right through the very heart of it, new york, new york

i'm watching the yankees game tonight. they are playing the angels in game one of the alds. for the moment, the yanks are up 4-0. it's up to you, new york.

the first team i ever remember watching was the new york yankees. when i was a boy, they were not only the best team in the league; they were the most fun to watch. reggie jackson, catfish hunter, thurman munson, don't even get me started with billy martin. they were nicknamed " the bronx zoo. " it seems there was always some shenanigan or another going in the bronx in the late 70's. steinbrenner, billy, and reggie were embroiled in a love triangle that went the other way. someone was always calling out one of the others in the newspapers. billy would get fired, reggie would hit a homerun, and steinbrenner would buy a free agent to shore up something. through it all, they just kept winning. invariably, they would play in the series and - more often than not- they would win.

of course, i knew all about the history of the yankees. the history of the yankees is almost synonymous with the history of baseball. mccarthy, ruth, gehrig, stengel, berra , dimaggio, ford, mantle, maris, rizzuto; these were many of the greatest players of all time, and they all played in yankee stadium. a list of yankee championships takes a long time to digest.

in my teens, the yankees were awful. george thought he was the manager of the team and really succeeded in screwing up a good thing. i really loved willie randolph and dave winfield. don mattingly is one of my all time favorites, but watching them lose so much for so long was torturous. donny baseball never even got to play a post-season game.. where's the justice in that? all in all, they remained my favorite team.

well, we all know the yankees have come full circle and are back on top. they are in a real dry spell after not winning a championship in the last 4 years. people love to hate the yankees. they spend too much money. they're on tv too much. they're the "evil empire." to this i say," hey, if your team was anywhere as good, they would have the money to spend, people would want to watch them on tv, and we would care about who else is in the playoffs." without the yankees, the playoffs just aren't really as exciting. admit it - love them or hate them , when the yankees are playing, they get your attention. come to think of it, the yankees ARE major league baseball. put that in your pipe and smoke it.

a bit of trivia: after every home game, the yankee p.a. system blares "new york, new york." when they win, you are treated to frank sinatra belting out one of his favorite songs. when the yankees lose, you get liza minelli's version (which is the original recording.) you do the math.

by the way, the sox lost 14-2 today. good riddance. i hate you idiots, and your penis- envy organization , and especially your stupid fans. i miss the curse.