Evil Empire Implodes....Again

The most hyped and expensive baseball roster in the history of the game has failed in the playoffs again and I'm thrilled about it. Watching the Yankees lose brings me almost as much joy as watching my beloved Dodgers win (they didn't, Mets swept 'em...always next year). Anyway, back to the Empire. Despite the best regular season record in the bigs, despite having a payroll of nearly $200 million (about $80 million more than the next closest team, the Red Sox, and 15 times more than the Florida Marlins who have the smallest '06 payroll) and a roster that has 42 All-Star appearances collectively and it still didn't matter. On Saturday, 23-year old Jeremy Bonderman took the bump for the Tigers and absolutely shut down the best offensive team ever assembled. It was an inspiring performance.

My least favorite player in professional sports, Alex Rodriguez, (a.k.a. A-Rod, K-Rod, E-Rod) has pulled a post-season Houdini for the third year in a row. Steinbrenner must be thrilled that he's paid A-Rod about $75 million dollars over the last three seasons to put up MVP numbers during the regular season, and then suck in the playoffs when it counts. It's hilarious.

If you have to ask why this is important, or relevant, you've clearly never known a die-hard Yankee fan. Cheering for the Yanks is like cheering for the house in Black Jack. Who does that? If you're reading this thinking 'I don't like baseball', I say learn more about it. The only people that I've ever known that don't like it are those that don't appreciate the complexities of the game (I'm certainly not an expert, but the more you know about it the more you'll like it).

To summarize my feelings from this weekend, disliking baseball is un-American, and the Yankees are stupid and I'm glad they fell apart....again.