Being 21, I’m right there

Being 21, I'm right there in your age group and seeing the Yanks miss October is a pretty big deal for me too. But I'm not from Kansas or California, I'm from New York and don't root for the Yankees just because they win. Ive never had to deal with down years as a fan, which makes me pretty spoiled. I guess the time had to come eventually.

I need to disagree with you on the fact that the Yankees winning isn't good for baseball. First of all, they haven't won the World Series since 2000, but have made the playoffs every year. That means they have gotten knocked off by someone every season since then. If you think about all of the playoff series that they have lost since '01, they have all been pretty big upsets. 2001 Diamondbacks, 2002 Angels, 2003 Marlins, 2004 Red Sox-- 4 years in a row these teams beat the Yankees to win, or get to, a World Series title. Even the Tigers in 2006 was a pretty big upset. My point is that if the Yanks are in the playoffs, everyone wants to beat them and be that heroic underdog who has their day, and for the past 7 years they have all had their day. The Rays are definitely great for baseball, no doubt. I just don't think that the Yankees are as bad for the sport as you make them out to be. Yeah a monopoly is not a good thing, but I think it makes baseball better if that one hated team gets taken down, and that has happened every year for this entire decade so far.

That all being said, I hope the Mets go down too, very hard.

I may have been unclear: I

I may have been unclear: I don't have any problem with a tri-stater rooting for the Yankees. That's understandable. However, I still hold to my point about the Yanks and their "goodness" for baseball. While being a hated team and drumming up interest might be beneficial, this reasoning has gone too far. The baseball playoffs are the most exclusive of any sport. Though the Yankees haven't won since 2000, they have been in that top 27% for the past 13 years. How have the Yankees got to the playoffs since their last world series win? Good player development: not until recently (Cano and Chamberlain). Good coaching: Stottlemyre was indisputably effective, Torre (I'm an LA fan) is overrated. Bargain free agent signings: give me a break. This team wouldn't know what a bargain looks like. Carl Pavano and Jaret Wright, anyone? Brilliant trades: uh... I think the most recent trades for Nady and Pudge were some of the best Cashman pulled off. But not giving up Kennedy for Santana was, how shall I say it, an error. Extremely high payroll: we have a winner here. I don't think the Yankees are good for baseball because they devalue the franchises that can't afford to buy every player they want. This is partly the fault of baseball itself for not introducing a salary cap, but the this team doesn't help matters. They make the playoffs for one obvious reason: their owner is willing to spend more money than the other teams. Do you honestly believe the Yankees would have had a 13 year run without having the highest payroll each of those years? I want to see those franchises that had to make truly tough decisions without the cushion of huge amounts of money make the playoffs (the Dodgers, of course, are almost as guilty as the Yanks of superfluous spending). I want to see a plan rewarded with the possibility of a title. I want to these guys get some national attention. And I really don't want the Red Sox to win another title.

I guess we agree to

I guess we agree to disagree. It's obvious that the Yankees wouldn't have accomplished nearly as much without George's wallet, but like you said that's baseball's own fault. Unlike many owners, the Yankees have the money to spend, so you can't fault them for doing so. I can't stand Sox fans and Mets fans complaining about how all the Yankees do is spend money- they are in the same boat and have started to open up their checkbooks quite a bit over the past few seasons.

I definitely agree with you that a story like Rays is great for the sport. They have developed their team through player devolpment, coaching, and bargain deals (Scott Kazmir??), all things that you hit on. Cheers to them.

the yankees have been caught

the yankees have been caught up in winning now by buying bigtime free agents, who were the best players on other teams. sheffield from atlanta, giambi from oakland, a-rod from texas. however, they have not gotten the players they actually need, like a starting pitcher, on base guys that could steal bases, bullpen guys to get to rivera, and especially younger players. not building a farm system has hurt the yankees as the red sox and angels have young players that could fill in for injured stars. the yankees have not gotten hughes or kennedy to contribute. they are the complete opposite of the A's- the a's trade away players just past their prime and the yankees get players past their prime (Pudge, abreu, randy johnson)