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Thursday, October 29, 2009

Skolnick: As Yankees and Phillies fans show, games can bring out some ugliness

Yo, Skolnick…If you’re talking to Queenan, your career must be in trouble!

The perception that Philadelphia fans sometimes eat their own? Queenan attributes that to being knowledgeable enough to have high standards, the same as in New York, Boston, St. Louis, Chicago and other major sports markets. The accusation that Philadelphia fans are nastier than others. “Go to Yankee Stadium: That’s a nasty, nasty group of people.”

Queenan doesn’t necessarily hate the Yankees. As a Phillies fan, he has more antipathy toward the Mets, and he watches many more National League games.

“I don’t think most Americans hate the Yankees, they hate Yankees fans,” Queenan said. “It’s hard to hate (Derek) Jeter, it’s hard to hate (Mark) Teixeira, it’s hard to hate (C.C.) Sabathia. A lot of people hate the fact that 50 percent of the New York Yankee fan base couldn’t tell you who is playing right field today. All of those people from Ireland and Thailand, wearing pink Yankee caps. Come on, come on. Who would want to have those people in your fan base?”

Since he lives in New York, Queenan does often eat breakfast with Yankee fans.

“If they play in the Series,” Queenan said before the Yankees clinched, “I will stop having breakfast with them. None of them have ever sat at a table where they were the only Yankee fan.”

Repoz Posted: October 29, 2009 at 12:27 PM | 42 comment(s) Login to Bookmark
Tags: yankees

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1. Best Regards, Larry M. Posted: October 29, 2009 at 12:37 PM (#3369944)

Fans of my team are better than fans of your team. To demonstrate, I will show how I am better than your worst fans.

It's baseball. What team you root for usually says more about where you're from and who your family watched when you grew up (or what team you were watching when you first got interested in the game) than it does about who you are as a person.

2. Smiling Joe Hesketh Posted: October 29, 2009 at 12:46 PM (#3369950)

I must disagree, it's easy to hate Teixeira, if only because he's got a face made for punching.

OTOH, I agree with Larry regarding fans. For most of us it was a choice based on geography and parenting, not based on ethics or moral values.

3. Best Regards, Larry M. Posted: October 29, 2009 at 12:55 PM (#3369959)

For example, if I were to pick a team based on my personality, it would probably be the Cubs. I'm a Yankees fan because I grew up on Long Island with two Yankees fans for parents. The Yankees were the team that was on TV all the time, and the team that I listened to on the radio in the early 90s when I became a hardcore fan.

There are annoying d##chebag fans for every team. Successful teams just appear to have more of them, becuase they tend to have more fans anyway, and because there's more reasons for the d##chebag fans to be d##chebags.

4. Pat Rapper's Delight Posted: October 29, 2009 at 12:57 PM (#3369961)

it’s hard to hate (Mark) Teixeira

Tell that to Rangers fans...... both of them.

5. Shooty: Applying to be Fearless Leader

Posted: October 29, 2009 at 01:04 PM (#3369965)

I think being an A's fan suits my personality. Luckily for me I grew up in the East Bay. And it really is easy to hate the Yankees. I don't care if they have Smoky the Bear, Woodsy Owl and Kate Beckinsale playing the outfield.

6. Best Regards, Larry M. Posted: October 29, 2009 at 01:16 PM (#3369979)

And it really is easy to hate the Yankees.

Well, duh. They're almost always successful and aren't shy about exploiting their monetary advantage. If you're not a fan, that's very annoying.

7. Young Blasarius yonder Posted: October 29, 2009 at 01:23 PM (#3369981)

I must disagree, it's easy to hate Teixeira, if only because he's got a face made for punching.

Yeah, I agree. He looks like a big boring-ass galoot.

Others Yankees I Hate:

Damon
Melky
Swisher
Joba

Phillies I Hate:

Rollins
Victorino
Hamels
Meyers

8. gef the talking mongoose Posted: October 29, 2009 at 01:29 PM (#3369986)

And if I were to pick a team based on my personality, I would've stopped paying attention to baseball when Chris Truby retired. And/or Albert Belle.

9. Repoz

Posted: October 29, 2009 at 01:29 PM (#3369987)

it's easy to hate Teixeira

Blowfish Teixeira looks just like a kid I grew up with...

We once played 10-man underwater leap frog crush and nearly drowned the empty-headed clonker.

10. dirk

Posted: October 29, 2009 at 01:33 PM (#3369992)

teixeira looks exactly like the kid that would break your toys.

11. Shooty: Applying to be Fearless Leader

Posted: October 29, 2009 at 01:35 PM (#3369993)

teixeira looks exactly like the kid that would break your toys.

Or flunk his senior year of highschool just so he could haze the freshmen one more time.

12. Dewey, Steven Wright Wannabe and Soupuss Posted: October 29, 2009 at 01:39 PM (#3369998)

I don't care if they have Smoky the Bear, Woodsy Owl and Kate Beckinsale playing the outfield.

I don't hate the Yankees, but if they had that outfield, I probably would.

The current Phillies team is innocuous, for the most part (Meyers excepted), but there's still the residual connection to guys like Kruk and Dykstra and Mitch Williams.

13. Arva Posted: October 29, 2009 at 01:45 PM (#3370001)

So your saying he looks like Ben Affleck?

14. Shooty: Applying to be Fearless Leader

Posted: October 29, 2009 at 01:46 PM (#3370002)

So your saying he looks like Ben Affleck?

He white, ain't he?

15. Ben Broussard Ramjet Posted: October 29, 2009 at 01:58 PM (#3370017)

A lot of people hate the fact that 50 percent of the New York Yankee fan base couldn’t tell you who is playing right field today. All of those people from Ireland and Thailand, wearing pink Yankee caps. Come on, come on. Who would want to have those people in your fan base?”

But this isn't the Yankees fan base. They're not wearing those caps because they wish to show allegience to a baseball team; they're wearing those caps because they think the logo relates to New-York-the-place, or just because it's a recognizable fashion logo.

Ask 95% of Brits who wear that cap who the Yankees' right fielder is, and they won't even be able to point where that position is on the baseball field (well, maybe with a lucky guess). Ask them to name any current Yankees player, and you'll almost certainly get a guess: one of Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, Mark McGwire, or Michael Vick.

16. DKDC Posted: October 29, 2009 at 02:04 PM (#3370024)

For most of us it was a choice based on geography and parenting, not based on ethics or moral values.

Bad parenting, in the case of Yankees fans.

17. Best Regards, Larry M. Posted: October 29, 2009 at 02:09 PM (#3370027)

Bad parenting, in the case of Yankees fans.

Why? Who doesn't want their kids to be happy?

It's entertainment.

18. Jay Seaver Posted: October 29, 2009 at 02:15 PM (#3370031)

It’s hard to hate (Derek) Jeter

Why do people keep saying this?

19. Shooty: Applying to be Fearless Leader

Posted: October 29, 2009 at 02:16 PM (#3370032)

Why? Who doesn't want their kids to be happy?

Admit you had horrible parents!

20. Charles S., consistent since he changed his mind Posted: October 29, 2009 at 02:48 PM (#3370087)

Bad parenting, in the case of Yankees fans.

Stop blaming the parents. It's simply bad character. Tragic as it is, sometimes fine parents, despite giving their children all the advantages, are forced to watch helplessly as those kids sink into a pit of Yankee-fandom.

21. rLr Is King Of The Romans And Above Grammar Posted: October 29, 2009 at 02:52 PM (#3370090)

Admit you had horrible parents!

You can judge the tree by the fruit, after all.

22. Home Run Teal & Black Black Black Gone! Posted: October 29, 2009 at 02:53 PM (#3370091)

If I had to root for a team based on my personality it would be the Bugs Bunny All-Stars.

23. aleskel

Posted: October 29, 2009 at 02:56 PM (#3370097)

they're wearing those caps because they think the logo relates to New-York-the-place, or just because it's a recognizable fashion logo.

This. A friend of mine when to college in Dublin and saw Yankee caps all the time. He would always ask if they were from NY or were Yankee fans - about 40% of the time they wouldn't even know who the Yankees were, and the other 60% knew but wore the cap because they saw Jay-Z wear it.

24. SoSH U at work Posted: October 29, 2009 at 02:59 PM (#3370104)

I don't hate the Yankee fans, I hate the Yankees. Not necessarily the individual players (I like Rivera, CC, Damon and Posada, though I really dislike Teixeira and Burnett), but the group of players who make up the Yankees, whatever 25 guys happen to be Yankees in a given year.

25. Rodder Posted: October 29, 2009 at 03:02 PM (#3370113)

Speaking of bad fans - on Utley's second home run (the longer one), there was a fan near where the ball landed that stuck his arm up high and looked in the direction of the camera. The shot cut away just then, but it looked like he was giving the finger. Did anyone else notice this, or whether it was some other sort of gesture?

26. Best Regards, Larry M. Posted: October 29, 2009 at 03:04 PM (#3370116)

I don't hate the Yankee fans

Yes you do. *I* hate most Yankee fans.

27. rLr Is King Of The Romans And Above Grammar Posted: October 29, 2009 at 03:04 PM (#3370118)

Did anyone else notice this, or whether it was some other sort of gesture?

Lazio fan, giving the Fascist salute.

28. SoSH U at work Posted: October 29, 2009 at 03:10 PM (#3370128)

Yes you do. *I* hate most Yankee fans.

29. McCoy Posted: October 29, 2009 at 03:11 PM (#3370129)

Didn't this guy used to sell bagels? I always wondered what happen to him.

30. rLr Is King Of The Romans And Above Grammar Posted: October 29, 2009 at 03:16 PM (#3370142)

OK good point. I don't hate Yankee fans in any greater percentage than I hate fans of the Mets, Royals, Jacksonville Jaguars, Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders or Pruzin Brothers Funeral Home in the local little league.

Those Pruzinites are scummy little cheaters. And their fans are the worst sort of slack-jawed yokel dullards.

31. gef the talking mongoose Posted: October 29, 2009 at 03:18 PM (#3370145)

As someone with a good friend who graduated from MTSU, I'll remain circumspect & say nothing.

Except for that sentence.

Damnation!

32. vendor71 Posted: October 29, 2009 at 03:54 PM (#3370195)

@#25 - I saw it, although I don't think that FOX was cutting away from that shot intentionally. It was just something they inadvertently caught on cam.

33. Charlie O Posted: October 29, 2009 at 05:24 PM (#3370369)

#18: Because Derek Jeter is a highly skilled player whose conduct is as excellent as his ballplaying ability. He doesn't play dirty. He's not an attention seeker. He doesn't act like a spoiled brat when things don't go his way. He is a gracious winner. Assuming one is not a judge from southeast Louisiana, what is there not to like about him?

34. Flynn Posted: October 29, 2009 at 05:42 PM (#3370397)

I hate the Yankees even more because of their worldwide merchandising, if that's possible. I'd hate them less if all those douchewhistles in Europe or Thailand actually were Yankee fans, because at least they'd like baseball. Instead they don't, so I get the worst of both worlds - people wearing Yankees hats who you can't talk about baseball with.

35. gef the talking mongoose Posted: October 29, 2009 at 05:45 PM (#3370401)

what is there not to like about him?

That idiotic way he has of pretending to have to get out of the way of pitches that are 8 feet off the other side of the plate?

36. Willie Mayspedes Posted: October 29, 2009 at 05:47 PM (#3370406)

Hard to hate Jeter?

He's a *fist pump* queen who is the ring leader of the team of bullies and bangs all the hot celebrities. Very easy to hate although it would be awesome to have around at parties and bars.

37. gef the talking mongoose Posted: October 29, 2009 at 05:50 PM (#3370413)

bangs all the hot celebrities, who contract herpes in the process.

Fixed.

38. Jose Canusee Posted: October 29, 2009 at 06:08 PM (#3370449)

All of those people from Ireland and Thailand, wearing pink Yankee caps. Come on, come on. Who would want to have those people in your fan base?”
My dad was an immigrant in NY who said he got interested in baseball from the big hoopla of the playoffs culminating in the Bobby Thomson HR. Even though he became more interested in football and basketball later, the Giants are still his favorite team. Don't despise the part of the fanbase who never played the game as not being serious or not important, or you would also remove most of the female fans.

39. thread killer Posted: October 29, 2009 at 06:22 PM (#3370475)

Speaking of Yankees fans, I saw a picture of one of the hr's that Utley hit and looking at the fans, most of them were smiling as the ball was coming toward them. Now if I was a real Yankee fan, I dont think I would be happy that the other team had just hit an HR to either put their team ahead or added to the lead.

40. Harmon "Thread Killer" Microbrew Posted: October 29, 2009 at 07:24 PM (#3370576)

#18: Because Derek Jeter is a highly skilled player whose conduct is as excellent as his ballplaying ability. He doesn't play dirty. He's not an attention seeker. He doesn't act like a spoiled brat when things don't go his way. He is a gracious winner. Assuming one is not a judge from southeast Louisiana, what is there not to like about him?

Wow. Mark Garber returns.

41. Charlie O Posted: October 29, 2009 at 07:51 PM (#3370609)

That idiotic way he has of pretending to have to get out of the way of pitches that are 8 feet off the other side of the plate?

Okay there's a reason for one not to like Derek Jeter. It must put him somewhere between Milton Bradley and A.J. Pierzynski on the likability charts.

42. dingo powered war machine (CoB) Posted: October 29, 2009 at 08:32 PM (#3370662)

I must disagree, it's easy to hate Teixeira, if only because he's got a <strike>face made for punching</strike> backpfeifengesicht.

Backpfeifengesicht

In common use it means something to the effect of "A face badly in need of a fist" meaning this is a person that needs to be punched.

Best. Word. EVER.

My work here is done.

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Thursday, October 29, 2009

Skolnick: As Yankees and Phillies fans show, games can bring out some ugliness

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