Mailbag!!!!

The peasants need sustenance...and Darth Marc is all about feeding the masses...

Anonymous said...
i am truly confused, because you are claiming as a yankees fan that the yanks/mets rivalry is really trivial, yet you are relishing in rubbing it in all our faces? if it is seriously so trivial, what joy do you really get out of this. you are a series of mass contradictions.

Nice to know to those schools in anonymous land are teaching their kiddies how to read. I never said that it was trivial. I said that I enjoy the Subway Series, the rivalry and interleague play on a whole. What I said was that it didn't approach the intensity of Yankees-Red Sox and compared Mets-Yanks to an intense sibling rivalry. You want to kick your brother's ass. But you don't want to kill him, put his head on a spit and jump rope with his intestines. That's what the Yankees and Sox want to do to each other every time they play. See the difference? And while I'll gladly use Metstradamus' site to tweak you guys a bit. I would never make the same bet with a Sox blogger and vice-versa. It cuts way too deep.

The bottom line is this. You guys are the red-headed step-children in this town until further notice. Deal with it.

help-a-rascal said...
first, "spare me?" "please?" these sound suspiciously like someone who has no adequate retort to a winning point. you're losing, and you're the only one who doesn't know it. or maybe you do.....
anyway, to the meat (if you want to call it that) of your text. no, the only way one can appreciate good fortune is not if one has never had any. we just appreciate it a lot more. we've suffered and sacrificed and it's more fulfilling. conversely, that's why you see so many more bandwagon fans in yankee hats. they're the easy team to root for. to "support a winner," as you put it, is infinitely less taxing. your commitment to your team has never been tested to anywhere near the degree that has my commitment to mine.

Losing? I'm posting on your favorite blogger's site!!!! That means that I can be as lame as I want. Say what I want. Take as many insults as you can hurl at me....and I've still won!!!! To the victor goes the spoils.

Here we go with the "it takes more character to root for a losing team than a winning one." analogy. The team you roots for says nothing about the kind of person you are. I know plenty of people who have no moral compass who are loyal Mets fans just like there are die-hard Yankees fans who suffered through the "bad old days" but would sell out their mother to get ahead. Some of the best people I've met have rooted for teams that I hate just as there are some Yankee fans I despise. I've talked about them ad-nauseum on my site in the past.

So if your loyalty to your team is how you measure your morality...you really need to stop playing the GI Joes and live a little.

A-Rod said...
I'm not sure I'd revel in someone getting beaned. However, the other evidence does tell the story here. That victory at Shea was the stamp of 40 years of superiority. That cannot be contested. Now if things only turned out different in 2004..........

Credit to Metstra for keeping his word and living up to the wager.

Here, here Alex. Here, here. Now start hitting the damn ball. I'm tired of taking arrows in my back defending your overpaid ass!!!!

arnold layne said...
Mets fans are pretty well aware of the fact that our team has often sucked, and we also know that there have been many great Yankee teams throughout baseball history. We recognize that the Yankees are a better team, most of the time.

It's not the team we have a problem with.

It's guys like you.

Thanks, Arnold. Nice to know that I'm doing my job. Although were the tables reversed, there would be plenty of Mets fans picking the proverbial wings off of Yankee fans backs. So color me unsympathetic to your current standing among sports fans in the world. Some Mets fans have made hating the Yankees a big business. My hatred and disgust for you is free and clear.

Jim in L.A. said...
"...and of course one name that certainly deserves mention: Willie Randolph...the great Yankee that you now depend on to find your greatness. Yes, Joe Torre was once a Met, and both Gooden and Strawberry are two of the most popular players in Met history who wear Yankee championship rings, but no mistake can be made about it...they won their rings in Yankee uniforms."

What is your point here? That Joe Torre being a Met first and then a Yankee means nothing, but Willie Randolph doing the opposite is the key to his greatness? Might want to throw some logic in there, just to mix it up.

Also, Gooden and Strawberry have rings from winning the World Series with the Mets, despite your writing as though they only have them because they were on the Yankees.

And to glorify your rivaly with the Red Sox as meaning something, but then to suggest that the Mets' rivalry with the Braves doesn't mean anything, also defies logic.

We Met fans love the Mets and experience both triumph and tradgedy because we love them.

It's no punishment we wish to have you try to go back in time and fix for us. It aint broke. It's an honor and priviledge that we hold dear.

Yankee fans will never ever be able to do anything at all to tarnish or change that.

But good luck trying.

Let me see if I can defend my friend Batman here...

Casey Stengel didn't become great until he came to the Yankees. The ability was always there. But he didn't put it all together until he came to the Bronx. Same thing with Joe Torre. Say what you want about George. He took a huge risk firing a very popular manager in Buck Showalter and going with a guy who had won nothing of substance in his career. But it's worked out well.

Willie has clearly brought the Yankee way to Queens. In the way that you present yourself to the media and conduct yourself at all times. He's not going to wig out or play mindgames with players like Bobby Valentine and implode like Billy Martin. He's going to run a steady ship. You want to argue about his in-game prowess, that's fair. But this is his second year and he'll get better as the years go by. And as you can see, people skills and player management is as important these days as one's in-game skills.

I'm not the one who belittles your rivalry with the Braves. You do that all by yourselves with your actions. You sell out every Yankee-Mets game. When's the last time you sold out against the Braves or any of your division rivals? You're the ones who elevate us in importance, not the other way around. Sell out a game against the Braves and then talk to me.

I can't speak on the Doc and Darryl thing. It made no sense to me either. Sorry, Bats.

Before I forget....

A shoutout to fellow Yankee blogger Paul Katcher...who has a pretty funny article on ESPN Page 2 on what your jersey says about you.

It's a play off a funny very post of his from awhile back.

For you infidels who are looking for some civilization in your lives....here are some Cole Hamels facts....

Cole is 100 feet tall.
Sal Fasano is afraid of Cole Hamels.
Hamels is a sure thing. Only some sort of freak injury or something could keep him from saving the franchise. And we know that will never happen.
Cole K's men by the hundreds. And if HE were in the MAJORS (read: when he's in the majors), he'd consume the METS with fireballs from his eyes,
and bolts of lightning from his arse.
Cole Hamels outpitched Steve Carlton before he was even born.
Pedro Martinez keeps a picture of Cole Hamels under his hat for inspiration.
If Cole Hamels wanted to he could steal your girl and, because he's so great, you'd want to watch him take care of business with her. He wouldn't do such things though, because he's Cole Hamels.
Jack Bauer calls Cole Hamels for advice.
Cole Hamels is the only person Barbara Bush fears.
Fear itself is afraid of Cole Hamels.
For Halloween, Chuck Norris went as Cole Hamels.
When kids go to bed they wear Superman pajamas; when Superman goes to bed he wears a Cole Hamels jersey.
The chief export of Cole Hamels is K's.
When Cole Hamels passes "Go", he collects $400.
Cole Hamels punches people so hard he breaks his own hand.
Cole is so handsome that he dates a Playboy cover girl.
Cole's poop is used as currency in Clearwater.
Not only does Cole watch movies with Gladiators, he stars in them.
One time Cole Hamels spent 40 days in the desert. To survive, he ate whole camels.
Cole Hamels' picture is on every crisp 100 dollar bill.
Cole has never had a date, because everyone strikesout with him.
Santa Claus asks for Cole in his stockings.
Cole Hamels once pegged a batter so hard that the batter's twin brother died. He then ate their corpses, pooped them out and struck that out too.
Cole Hamels can understand every word joboggi writes.
God says "Cole Hamels darn it!".
My wife yells out Cole Hamels' name in bed (and half the time he isn't there).
Cole doesn't need to be in the same room to sleep with your wife.
Cole Hamels is so great that he makes suicide commit life.
Cole Hamels expected the Spanish Inquisition.
On his off days, Cole Hamels kicks Chuck Norris' ass and then sleeps with Chuck's woman. When she regains her strength (on Coles's scheduled start days), she kicks Chuck's ass.
Wayne Gomes delivers Cole Hamels' newspaper, and Cole doesn't even tip him.
Jeff Jackson picked Cole Hamels first in an elementary school kickball game.
Cole Hamels can throw a pitch that God can't hit.
When I look to the East in the morning, Cole Hamels comes over the horizon.

Cole Hamels invented the internets just so a webpage could be built in his honor.
Cole Hamels only pitches left handed because it was too easy pitching with his right.
Cole wears a left handed glove upside down and backwards....Jimi Hendrix liked it and played his guitar that way as a tribute to Cole...
When Cole was 5 years old he impregnated a woman, 9 months later she gave birth to an 8 pound 6 ounce bar of gold.
Cole Hamels forced Gandhi to eat.
Cole Hamels once threw a curve ball so well that the batter's children struck out.
Cole Hamels walked into Chickie's and Pete's wearing a Terrell Owens Cowboys jersey and people bought him drinks.
When Cole whistles, furry little woodland creatures gather at his feet........clamoring for conversation.
Cole Hamels once dug all the way to China with chop sticks. On the way, the lava people of middle-Earth stopped Cole for autographs and asked him what was up with that Charlie guy.
Cole Hamels could work for PSE&G because he always puts opposing batters' lights out.
Kanye West almost needed to pay Cole Hamels royaties to release that "Jesus Walks" song, but Cole let it go, because he doesn't walk anyone so it couldn't really be about him.
When Cole throws three straight balls, he isn't worried, cause he still has two more left.
When Cole Hamels throws a ball, he glares up at the scoreboard, changing it to a strike.
When Cole Hamels hits a batter, it is always on purpose.
Cole Hamels gets into a barroom brawl everytime he gives up a run. He has only been in one barroom brawl.
When Delmon Young heard Cole was promoted to triple-A, he went and got himself suspended.
Cole Hamels is a known descendant of Jesus and Mary Magdalene. He has a hard time enjoying a pool in the summer because he just can't shake that family trait of walking on water.
Cole Hamels invented socks.
Cole puts his pants on 2 legs at a time.
During grand jury testimony, Barry Bonds admitted to using three substances later determined to be illegal performance enhancers. These three were The Cream, the Clear and Cole Hamels.
Cole sky dives with no parachute.
Cole Hamels invented the Internet. He did this so somebody, someday would start this website.
Cole Hamels will wear #25- two better than Jordan and one better than Kobe.
Cole Hamels once punched a man so hard that he broke his multi-million dollar pitching hand and then lied to the cops about the incident.
Compared to Cole Hamels, opposing pitchers are so crappy that they give Pepto Bismol the runs.
Cole Hamels pulls more tail than a veterinarian.
Cole Hamels is so revered that at Christmas, Santa sits on his lap.
When Cole gets Chinese takeout, he uses one chopstick. When he opens his fortune cookie, it says, "You're Cole Hamels. Lucky Numbers - You tell me".
When Cole was born, he beaned the doctor with a fastball, made out with the nurse, and struck his father out in two pitches!
Cole Hamels' preferred catcher is Cole Hamels.
Cole must pitch to mitts made of Kevlar.
When Cole Hamels pitches, the Home Plate umpire is not actually required to attend the game.
Cole Hamels will win 1 Cy Young... and 11 Cole Hamels.
Cole bats 8th.
Cole was Bugs Bunny's private pitching coach.
Cole Hamels went down to Georgia, dropkicked the Devil, and then burnt down Turner Field.
By law, Cole is forbidden to work at any company that has a softball team.
On its way to the plate, Cole Hamels' breaking ball actually stops in mid-air, says, "Ya' Momma" to the batter, and then breaks.
Cole's birth was covered on This Week in Baseball.
Cole Hamels looks gift horses in the mouth. And then punches them.
Cole Hamels once threw a perfect game in which he struck out all 27 batters that he faced. The day before, Cole's pitching arm was broken in a horrible fall while rescuing kittens from a burning building.
Cole spits in the wind and tugs on Superman's cape.
Cole Hamels knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men.
Cole Hamels never needs an insurance run, but will drive one in anyway.
Cole Hamels is the real last son of Krypton.
Cole will call himself up when the time is right.
The name "Cole Trickle" was used instead of Cole Hamels in Days of Thunder to protect young Cole's future developement. They didn't want stardom to get to his head at such a young age.
Cole Hamels was Julia Robert's body double in Pretty Woman. It was the scene where the hooker strikes out 27 consecutive batters during a wiffle ball contest and then beats up 11 rival hookers. The scene was cut from the final by the MPAA because it was too intense for the PG-13 audience.
Cole Hamels shot a man in Reno. Not to watch him die, mind you, but so that Cole could bring him back to life.
Cole Hamels is also Kevin Oudeis.
Cole Hamels is the only true ace - proving that unassisted human flight is indeed possible.
Cole Hamels walks on water and swims on land.
Cole Hamels' farts smell like roses.
Cole Hamels walks batters just because he can.
Cole Hamels parted the Red Sea while on break from building The Pyramids. He gave Moses the credit because he's just that kind of guy.
Cole likes to let his competitors feel like they're winning, because he doesn't like them to die embarassed.
You can't divide by zero, but Cole Hamels can.
Cole Hamels receives HBO... on basic cable.
Geico saved a lot of money on car insurance by switching to Cole Hamels.
In Bush's next State of the Union, he is going to proclaim, "America is addicted to Cole!"
The real reason that the Phillies will be leaving Scranton next year? The thought of the Red Barons without Cole Hamels will be too much to bear.
I won my fantasy league with one player, Cole Hamels.
Cole Hamels understands Ulysses.
Researchers thought they had discovered an alternative fuel source in North Eastern Pennsylvania but it turned out to be a Cole Hamels fastball. They are currently trying to harness it, which they fear is impossible.
Cole Hamels warned George Bush that it wasn't a good idea.

But Before I Go.....

Someone explain this garbage to me?

help-a-rascal said...
do a lot of mets' fans hate the yankees (and maybe even more so, yankee fans)? yes, of course. and for you, the yankee fan, there must be great pride in knowing that. when the whole world hates you, it must be because you're so good. historically, no one can argue with the track record. so, good for you. sit proudly upon thy throne.

i wouldn't trade places with you in an eternity's worth of yankees' world championships.

there are those in this world that like the security of a sure thing, or that which comes closest to it. it's usually not too risky, and more often than not, you get to go away happy. also, there's the added fun of bludgeoning everyone else with past glories, which help augment one's artificial sense of superiority. this is your world, and you're welcome to it.

for others, the thrill is the emotional investment in something less predictable. a team like the mets, red sox, cubs, etc. will let one down in the most heart-rending ways. often, the pain involved with enduring this disappointment is excruciating, and it is all but guaranteed to come. but when our guys win, the high of victory is sweetened that much more by the knowledge that we persevered, the true believers, together, through the agonies of horrific failure (many times against our most hated rivals) to reach this most cherished triumph.

it is a joy that, sadly, a yankee fan will never know.

your team is expected to win. when they do, so what? it's at least somewhat anti-climactic. when they don't, you bitterly revert to your mantra of listing past accomplishments, as if doing so diminishes our joy one iota or eases the sting of your own failure.

what a bland, melancholy toil it must be. i feel fortunate not to be you. i'm sure i'm not alone.

This is the equivalent of saying that I would rather be one of these folks that get a home from Habitat From Humanity than Donald Trump.

Why would I want to occasionally be good when I can regularly be great? Is this is how you justify being a Mets fan? That when your team is bad four years in a row, they make it all better when they're competitive on the fifth year?

That's like saying that it's ok for a father to only come home once in a while instead of every day. Or a husband to only beat his wife once a week instead of...never.

Yankee fans are spoiled to be sure. But there is nothing wrong with demanding excellence from the teams you root for. You're spending your hard earn dollars to support them so you have every right to expect your money's worth.

Does that mean that it's ok for Yankee fans to boo A-Rod or other members of the team who might be struggling at the moment? No. But there's nothing wrong with being upset with their performance and expressing it in a civilized way.

You can rationalize why you root for your team however you want. But when your team wins 26 championships then you talk about how it feels to be a Yankee fan.

Until then, you and your ilk haven't a clue on what it's like to support a winner.

Now Back To Your Regularly Scheduled Programming..

But before I go...Take a look at some pics from my photo album...enjoy....

Batman's Met Homily

All Yankee fans love to share in their success. And when I won this blog bet, I couldn't resist sharing this moment with my friend/sometime enemy, the Batman...who wanted me to pass this message on to the Met faithful....

On this special occasion as Yankee fans invade Metstradamus territory for one day, it is an opportunity, as I see it, to understand you, the Met fan.

So what was it that made you a Met fan? Can we blame the days before cable, when the rabbit ears gave you a better picture on WOR and bad reception on WPIX? Was it "Banner Day", when you had a chance to parade around Shea Stadium like goo-goo eyed toddlers attending a minor league game in Iowa? Maybe you became swept up in the artificial euphoria that was 1986...a one-hit wonder team who badly influenced you to behave as if a baseball dynasty was growing in Queens.

There could be a myriad of reasons and causes that led you down this dark, decrepit road, but on this July day, 2006, the time has now come for a dose of reality, and hopefully, a wake-up call. I sincerely regret that we can not travel back in time to steer you away from a life of bitterness.

We cannot return to the 1960s, when your team was born out of angst following the Dodgers-Giants exodus out west...the fact that your baseball church is nothing more than a 42 year-old unfinished eyesore built next to a major airport on the Grand Central, not to mention the neon stick figures that adorn the exterior and that putrid, out-dated top hat and apple to celebrate home runs. Do any of you out there really remember "The Magic is Back" campaign???...do you older fans remember that your record was 20-and-142 for almost each season of the 60s...or that your '69 championship was only won by default because the Cubs were busy becoming baseball's worst team ever (that's a whole other examination)...

For you, the Met fan, there's no going back to the 70s...the tainted final days of Willie Mays...the 'You Gotta Believe' rally cry that still ended with a thud when the A's won the '73 Series...the night that even horrified Yankee fans like me when the ludicrous trade happened of one George Thomas Seaver, the best player to ever wear the Met uniform...and of course, hearing Lindsey Nelson's sports jackets make more noise than the 1500 people who came out to Shea as the Mets would be blown out by both the National League's best and worst...

The 80s...I would hope you would have a better recollection of this decade than the players themselves, because your entire team was either snorting, shooting, or drinking themselves silly...not to mention the most horrific rally songs that would make a brick wall vomit: "Let's Go Mets", "Shea Mets Shuffle". I would sooner sit through a Lawrence Welk/Tiny Tim DVD collection than listen to that garbage again...and those horrible nicknames, "Doc", "Straw", "HoJo", "Kid", "El Sid"...El CRAP!!! If Met fans believe in saying prayers, the name Bill Buckner should still be mentioned each and every night...

The 90s...Bonilla, Coleman, Murray, Saberhagen...'nuff said...

2000-and beyond: Headlines: Piazza Psych Test for Clemens Nightmares...Rocker Rips 7 Train and Beats Listless Mets...Hampton Rips City Schools, Demands Trade...and the best one of all from October 26, 2000: YANKEES BEAT METS, WIN WORLD SERIES .

The New York Yankees learned what their destiny would hold on April 23, 1923...the day Babe Ruth christened a brand new Yankee Stadium and flood gates of greatness opened wide (to name only a few): Stengel, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Rizzuto, Mantle, Berra, Martin, Ford, Howard, Maris, Guidry, Jackson, Munson, Nettles, Dent, Piniella, Mattingly, Winfield, O'Neill, Rivera, Torre, Jeter...and of course one name that certainly deserves mention: Willie Randolph...the great Yankee that you now depend on to find your greatness. Yes, Joe Torre was once a Met, and both Gooden and Strawberry are two of the most popular players in Met history who wear Yankee championship rings, but no mistake can be made about it...they won their rings in Yankee uniforms.

You continue to express hatred for the team in the Bronx, and yet, there's a team in Atlanta who has deprived you of so much and has shown you zero-respect (look up "Larry" Jones and the aforementioned John Rocker). The Yankees have extinguished their fire for you multiple times, and yet, your Yankee hate still burns. I could waste your time and ask you to abandon the ship in Flushing and come to "The Stadium"...but there is no need to do so, because the work of Mr. Randolph has said it all. Every great accomplishment in baseball, and in sports, is measured by the dominance, class, and progress of the Bronx Bombers. If 2006 is the beginning of something great for the Mets, it is because Willie Randolph has finally brought some, if not all, of these qualities to your side of town. As a song I've never heard says..."You Better Recognize"!

Sincerely,

The Batman

The Fall Of The Rebellion....Darth Marc Takes Over The Hoth Jacuzzi

I am so going to enjoy this....

Despite Metstra's rantings, I will not do the following during my dominion over Metsland...

Bring up the 2000 World Series. Why shoot a dead horse? Besides, why bring it up, when you'll do it for me?

The Scott Kazmir trade. Personally, I love the deal. He's beaten the Red Sox five times in the two years. But he can't beat the Yankees. Loving it.

World Series titles before I was born. No need to. The six that we have in my lifetime will do just fine, thank you very much.

But before I start for my first rant of the day, my Karen had a couple of questions and requests for you....

Please tell them to find a natural rival in their own
division because if one more Mets fan gets all "I
think Mets/Yankees is just as good as Yankees/Red Sox"
I will shoot myself.

And ask how Anthony Young is doing, and if Who Let the
Dogs Out is going to make a big comeback this year.

Can anyone help her out with this? Have to agree with her on the natural rival thing. I don't hate interleague play like she does, but as much as I enjoy the Subway Series every year, it doesn't come close to the intensity of Yankees-Red Sox for the Yankees fan. Nothing does.

Since the Mets fan refuses to reserve the sort of venom and bile for the Phillies or Braves that they have for the Yankees, we have to be constantly subjected to the Mets and their fans using the Yankees as a measuring stick of sorts. That's why as enjoyable and exciting as the games and series are, the Subway series will always be viewed by the Yankees and their fans as more of a chore than a rivalry. We'll always have more to lose than the Mets will in these games. Regardless, of the records of the two teams.

Yankees-Red Sox is a blood war. Mets-Yankees is an intense sibling rivalry. Nothing more.

I actually have a question....do you Yankee haters have a script that you read from now? I'm used to tourists and their silly gal pals with the pink David Wright jersey, telling me that they hate the Yankees because, "They buy all their players and they've ruined baseball." I'm used to hearing this sort of drivel from that sort of idiot. The folks who go to a game once every five years and don't know who's playing left for their own team.

But now I'm hearing it from allegedly informed, knowledgeable fans now. What's the matter? Chris Russo's Crack Committee of Yankee Haters are molding the message now for you all?

Case in point, my friend affectionately known as "Gagne" (a spitting image for Eric) is a huge White Sox fan and avowed enemy of the Empire. He starts spewing that garbage at me during the All-Star game last night. I don't know if it was the alcohol or the fact that his team's reign as division champs is going to end to the Tigers.

I asked him if he really believed that or was he just yanking my chain. He starts railing on the $200 million payroll and all the other garbage you hear from the Crack Committee.

For the record, are most Yankees fans are pleased with the team having a $200 million payroll? No. Most of us are mortified by it.

But the fact that our payroll is ridiculous, isn't ruining baseball. On the contrary, name me a time in the history of the game when the game has been in better shape. Baseball is thriving, in spite of the uneven financial playing field. Face it folks, the playing field has always been skewered. Free agency or no, there have always been haves and have-nots. Demonizing big-market clubs and Scott Boras isn't going to change that.

As usual, Yankee haters are looking at treating the symptoms instead of the disease. Rarely have the Yankees been the ones to set the prices during the free agency blitz of winter.

That's right. I said it. Yes, the Yankees have the ability to pay players whatever the market is set in a particular year. But rarely they the ones who set it.

Did the Yankees offer A-Rod $252 million or Kevin Brown $105 million? Yeah they signed Jeter for $19 million a year, Giambi for $19 million a year and Moose for $14 million a year. But the market had already been set by Boras, Hicks and Fox.

It was like when the Mets signed Kris Benson, a .500 pitcher, for three years $22 million two years ago. They inadvertantly set the market for mid-level/back of the rotation starters. The agents of pitchers like Jon Lieber, Matt Clement and Carl Pavano told respective bidders, "out guy is better than Benson. This is what we want." Teams had little wiggle room to negotiate a lower bid as a result.

What the Yankees' money enables them to do is 1)re-sign their own players instead of trading them before they become too expensive 2)absorb large contracts in trades for big ticket players and 3)absorb the hit on a high-priced bomb.

But does any of that constitute the ruination of the baseball universe? Please.

The Yankees have had no less than seven home grown players that have contributed greatly to their recent and past success since 1996. How many home grown players did the Red Sox have in 2004 and now? What about the White Sox? Where is all of this outrage over the fact that the Red Sox had one home grown player on the team that won the World Series in 2004?

Let me ask you this, would the KC Royals be competitive if there was a salary cap? Or would their owners still line their pockets with revenue sharing money....refusing to reinvest their profits back into their team? I doubt that they would spend the money necessary to be competitve. The Yankees are a $200 million crutch on which the have nots lean upon. Why get better, when you can blame the Yankees for sucking?

I would actually argue that the Yankees Leviathan financial status has increased the quality of play and competition in the game. Teams realize that they have to scout smarter, draft smarter, make smart trades and waiver moves and on occassion spend some cheddar for the big ticket free agent who can take you to the next level. Knowing that they have to compete against a foe with such resources....a team that can afford to make a couple of big mistakes and still compete....it forces the Omar Minayas, Theo Epsteins, Billy Beanes and Kenny Williams of the world to be at the top of their games. When you have smart competitive front-offices in baseball, you have smart, competitive teams. Look at the American League. It's not some accident that the AL has become the dominant league over the last decade. And I think it has a lot to do with teams seeing what's happening in the Bronx and raising their games to compete.

Every successful game needs a foil. A villain. The NFL has the Cowboys. College Football has Notre Dame. College Basketball has Duke. MLB has the Yankees. There's nothing wrong with that. But don't confuse being the bad guys with being bad for the game. If the Yankees are so bad for the game, then how come they're consistently one of the top road draws in baseball?

If a full-house is a bad thing, then call me Satan.

Does the game need some sort of salary cap? Yes. But how many of you actually believe that the same teams that are competitive now wouldn't continue to win consistently? This idea that the Yankees would become the '62 Mets overnight is lunacy.

The Yankees are best thing to have ever happened to the game of baseball. If you want to hate them fine. But know why you're hating them before you bite the bats that feed you.