IN MY SHOES: What It’s Like To Be A Yankees Fan
Will Leitch, founding editor of the Gawker Media sports blog "Deadspin," describes what it’s like to be a Yankees fan watching the premature end of the team’s season in The New York Times sports blog "Fair and Foul":
Say whatever you want about Yankees fans - Lord knows, they’d say whatever they want about you - but you cannot deny that they are driven by their collective bond. Their reputation might be colored by negativity, as anyone who has ever foolishly worn an opposing team’s jersey at Yankee Stadium can tell you, and they certainly have never been afraid to inform their own players of their shortcomings, when they deem them deserving. But one cannot doubt their passion and, surprisingly, at the end, their grace. …
They did not boo Alex Rodriguez after his second strikeout early. They did not boo Wang after he was removed in the second. They did not boo Derek Jeter when he grounded into a crushing double play in the sixth inning. … They hung in with their Yankees to the bitter, desperate end. It is more than you can say for Mets fans during their team’s supernatural collapse down the regular season’s final stretch …
When it ended, fans were not storming the field, or screaming for vengeance, or burning their Yankees caps. When Torre came out to the mound for his final pitching change, fans, while still holding out hope, recognized the moment, chanting his name, knowing they were likely seeing him for the last time. … They knew, if Torre does leave, that they were seeing the end of something that was beautiful to them. Torre had not failed them, and neither had Rodriguez, or Jeter, or even Wang. Sometimes, in baseball, you lose. The fans were not gnashing teeth and rending garments; they were not about to abandon their team. They never were.
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