Yankee Hate: Keeping Us Warm in October Since 1913

Drew, over at Ghostrunner on First, points out that Yankee rage turns people into idiots.

As I liveblogged the game on Saturday night; the calls/whines of Yankee conspiracy grew out of control and, if I'm being honest, pretty pathetic. Of all the major sports, baseball would be the most difficult to rig. Especially if you're talking about base umpires. The cries reached a fever pitch during the Erick Aybar phantom tag/neighbourhood play controversy. The video showed, in my mind, Aybar made zero effort to tag the bag. The complaints that "they always let that go, the Yankees get all the calls" may seem to have some merit, especially if you already see it that way. But let's all admit one thing: if video showed Jeter the same distance from the bag in a similar situation, we'd all be losing our mind crying over how "he didn't touch the base!!!" The neighbourhood play is one thing, petty hand-wringing is another. Just enjoy the playoffs, root for the Angels if you like being lied to, and have a good time. Save your blind Yankee rage for the summer.

So, we're idiots if we hate on the Yankees now? People probably would be outraged if Jeter didn't touch the bag. But the point is, that would never be an issue because that would never be called against him in Yankee Stadium. And I'm sure Jeter doesn't hit it 100% of the time. I mean, 2nd base isn't a Hollywood starlet.

Much like Yankee hit balls are never called foul when they land a foot inside the line. If it lands fair, it's called fair. It's just one of the perks of being a Yankee.

And also, I was on that liveblog and the outrage lasted about 2 minutes.

Yankee hate is a long held tradition. If we can't hate on the smug and the rich, who can we hate on?