Yankees to City: Screw You

Last night I found myself at Hell’s Kitchen’s outstanding Holland Bar speaking to three women from South Boston. With courage and confidence built over several hours of steady drinking, I began discussing baseball with them, which is a dangerous proposition.

But what I mentioned to the women from Boston was that even though I hate the Red Sox with every fiber of my being, I will give credit where credit is due. Boston would not stand for Fenway Park being torn down and replace by a shopping mall-style monstrosity at taxpayer expense. Well, OK, maybe they would, but they haven’t and we (Yankee fans) have.

I have been a New York Yankee fan all of my life. I recently got to see some of the recent Yankee ticker tape parade from my office building window. It was good to see, and when the Yankees are world champions, it means that at least something is right with the world. But the Yankees have screwed New York City seven ways from Sunday, and Yankee fans are content to take it.

The Yankees are still planning on tearing down the real Yankee Stadium, a historically significant and legendary building. The team built a stadium with thousands of fewer seats for fans and three times the number of luxury boxes. Tickets close to home plate were lowered to $1,500 from $2,500 during the regular season. What’s worse, is they did it with millions of our tax dollars and left a stream of broken promises in their wake.

The Yankees were supposed to replace the public park land that they got permission to build on before the new stadium opened. The inaugural season in the new stadium is over, and the park land has yet to be fully restored. Bronx residents are still waiting for their parks.

So to my Boston Red Sox fan friends old and new, I will continue to hate your team’s rotten guts, but I tip my hat to you for being able to go see them in a real stadium.