My 9 Year Wait Is Over

This post is dedicated to Work Matt, Matt K., Steve F., Brandon W., Bader, Mikey L., Mikey C., Ben C., Katie S. and all the people I know who have waited patiently for the Yankees to bring home the big trophy these past 9 years. Our collective wait is over. Everyone exhale.

It's tough being a Yankees fan. Not only is our team perennially favored to win it all, has the biggest payroll in professional sports and the most outspoken owner in the history of everything, but on top of all that is the burden of loving a team that a lot of people love to hate. So, on days like today when I and the rest of the Yankee faithful wake up knowing that, yet again, we can call our favorite team the champions of the world, every single one of us breathes a little easier... for a few hours at least, before we start to hear the same old sh_t from angry Yankee haters who can't figure out why their favorite team can't get it done. Hey, I feel you, guys. My team has gone 9 years without performing in the post season the way they should have, and they even missed the playoffs once, so, please let us have our moment in the sun. Okay? Seem fair? Moving on then...

When I was 6 years old my Grandpa Sam sat me down and told me about Babe Ruth and the storied history of the Yankees. I learned about Gehrig, Dimaggio, Maris and Mantle, Reggie Jackson and Billy Martin, and from that point on I never considered cheering for another team. It just wouldn't have made sense to root for a team like the Mets, Pirates or Red Sox, because not only were the Yanks the winningest team in the history of professional sports, but they were the most storied franchise ever. Period. So much of baseball's legacy revolves around the New York Yankees that to love the sport, to me anyway, meant to love the Yankees. Now, it didn't matter that when I was growing up the Yankees were a bottom feeding team with a mercurial manager/owner relationship that turned the franchise into a kind of side show attraction, because they were still the mother f_cking New York Yankees and I knew deep down their time would come and the glory of years past would be fully restored. Not to mention the first moustache I ever admired belonged to Don "Hitman" Mattingly.

Little Known Fact: Don Mattingly's moustache hit .280 for Triple AAA Scranton-Wilkes Barre in 1979, but injured it's knee before it had a chance to be called up to the majors.

I was lucky, because not too long after I really got into baseball the Yankees started to win again. This was a simpler era when Derek Jeter was a baby faced phenomenon and Mariano Rivera was just starting to become the unbeatable, legendary closer that he is today. I remember in 1996 listening to the Yankees beat the Braves in game 6 during CYO basketball practice, because my coach, like me, was a die hard Yankee fan who wanted to know exactly how and when his team was going to win it all. This was 2 years after the 1994 baseball season was ended prematurely, and I'm not sure how many people remember this, but before the season was called the Yankees had the best record in baseball and looked poised to return to their winning ways. It took almost 2 years for the Yanks to rally back into championship form, but, man, when they did it was look out world time and they were off to the races. As a fan, a young one at that, I had never been happier.

Then 2001 came around and, after winning 4 out of the last 5 championships, the Yankees lost to a team from Arizona known as the Diamondbacks. I was in college at the time and remember feeling like I wanted to punch a hole in someone's face when a roar went out over the campus (literally, it was a wave of noise I'll never forget) as the Yankees lost. People poured out into the common era wearing Diamondbacks jerseys and the few, proud Yankee fans sat around looking dazed, licking their wounds without making a scene. I have never been prouder to be a Yankee fan in my life than I was that night when the dozen or so of us just sat there and let it happen without picking a fight or rioting to show our anger. We acted like civil human beings that understand sometimes a team has to lose, and hey, we were spoiled. No matter how much it hurt to see our team lose after 5 years of complete and utter dominance, we were nice about it.

2002 was the first year I remember actively hating anything that had to do with the city of Boston and especially the Red Sox, because it seemed like that year especially the BoSox and their fans were making great efforts to piss off anyone that even marginally supported the Yankees. Granted, I was busy that year trying to piece my life back together after a series of bad decisions on my part ended with me being out of college, out of work and completely and totally lost in a stormy sea of uncertainty. In short: 2002 sucked, but I dealt with it as best I could and hoped for the best in 2003.

That didn't happen. The Yankees once again reached the World Series, but this time they lost, again, to the Florida Marlins (this was more embarrassing than painful, because, f_ck, it was the Marlins for God's sake), and I found myself once again faced with the arduous task of being gentlemanly in the face of defeat, but I never once lost hope that the next season would bring about a return to form, but, unfortunately we all know how 2004 ended with the BoSox winning their first World Series in more than 80 years. It was at this point that I started to wonder if, after dropping 4 in a row to our most hated rivals, that the Yanks might need to shake things up a bit and start righting the ship in a different direction, and in a way they certainly did, but for 5 years things pretty much stayed the same and my frustration with the underperformance of a team with a payroll in excess of $200 Million and more All-Stars than should be allowed by law came to a head.

Ah, but, last night around midnight Robinson Cano tossed the ball to first base and ended the game giving the Yankees the win over the Philadelphia Phillies ( a team I have new found respect for, by the way, because, f_ck me can Cliff Lee pitch and f_ck me can Chase Utley hit) and for the first time in nearly a decade everything was right with the world. I looked upon the love of my life and our dog and I just knew what it was to be completely and totally happy with the way things are. I don't live and die by the Yankees, and my happiness doesn't truly depend upon their success, but God damn it, it feels good to win again.

Congratulations you magnificent, pin striped bastards!

There they are, your 2009 World Series Champs!