NY Yankees: Nine Years without a World Series Win Isn’t a Curse, but a Lesson
August 12, 2009 · Sam Fogelgaren · Jump to comments
Article Source: Bleacher Report - New York Yankees
The New York Yankees have 26 World Championships, 39 Pennants and 47 playoff berths.
The Yankees have won more World Series Championships than all the team from the AL Central, AL West, and NL East combined. They have won nearly a quarter of all World Series, won nearly 40 percent of all American League Pennants, and made it to the playoffs nearly half of the time.
But it’s not all good in the Bronx. This constant winning is something fans don’t take for granted. Or do they?
The constant success of the Yankees causes fans to not just anticipate success, but expect it, and that’s not right.
As a Yankee fan too young to remember the success of the late 90’s and even the World Series berths of the early 2000’s, I am “stuck” with the teams of 2004 and on. Just to use the word stuck to describe a team that has won at least 89 games over the last five years tells a lot about the culture of a Yankees fan.
We expect to win. And it is a problem that I am trying to overcome.
Well, it makes sense. The Yankees win way more than any other team in baseball history, shouldn’t we expect to win?
No.
What we should do is keep in the back of our minds the rich and diverse history of the Yankees. We should always know that the Yankees have a history for winning.
What we shouldn’t do is expect to win.
Unfortunately, what we shouldn’t do is what we are doing.
Think of it this way. You’re a Cleveland Indians fan born in 1935. You’re 13 and your hometown Indians win the World Series. You just got Larry Doby from the Negro Leagues, and you have two other Hall-of-Famers, Lou Boudreau and Joe Gordon, in that lineup, not to mention three Hall-of-Fame pitchers, Bob Lemon, Bob Feller and Satchel Paige.
In reality, is it the perfect time? No. Though the team stayed competitive throughout your teenage years, they couldn’t win a World Series. And now you’re 74-years-old, and all you have is that memory of when you were 13.
By now, you don’t expect the Indians to win the World Series, do you? If anything, you expect them not to, which is a whole different argument.
So there are a ton of Yankees fans going crazy because we haven’t won a World Series in nine whole seasons. Well, Yankees fans, I have news for you…the New York Mets would have loved to be in that situation.
And so would numerous other teams, such as the Indians, and especially the Chicago Cubs.
The Yankees are an amazing unique organization. But fans look at this success in the wrong way. We should simply accept the fact that we win so much and just be proud of it, not demand it.
By expecting and demanding success, we are taking out the fun of winning.
Winning should be enjoyable.
In New York, it’s somewhat of a ritual, which is OK. And yes, when you’re team doesn’t win, you have the right to get aggravated, even if you are a Yankees fan. But to expect to win every year?
As a die-hard Yankees fan, I understand that this goal is ultimately unreachable.
This deals with a philosophical argument: perfection. If we want to succeed, we must have perfection as our goal, but we must also realize that it is not a realistic goal. We have to get as close as we can, but still realize we will never get there.
It’s the same exact thing when it comes to winning championships. Of course, I want the Yankees to win every season, but I realize that it isn’t realistic. I know they will win some of the time, and when they do win, I cherish that time.
I’ll be honest. I think I am a good Yankees fan. I know when to criticize Brian Cashman and management, and I know when to sit back and say, “I am happy to be a Yankees fan.”
And before I finish this up, I want to clarify something you might be getting angry over.
I know winning is something the Yankees do a lot, and it is a culture of ours. But the point I am trying to express is not that we should feel guilty for winning so much. That’s not what I’m saying at all. I’m saying we should be proud of our success, but not take it for granted, and not expect it.
As Yankee fans, we are breaded into a culture of success and winning. But we have started to take that winning for granted.
I am here to tell you that the last nine years have not necessarily been hell. It has been a message. A message telling us we need to stop expecting championships, and start rooting for the New York Yankees.
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