When I make the trek up to my original NYC neighborhood - El Bronx, where I once lived as a kid amongst my Boricua and Moreno brothers and sisters- from rice and peas to arroz con pollo - the differences are everywhere I turn. For starters, E. Gunhill Road (where I often cruised in the back seat of my father's Monte Carlo) and Dyre Ave., is predominately Caribbean & West Indian. This means a lot of beef patties, patois and a penchant for soccer and cricket... if you go on Castle Hill Ave., you can eat a bad ass cuchifrito or enjoy the BEST Chino-Cuban food everrr! But if you walk round the corner of 136th and Broadway, it's a whole different ballgame. Perhaps you've been greeted by the Blue and White NY logos proudly painted on sidewalks. Or maybe it's the navy baseball cap that is a uniform staple in every man, woman, and child's daily attire, all year round. Whatever the sign, its not hard to tell that you are in Yankee country. Around the corner, at the local barbershop, you can hear men passionately discussing the "NY Jankees", Jeter, Giambi, Rodriguez...
Shefield and the rest of Torre's team always has the floor during the playoffs, taking precedence over news of the moments: subway baby stroller bombs, Katrina aftermath, devastating Asian earthquakes, California fires, etc. And if you put your head out the window during a nice Spring, Summer or Autumn night, you can hear collective yells, and sighs as emotions echo off the Hudson River and reverberate between the projects and Co-Op high rises...
Now, let's face the facts. The Yankees have it daaamn good. Not only do they have the biggest bank account in the league and the highest paid players. They have an automatic fan base of 4 million in NYC alone, and that's considering we give The Mets the other 4 million city dwellers (which would never really happen cause the Mets are NYC's stepchildren). I'm just trying to be fair... but throw in the fact that The Yanks play in the house that Ruth built, and have the most beautiful roster in baseball history, (the Jeter-Rodriguez combo has had the league on lock for years) and your talking the stuff that legends are made of.
As we start to see the trees budding and the coats coming off, The Pinstripes will be here soon pissing away another chance at victory, even after the White Sox had the decency to rid us of our dirty work and put the brakes on another painful Red Sox repeat years ago. The Yanks don't let the losses get the best of them. Either way, the upset will always make front and back page news and the cries will last until basketball season begins. Then, they'll increase - cause we'd be stupid to expect The Knicks to ease our pain! Anyway, it doesn't matter. We are the best fans in the world, we can take a beating, develop amnesia, and the next season do it all over again. Yup, it's almost that time! I saw them boys on T.V., training down in FL... looking good... perfecting their swings... practicing their throws.... ready to do the damn thang!
Seriously though, I don't have to follow it on television or even attend any games (it kinda bores me) but in my head I still sing: "Let me root, root, root for the home team, If they don't win it's a shame" All in all, we may hate loosing but, we love those Damn "Jankees"!!
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