AN contributor Phil Naessens talks about his hatred for the Yankees, his joy at seeing the A's beat them two out of three and much more including a free chance to win $109 bucks.
I don't know who coined the phrase "chicks dig the longball" but they must have been a Yankee fan. Every great Yankee team I can remember or read about was built around guys hitting bombs....and big ones at that. That short right field porch in the "house that Ruth built" and in the new Park has helped propel the Yankees to one of the most incredible records in all of sports history so when teams like the A's waltz in there and give them a dose of their own medicine it really makes me smile.
Allow me to backtrack a bit here.
Growing up most if not all of my family and friends were New York Yankee fans. Not me; I'm not one to run with the masses so to speak and I decided to become a New York Mets fan instead. My Grandfather was a Detroit Tiger fan and after spending countless summers as a child with him listening to Ernie Harwell on the radio I became a Tiger fan as well. The Tigers played the Yankees some 18 times a season which meant 18 times a year my team had the chance to beat the Yankees. The only chance my Mets had would be to reach the World Series and back then the two teams were never good enough to both reach the Series at the same time.
Any time I would bring up the Mets or any other team that was doing well Yankee fans would tell me; "Where's your history? We got the Babe, the Iron Horse, the Clipper and the Mick". The core four.....the Mount Rushmore of Baseball. You got nothing. Fahgetaboutit." After the first couple of times it was okay but after listening to this crap nearly 20 times a day it became really annoying.
The other thing that really annoyed me about the Yankees growing up was the way that George Steinbrenner dude would spend money. Free Agency was upon us and whenever the Yanks had a need good ol' Georgie Boy would fill it paying more than everyone else for dudes who could hit the long ball and beat our beloved teams. There were also times when the Spankees were very successful because of the long ball and even longer spending but as far as I was concerned it just wasn't fair, was really annoying and I absolutely hated those muther effers for it.
Flash forward to 2014 and not much has changed. George Steinbrenner is no longer with us but the Yankees are still trying to win games by spending ungodly sums of money for players they hope will win them games with the long ball. Sadly for them their half a billion dollar spending spree this winter hasn't produced the results they were looking for that doesn't make me sad at all.
Yes, my name is Phil I am an unashamedly unabashedly absolute Yankee hater.
I took special satisfaction in watching Brandon Moss, Yoenis Cespedes and Josh Donaldson, Major Leagues bargain basement version of the half a billion dollar Yankees, go bombs away and beat the overpaid and underperforming Bronx Bombers in their own house at their own game. It's too darn bad they couldn't do it again with Drew Pomeranz pitching the best game of his career on Thursday but we will take the series victory all the same.
You know what else is fun about beating the Yankees? Smack talking Yankee fans after they lose to light spending superior teams like the A's. I'm not talking about what they call "trolling" I'm talking about actually calling up your favorite Yankee fan and giving them the business. There's nothing more enjoyable than listening to a Yankee fan make excuses as to why their beloved Bombers can't seem to hit their way out of Monument Park and they always wind up going back to the standard;
"Where's your history? We got the Babe, the Iron Horse, the Clipper and the Mick". The core four.....the Mount Rushmore of Baseball. You got nothing. Fahgetaboutit."
The best part about beating the Yankees is talking with Alex about it on my show. We obviously talked about beating the Yankees but we also talked about how this A's team is arguably the best team in baseball, we answered a young listeners question about why Coco Crisp is so popular and looked ahead to the weekend series with Baltimore.
If you are an NBA or OKC Thunder fan interested in finding out if the Thunders Kevin Durant is soft and what makes the San Antonio Spurs so good. J.A. Sherman from the SB Nation Thunder blog Welcome to Loud City joins me to do just that.
If you would like the straight scoop on the St. Louis Cardinals then please tune into the show as Viva El Birdos Eric Johnson joins me to give all the latest on Oscar Tavares, Kolton Wong, the Cardinals offensive struggles and a preview of their weekend series with the Toronto Blue Jays.
One last thing: listeners of this show and readers of this column are invited to play a free fantasy baseball game on June 6, 2014 compliments of Draft Street and the Phil Naessens Show. Click this link right HERE, fill out your lineup for your chance to win $109 bucks for free! You can listen to the show below or download it from my site here