Steinbrenner aside, my big problem lies more with Yankee "fans" than with the team. I don't believe in punishing success and I'm not the jealous type. The Yanks are a great organization that is run very intelligently, very efficiently and within the means of the system -- however screwed up it may be -- that baseball has in place.
It's the so-called Yankee fans that irritate me more than the team, for several reasons:
1) The belief they are entitled to everyone cow-towing to them. If you criticize any of their players on any point, they go crazy. This Cablevision thing is a perfect example. George decided to form his own network and struck deals with other cable providers. There is NOTHING wrong with that. However, there is also nothing wrong with Cablevision saying "thanks, but no thanks." The ridiculous notion that Yankee fans are entitled to their team so everyone else should have to pay for it is foolish. But in the Yankee universe, no other team, the good of the league, or anyone else matters. It's arrogance in its most blatant form.
2) Yankee "fans" would rather come to Shea to root against the Mets then watch their own team. Opening Day at Shea, Yankee fans all over the place, despite the fact that the Yanks first game was on TV (and Cablevision is actually a small percentage of the New York market). why weren't these die hard "fans" home watching/listening to their beloved Yankees?
3) It ties in with #2, but Steinbrenner's unwavering obsession with the 80's Mets. Reality is, the Yanks still have never captured New York like that group of Mets did. This has nothing to do with quality of team or anything like that, but that team captured this city like no other. Look at Steinbrenner going after ANYONE associated with that team...Sid Fernandez and Kevin Elster were invited to camp the past two years for goodness sake. It's funny to watch, because no matter what success the Yankees have, Steinbrenner will still ALWAYS be obsessed with the Mets.
4) Hyprocrisy. "He's a headhunter and everybody knows it, but he's Roger Clemens and he'll get away with it." - Joe Torre when Clemens was with the Blue Jays. "I've never seen Roger throw at anybody."-after he beaned Piazza. Zimmer crying about "how could Piazza know" if Clemens threw at him, only Roger could know, but Zimmer crying and ranting any time someone hits a Yankee.
5) Lack of class. Hmmm...I'm finding more Yankee organization things as I go...from Steinbrenner's handling of Winfield, to the ways he dealt with Chris Chambliss, Bob Watson, Yogi Berra and others. Their heritage is a band of drunks from Ruth to Mantle to Billy Martin, who get held up as these heroes. Disgusting.
6) Most Yankee "fans" are bandwagoners who are called by other Yankee fans who have been there through it all "98'ers." It's a known factor.
7) People root for the Yanks because it's easy. It requires no heart, no commitment. If they lose, you just say "26 rings" and make yourself feel better. You root for the team with the safety blanket, the easy way out. That's not the case for all, but a LOT of Yankee fans I met, talk with them and ask them about anyone other than the big names and they haven't a clue.
This all being said...the Yanks are not evil. They are playing under the framework of a game that is being run terribly. But they are doing nothing wrong until the rules change.
GH
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