I know that the title of this post is ridiculous, but it’s true, and not just because I live in the middle of Red Sox Nation. Bear with me…
I’ve been a Yankees fan since birth. Hartford is the line of demarcation in the Yankees/Red Sox divide, and because my father is a Yankees fan, I grew up one. The slick-fielding first baseman and 1985 MVP Don Mattingly was my childhood idol. I collected every single one of his baseball cards and I still have them in a binder on my bookshelf. By the time the Yankees got good (post-Showalter, early-Torre… and sadly, post-Mattingly), I was in high school and happy that my team was finally good. (Bear in mind that high schoolers don’t have much of a grasp of history, even if it includes 20-something World Series victories.)
I went through a period where I stopped following baseball (i.e. college), but several years ago I got back into it. I was still living in Hartford at the time and got the YES Network in my cable package. I watched all the games. Went through the Aaron Boone highs and the blowing-it-to-the-Red-Sox lows, and still my fandom never wavered.
Until now.
Maybe I was too loyal to realize it, but I hate the Yankees’ announcers and the Yankees’ press. Watching games and reading the recaps has become intolerable. On the radio, John Sterling is a total blowhard and Suzyn Waldman is rambling and sanctimonious. In between each pitch they feel compelled to editorialize some aspect of, oh, Yankee lore or the latest ESPN talking point or the back cover of the Post. It’s not like listening to a baseball game… it’s like watching a game with two assholes who won’t shut up. The YES Network, with their bevy of inarticulate former players and the annoying Michael Kay, are no better. Why can’t anyone just call the freaking game?
Two seasons ago I plopped down for the MLB.tv package and chose to listen to the opposing team’s announcers. It was a major improvement, but MLB.tv is expensive and I’m abstaining from that luxury this season (as well as the appealing $9.99 MLB iPhone app).
So how am I tracking baseball now? Well, I’ll still watch the Yankees when they’re on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball. I refuse to watch them on Fox, because Joe Buck is the worst baseball announcer in the game. I’ll give TBS’s Sunday baseball games a try. And I’ll read the box scores of MLB.com. And that’s it. I just want baseball. No commentary, please.
