My best friend from Long Island says I'm a bad Jew. It's not because I don't celebrate the holidays that come up seemingly every week, which I don't. It's not because I've never been to Israel, which I haven't. And it's not because I haven't taken the time to learn Hebrew or celebrate the High Holidays -- because I actually have done that. I am an affront to my religion because I am a Yankees fan.
He argues that, "As Jews, we've always been the underdog. Therefore you should root for the Mets." By rooting for the "Evil Empire," as he claims, I've apparently become part of a vast right-wing conspiracy that includes the Yankees, Fox News and Republicans.
These are just some of the more interesting verbal barbs I've had to deal with during the past few weeks. It's been rough. I watched my team lose four straight games in the biggest collapse in sports history. I watched us lose to our hated rivals who before this week had won nothing of significance since World War I. I watched Mariano Rivera, the greatest closer ever, blow not one, but two, consecutive saves. I was distraught. I was demoralized. In fact, I'm still in denial.
I can understand why people might hate the Yankees. They've won 26 championships and have the best players in baseball. But some people (i.e., losers) like to support the underdog. So how can I justify being a Yankees fan? It is a compelling question that touches upon a more interesting topic: the true nature of the sports fan.
A few months ago, ESPN aired a commercial with a guy wearing a Michigan shirt kissing a girl wearing an Ohio State sweatshirt. While they were professing their love for each other, the following message came on the screen: "Without sports this wouldn't be disgusting." And it was disgusting. In fact, I sometimes feel sacrilegious because my girlfriend is a huge Ohio State fan while I bleed maize and blue.
The point of this commercial is that sports fans, regardless of their loyalties, are inherently irrational. Why should clothes inspire such disgust? Why am I a Michigan fan? I've never even been to the state of Michigan. When I was six or seven, I would go to my friend's house and watch Michigan games on TV because his sister went to school there. That's not a logical reason, but I'm still a die-hard Wolverines fan.
So why am I a Yankees fan? I've rooted for them since I was a little kid, and over the years the loyalty stuck. In essence, there's no real difference between me being a Yankees fan and my roommates cheering for the Red Sox. But there are legitimate reasons why we cheer for our teams. It goes beyond Bernie Williams being money in the clutch and Derek Jeter personifying the essence of a winner. As sports fans, we've grown with our teams. We feel a common bond with everyone related to that team -- whether fan, player or owner. When my roommate wore a Red Sox hat the day after Boston won, he said he felt an unspoken connection with everyone on this campus. Random strangers would look at his hat and smile. Had we won, it would have been the same way.
We all have a genuine, albeit seemingly irrational, passion for our teams. It's so great that we feel a sense of identification with them. Ever notice how all sports fans have a tendency to make sports teams their own? Who's pitching for "us" tonight? Are "we" winning? Have we ever played for the team? No, but we still feel as if we're a part of that team and we have some influence on the outcome. For last year's Game Seven against the Red Sox, I changed outfits three times until I found one that was "lucky." I even wore the exact same clothes this year -- but apparently luck lay elsewhere in my closet this time around.
My friends may say that rooting for the Yankees is like rooting for the devil incarnate. They can tell me that I'm an affront to Judaism or I'm a pawn of Karl Rove and Rupert Murdoch. But their pleas are just as foolish as me saying that the Red Sox don't deserve to win because their stadium is a worthless relic with tiny seats that should be torn down (which it is). We're all illogical, and we all use random non sequiturs to justify our conclusions. Trying to get me to abandon my loyalty by playing the "but we've been persecuted for thousands of years" card won't work.
Rivalries are what make sports fun. They force us to step up our passion a notch. We believe that the athletes feed off our raw emotions, which can will them to victory.
So Boston fans may have gotten lucky this time, but even if you still hate the Yankees and their fans, it's OK. I understand. It's all part of the game. Keep coming up with those clever insults.
Just remember: Since 1918, we're 25 world championships ahead.
Craig Cohen is a Wharton junior from Woodbury, N.Y. He Hate Me appears on Fridays.
