“Right” in my framework is what it is that justifies why I should not be a Yankee fan, and why others shouldn’t be as well. How can you not see the role that money plays in this? And, I do care who the team is being compared against, very much so. If we were comparing the Brewers to the Orioles, or the Twins to the White sox I would have a different platform, because for me what motivates the discussion is that it is the Yankees we are comparing to. Maybe that wasn’t clear. I am participating to hear arguments so as to try and understand why the Yankees are not as evil as I so naturally assume, if after having such strong, consistent (al beit at times statistically uninformed) opinions of the Yankees there is some bit of knowledge out there that would provide me with insight into this club and have it so maybe, if other things worked out I could support the Yankees or at least not hate them as much as I do and blame them for all that is wrong with this amazing sport. I have learned lots from the statistical banter that has been had and I get it, and we will continue to argue and spin stats that is one of the amazing aspect of baseball but right now my issue is that you want someone to prove that “the Yankees could do things by not just simply throwing their money around…”And, I don’t think they can because that is not how you have ever operated and it’s asinine to try and separate the Yankees from their business practices.
I guess I don’t “view baseball as baseball”. I love the sport of baseball, because I love my teams, and I have an emotional attachment to their history, with their success, their failures, to their mistakes. Not seeing the value in that emotional attachment may be a product of having a team franchise that never had to loose someone because of money and quickly forget that sting... time and time again. Money, which as you have said all teams have, it’s just how they choose to spend it and some spend it wiser then others. I know you have made the point that if we want to not be hurt by our teams in this way then all teams should spend the way the Yankees do and that is justified because its not just you that are the big spenders. Which then means, okay so my teams don’t care about me, about their fan base about the success of the franchise to spend money in the “correct way” and avoid this angst. To say that those without the same show of buying power “care more about cost-effectiveness and savings than winning, and that's unfortunate...” undermines everyone who is not the in the same financial bracket as you, and that’s the majority of the sport.
And come on…is it about the statistics or is it not? If it is then I feel that certain interpretations of your facts are just wrong and we must be defining what makes a good short stop differently?? But if as you say its not just about the stats and I just need to try and comprehend the White Sox being the White Sox doing the same practices that the Yankees do and then they will be a more “successful” team thus ridding me of my hatred of Yankees by taking away the stigma of their business structures, well that doesn’t convince because the approach that the Yankees (and I do believe it is Yankee specific) use to put these good teams on the field is a “wrong” one and that is why I feel when any other team (maybe not the red sox or cubs) beat the Yankees, win playoffs, and WST they have a far superior team to even the best Yankee dynasty. The concepts that guide your franchise are flawed.
I know that it is the easy target and subject of ridicule that I am both a Brewer and White Sox fan and I am comfortable that my hatred of the Yankees is from the White Sox side (Brewers and Cubs are similarly themed for me). Maybe I am just being simplistic or maybe I am just missing some huge point but I cannot get away from the mentality that the Yankees represent entitlement and arrogance and well, the White Sox, Brewers, Twins represent a tru-grit and a never say die attitude. Nothing that I have heard (statistically or generally speaking) has lead me away from thinking that of the Yankees
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First the obvious....the Yankees are playing by the free-market rules of the MLB. The team has more money than most, so it spends that money on players that will help it win-- read make it more money. The White sox, Brewers, Twins, etc. all do the same thing to the best of their ability. The Yankees simply have more resources to draw from. I would hope it’s reassuring to you, however, that they Yankees can't just buy victory...as they haven't won a world series in 7 years. The argument you're making against them, and in support off "true grit" teams, sounds vaguely communistic. I hear echoes of Mao's argument that the honest farmers of the world are inherently more deserving than the crass businessman. The fault in your thinking lies in that the hard working White Sox are not the proletariat, and the fat cat Yankees are not the bourgeoisie. They are both just baseball clubs trying to make money.
Hating them is akin to hating Microsoft for selling more software than Redhat or ranting against Coke for being more popular than Pepsi. It might feel good, but it doesn't make any sense. Go Cubs.
N.B. You may be interested in this.
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