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Damn/Dear Yankees Root for New York, but not the Yankees
Occasionally Americans are forced to make hard ethical choices about prevailing national events. In the 19th century, for example, many Americans wrestled with accepting the very law of the land after the Dred Scott decision. In the 20th: Could we remain neutral after the Germans sank the Lusitania? And now, in the 21st, the most nettlesome conundrum of all: Can you still be a properly sensitive patriot even if you root against the New York Yankees? Now it has been gratifying -- even precious -- to see the genuine outpouring of love directed at New York City from almost every American this side of the Rev. Jerry Falwell. But for so many of our most sympathetic citizens, while they may have found it possible to suddenly become affectionate about big, brusque, hedonistic Noo Yawk, rooting for Noo Yawk's Yankees is just beyond the pale. And so, those poor, well-intentioned countrymen and women feel conflicted and ungrateful, even unworthy. It is instructive that no such moral dilemmas appear to face us with the Giants, Rangers, Jets and Knicks. But the Yankees are different, as they return to yet another World Series. This will be their 38th in the 80 years since Babe Ruth first led them to the Fall Classic. And they've won 26, including the last three and four of the last five. This week, as always, some fans from the hinterland have castigated the media for slighting the National League, claiming we have a northeast bias. Nonsense. The Yankees are one of the handful of world franchises -- Manchester United, the Yomiuri Giants, Juventus of Turin -- that bring with them a notoriety bias. Whatever you feel about the Yankees, you feel something about them. Yankee has always been a loaded word, even when it first surfaced back in the late 1600s, referring to North American Dutch. Then the term generally meant New Englanders. Then all Federals in the Civil War. Then all Americans. Remember? "Over there, over there, the Yanks are coming, the Yanks are coming, and they won't be back till it's over, over there." With time, though, the term has been narrowed, mostly just to refer to the fellows in pinstripes. For those who love them, the Yankees represent everything good about America -- power and precision, glamour, sustained excellence. And, for those who hate them, the Yankees represent everything bad about America -- smug superiority, celebrity, bullying arrogance. Name any other popular institution in the United States that creates such immediate, stark opposing impressions. But the good news is, dear well-meaning fellow citizens, that even in New York itself there is no unanimity of opinion about the New York Yankees. I traveled to Chicago the other night with a contingent of New York's Finest and New York's Bravest, and even among the local heroes there was a difference of opinion about the Yankees. A fireman from the Bronx -- born and bred -- couldn't abide them, but, hey, the rest of the guys in his company adore him still. So, yes, fly to New York. Buy stuff in New York. Go to shows and museums in New York. Eat at expensive restaurants in New York. But, it's OK: You don't have to root for the Yankees. In fact, if everybody rooted for the Yankees because they thought they had to, then we wouldn't be getting back to normal, would we? And it wouldn't be the United States, would it? Sports Illustrated senior contributing writer Frank Deford is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com and appears each Wednesday on National Public Radio's Morning Edition. His new novel, The Other Adonis (Sourcebooks Landmark), is available now at bookstores everywhere. The opinions expressed here are solely those of the writer.
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