The Evil Empire

Twice in the past 48 hours I have been dinged by new friends who have learned that I am a Yankees fan. People aren't neutral about the Yankees. You can tell someone that you are a Braves fan and they will say, "I'm a Cardinals fan." But when you tell someone that you are a Yankees fan, they will either high-five you and say Go Yanks! or they will look at  you in disgust and say, "I don't know how you can pull for the Yankees." That's pretty funny because I am not an obnoxious fan like say, Red Sox fans are. I am a generational Yankees fan. When I was a boy back in the 60's, boys from Oklahoma routinely were Yankees fans because of Mickey Mantle. Later, Bobby Murcer continued the tradition of Oklahomans who starred for the Bronx Bombers. In the 70's the Yankees were still my American League team, but the Big Red Machine of Cincinnati was my National League team because of Johnny Bench. (It didn't hurt that they had one of the most impressive lineups in major league history.) Baseball was big important stuff. Back then, World Series games were played during the day, and it wasn't uncommon for a teacher to allow a radio in the classroom so we could keep up with the progress of games. But starting with the 80's baseball just faded away. LIfe got complicated with marriage, children and career taking up my emotional energy. I stopped looking at the box scores and I went for weeks not knowing who led the various divisions. If I watched any baseball at all, it would be World Series games, but only if I was at home.

It took an empty nest, a son-in-law and a couple of friends all of whom were avid Yankees friends to reengage my interest in baseball. The past couple of seasons I have followed baseball from opening day through the Series and it has been fun. (Did I mention that the Yankees won their 27th World Series last year?) And I really like being a fan of the Evil Empire.