The Arrogant Ones

"The Yankees won. The world is right again," Yankee team president Randy Levine 11/04/09

Look at the statement above: other than a total egomaniac like Jerry Jones, can you imagine anyone other than a New York Yankee official saying something like that? Or even worse than saying it, actually believing it?

I can.

Your typical New York Yankee fan.

Think about the Yankees and their fans, and compare them to the rest of the sports fans in the universe.

Now most fans, if they are fortunate enough to have their teams win something, the main emotion expressed is joy. The type of joy a child experiences unwrapping Christmas presents. The type of joy that makes people fall into each others arms over a missed field goal by Scott Norwood. Or the UNCOMPARABLE joy when you heard by Murphy say "GETS BY BUCKNER!"

But the Yankee organization, and their trained sea lions, I mean fans, are hard-wired differently. The vibe they send out to the world is not joy, but arrogance.

Just listen to them. They brag more than WWF wrestlers. They don't talk about the joy of the journey; or the process, instead, they speak in bullet points that tell the listener about how great their team is. If you put the average Yankee fan in corporate America, they would be the guy who roams the hallways spitting out his accomplishments to all within ear shot.

But even before they open their mouths, Yankee fans have this weird compulsion to brag via the articles of clothes they wear. Ever see the guy with the Yankee jacket with all these patches and ribbons and bows on them? I love it. 50 year old men with a boy scout jacket and a wife who grew her mustache to look just like Don Mattingly's.

But the clothes thing, it all flows from the organization. The Yankee manager taking as a Jersey number the next World Series win? Could you see Tony LaRussa making that same decision? Please.

That's why I thought it was utterly appropriate when the Yankees had Jay-Z perform prior to a World Series Game.

It was a perfect marriage. I analyzed Jay-Z's lyrics. Here are the recurring themes: I have a lot of money- I have fancy cars- I have expensive jewelery- I have a lot of women- look at me- I am the best.

If the Yankee organization and their fans could be reincarnated, they surely would come back as Jay-Z.

(By the way, I saw Stevie Wonder in concert last week, and none of the songs he performed had lyrics that said he made millions of dollars by writing My Cherie Amour & I Was Made To Love Her before his 16th birthday.)

Ah, the Yankee fan. Ask him what time it is, and he will tell you how great his watch is. What Phil Mushnick said about Mike Francesa also applies to Yankee fans (which Francesa is one): when the traffic light goes from red to green, the Yankee fan thinks its because he has pull with the Department of Traffic.

A final thought before the Yankees and their fans hold their shareholder meeting in lower Manhattan today:

Does George think he is watching the Thanksgiving Day Parade?