After a longer than normal drought, the NY Yankees won their 27th World Series last night putting away any concern that tearing down the old "house that Ruth built" may have created a curse that would prevent them from ever winning another. With Mariano Rivera on the mound and the depth of talented players NY is known for, the Yankees were able to complete the series with a 4-2 record. Last night's game ended with a 7-3 win. But the score and series were tougher than it may have looked like as the reigning world champ Phillies put up a heck of a fight. I have heard from friends who rooted for the Phillies only because they would NEVER root for the Yankees. They despise them for a variety of reasons. One of the big issues is salary.
"Why shouldn't they win?" they'd say. "They get the biggest salaries in the big leagues."
"They always win", says another friend. "I won't root for them just for that reason."
People, people, people. Have you lost sight of what this is all about? It is a silly game played by big boys for a few years in their youth and then they remove from the stage and let those who are younger take their place. They are paid insane, ridiculous amounts of money to play this game. Salaries no one has the right to be paid no matter how good they are. And what talent is required of this select few? A college education? A doctorate degree? Any degree? Nope. Basically they need to have exceptional eye/hand coordination and that's it. For that they are paid millions of dollars a year?
But don't forget PEOPLE, you support this system everytime you pay $75 or $100 to buy a single t
icket to a game, or $10 for a 50 cent hot dog or $5 for a $1 beer. I say if you are going to express outrage at the salaries of the members of the Yankee roster, you ought to be just as outraged at the only slightly, relatively speaking, lower salaries of the poor, poor Mariners up in Seattle. I enjoyed watching the games on TV this year and yes I am jazzed because my childhood favorites won for the 27th time in major league history. But I was also excited about how well the Phillies attempted to defend their title. It was just the Yankee's year.
Next year it will, if statistics are any indicator, be some other team's year. And I will enjoy watching whoever plays for the championship then as well and root for the best team to win. But always, out there on the horizon, with over a 100 years of tradition and the ghosts of Dimaggio, Ruth, Berra (the guy is still alive), Gehrig, Mantle, Pepitone, Maris, Williams, and all the others down through the years, will be those boys in pinstripes. It's only a matter of time before they win #28.
