them with accolades in the past, most of them unknown.

Now, which team is America's team? If you answered the first team, then you are a Yankees fan, Buying your way to championships over other teams, draining personality from players and increasing baseball salaries everywhere.
I just can't see a compelling narrative for a Yankees fan. All I see is ultra-conformist arrogant plutocrats who don't play fair. The Phillies could have afforded the entire roster of the Marlins and the Padres in addition to their own roster and still not have matched the Yankee's payroll. If you don't include the bumps in salary after last year's World Series win by the Phillies(looking at last year's payroll) they could have afforded the LA Dodgers as well.
Don't get me wrong, there's a storied history to the Yankees, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Lou Gehrig, etc, but rooting for the Yankees is rooting for Bush's America. You may love Lincoln's America, Teddy Roosevelt's America, FDR's America, JFK's America, even Thomas Jefferson's America. But the Yankees are the America that invaded Iraq and expected to be welcomed as liberators.

Comments

[unforth.livejournal.com]

Hell, even I was rooting for the Phillies....Then again, I'd root for ANYONE over the Yankees. Much, much hate. I just see Yankees fans as folks who are only interested in winning for winning sake. Being a Yankees fan is EASY. I mean, 27 championships in just over a century? Yeah, it's a real stretch, lots of investment and fears associated with that one...

Losers. :(

[fallen-scholar.livejournal.com]

Best. Analogy. Ever.

[ombriel.livejournal.com]

Fascinating. As someone who doesn't get and couldn't care less about professional sports, this at least opens a window to understanding why some people are into it--the narratives.

[drydem.livejournal.com]

that's exactly what I love about sports, the narrative drama.

[unforth.livejournal.com]

The narrative, from game to game and season to season, is definitely part of it. To toss another reason in there, I know I'm also into it for the sense of comraderie. As a Mets fan, I feel a sense of kinship for all other Mets fans, no matter how different we might be (I feel the same way about other anime fans. ;) ). There's nothing quite like the rush of being in a stadium with 40,000 other people who feel just like you do, and seeing things go great - or the commiseration when they go terribly...

[ombriel.livejournal.com]

I totally get that...on a cerebral level. Sports culture is something I grew up utterly without--neither of my parents watch sports, so it's never been a part of my world growing up (though that didn't stop my sister from getting into it; my Marine brother, on the other hand, also doesn't care about pro sports in the least).

I also don't like how male-centric and gender-normative the whole culture is.

But I can see how the comraderie, the narratives, etc., could be appealing. I personally just find the whole thing really, well, dull (among other things). I realize I'm missing out on something socially meaningful, but I'd rather just read a book than bother with all that sports stuff. ;)

[squishymeister.livejournal.com]

seconded.

[wadam.livejournal.com]

I was certainly rooting for the Phillies. Though call me embittered about my teaching situation if you want, but the look on my students' faces this morning, after they lost, was priceless.

[gollumgollum.livejournal.com]

For a second, i thought this was about the gay marriage vote in Maine.


Stupid Yankees. Barf.