Why It's Always Easy Being a Yanks Fan

As a Yankees fan, I just had arguably the worst week of my fanatical experience with the team. Everything is magnified of course because this is a club that is still clinging to the leftover glory from the late '90s. But a terrible week regardless.

We lost Joe Torre. We lost A-Rod. We could still potentially lose Mariano, Posada and Pettitte. Donny Baseball refuses to come back to coach, which will hopefully not strain his relations with the team.

And some team in Boston won some sort of championship.

Not being a major sports fan, you'd assume ESPN was a Yankees network, and might be left saying that very line.

I turned on SportsCenter yesterday and watched a special (and lengthy) report: Yankees -- A Dynasty in Transition. The only mention of the Sox win came following the special, when Bob Ley on "First Report" began previewing his show, mentioning first Torre/Girardi, then A-Rod, and finally "and oh yeah -- the Red Sox completed their second World Series sweep in four years."

As much as I like Girardi and think he'll be a great fit with all our young pitching (if his Manager of the Year award from Florida was any indication), and as much as I like the idea of spending that $300 million the Yanks save by not signing A-Rod on pitching instead, it was still a week in which all hope could have been shot to hell. The manager was fired, an unproven replacement hired, and the best player in the game decided to leave the team. A-Rod's numbers can only be replaced if done so by multiple players next season.

And don't get me started on all those annoying Sox fans I've had to deal with around my Hartford, Conn. campus.

But I have to say this -- it's still easy being a Yanks fan. I still feel like we'll make all the right moves and get back to the playoffs. Who knows? Maybe we'll build another team like the late '90s squad, one centered around the team concept rather than individuals and big names. But if I can wake up following a week of disaster for the team to see their logo broadcast more frequently on national television than the recently-crowned Red Sox, I can't feel too bad about moving forward.

Look, I'm not spending the money to replace A-Rod and any other free agents who decide to leave. If I were, we'd be starting that homeless guy who takes out my garbage for me on campus at third base, and my 6'4" roommate Tim -- whose quickest athletic move lately has been switching from TV to DVD with the remote -- would be our first baseman. The bottom line with the Yanks, though, is that we know the team will do everything it can to build a winner. We aren't forced to deal with a Peter Angelos like Baltimore or a 25-man roster like Kansas City's. We're lucky.

And luckily for me and for every Yanks fan, we've got a front office who not only spends more than any other team's, but cares more.