As I watched the New York Yankees celebrate their Game 6 ALCS victory and trip to the World Series, it finally hit me why they are the franchise I hate most in all of sports.
For years, there has been no team I despise more than the Yankees—more than the college rivals I've cheered against like Minnesota or Stanford, more than the Oakland Raiders and certainly more than any other baseball team.
Now I see why I hate the Yankees so much: They symbolize everything that is wrong with Major League Baseball, and embody all of the qualities that drew me away from the game in the first place. From terrible owners to inflated payrolls to gaudy stadiums, the Yankees have them all.
Let's start with domineering owner George Steinbrenner. His style of management has already made him a caricature in the minds of many fans, and you would be hard-pressed to find any owner that fans and players hate more than him.
With the possible exception of Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis or former Cincinnati Reds owner Marge Schott, can you think of an owner who made himself more of a story than the team as much as Steinbrenner has?
Steinbrenner's method of signing players to absurd contracts, making it impossible for smaller teams to compete, is another one of baseball's issues the Yankees employ.
You could say I'm just a bitter fan of a ""Moneyball"" team who is tired of seeing his team's best players bought up by the Yankees. But they essentially bought their American League Championship this year, and if they win the World Series they will have their inflated payroll to thank for that as well.
The Yankees pluck the best players from clubs all around baseball, pulling them away from fans with massive salary offers no one can compete with. I'm not an advocate for a baseball salary cap, but you would be hard pressed to find a better argument in favor of it than the ""Evil Empire.""
The new Yankee Stadium even takes those terrible qualities from the field to the stands.
I made my view of absurd new stadiums clear a couple of weeks ago, and there is no bigger offender than the Yankees' new home. After tearing down a shrine to baseball history, they erected a new one bowing down to everything that is wrong about modern baseball stadiums.
Of course, there are the now-famous ""Legends Suite"" tickets, which cost $1,250 per game—after the Yankees halved the ticket cost when they realized people wouldn't pay $2,500 for one baseball game, absurd ticket prices aren't the only terrible thing about the new Yankee Stadium. The stadium is an awful attempt to create a sense of history in a gaudy new park, while the whole building is plastered with obtrusive advertisements.
This is by no means a complete list of the Yankees' terrible attributes—let's not forget that the Yankees have an admitted steroid user leading their offense, their broadcasters (specifically John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman) are some of the biggest homers in baseball, and their fans are some of the worst in all of sports.
People don't hate the Yankees because they're jealous of them. Sure, I would love for my team to win 26 World Series titles, or possibly 27 depending on the next couple of weeks, but the real reason people despise the Yankees is because of what they represent.
A Republican friend of mine jokes that he likes the Yankees because they represent everything that's good about big business: they have the most money, so they get the best talent and win world championships at the expense of smaller teams.
He's right: the Yankees are the sports equivalent of a massive corporation, dominating their competition and stuffing their own pockets with championships. Their owner's style, player acquisitions and even stadium are all part of an homage to the absurd wealth that has so deeply impacted baseball.
Teams like the Yankees have caused me to drift further and further from baseball in the past five years, and they embody everything I can't stand about what the sport has become.
Think it's not the Yankees' fault because you have to blame the game, not the player? Or are the Yankees just fun to hate? E-mail Nico at savidgewilki@wisc.edu.
