F---in' Yankees!

Let me start this post by making one thing absolutely clear: I am a long time Yankee hater. Hate the New York Yankees with a passion. When everyone was rooting for them to win the World Series back in 2001, and worldwide sympathy was with New York, I was rooting for the Diamondbacks - because if I rooted for the Yanks, despite the terrible thing that happened there that September, I would have been betraying myself.

Now, I don't hate the Yankees just because they're the Yankees. I'm from Baltimore. Not born there, but raised there, and I grew up an Orioles fan. I cried when they lost to the Pirates in Game 7 of the 1979 World Series, and cheered louder than anyone when they won the Series in 1983. I still feel cheated by the bad call in the '96 playoffs, when umpire Richie Garcia failed to call fan interference against Jeffrey Maier for reaching over the fence and catching a ball destined for Oriole outfielder Tony Tarasco's glove. I bleed the black and orange. And let me tell ya, that hasn't been easy, especially over the last ten years. Not as bad as being a Cubs fan, I would imagine, but rooting for the Orioles, especially during the ownership tenure of Peter Angelos, really tries the soul.

But today just puts it over the top. The Yankees signed free agent first baseman Mark Texiera to an eight year, $180 million dollar contract, this after signing two of the top free agent pitchers, C.C. Sabathia and A.J. Burnett. The Yanks have spent $425 million on three free agents over the last several weeks. Three. Free. Agents. THREE! $425 million dollars! That's almost a half-billion dollars! It's insane.

I want to be clear about something else - I'm not one of those baseball fans screaming from the rooftops about payroll parity. I think the fabulous success of the Tampa Bay Rays in the East, winning the division over the Yankees and the Red Sox, and the continuing success of the Minnesota Twins in the Central, shows that you don't necessarily need to have all the money in the world in order to compete. And it's clear to Orioles fans everywhere that the team is in large part responsible for its own problems. Even following the Rays playbook, it's going to take Andy MacPhail several more years to get the O's competitive again.

And I certainly don't blame Texiera for going to New York instead of coming to Baltimore to play for the team he rooted for as a kid. He's a pro, and he wants a shot to win. Love the Yankees or hate them, as I do, they're going to give their players a legitimate shot of going to the playoffs and the Series every year, and if you want to win, how do you turn that down, especially when that chance also comes with more money than you can shake a 34 oz. Louisville Slugger at? But good lord, the amount of money the Yankees have shoveled out the door this off-season is obscene. Can it be stopped? Probably not. Should it be? I don't know. If the O's were in that position instead of the Yanks, I can't say I'd be complaining. But it sure doesn't feel right.

Fucking Yankees.

-EB