Consider this your political baseball zen for the day.
People hate the New York Yankees. And not just people who have reason to hate the Yanks, like Red Sox fans.
There’s no real reason to hate the Yanks, other than the fact that they are the most successful and dynamic team in Major League history. So we think of reasons to hate them. We call George Steinbrenner a greedy, conniving sneak. We get one cocky remark out of Derek Jeter and all of a sudden the entire team is -and always has been- an arrogant, pushy baseball superpower. Perception becomes reality and so on.
I wonder how many people in the world have a real, geniune reason to hate the United States. And I wonder how much of that anti-American sentiment is just plain old Yankee-envy.
that is a fabulous metaphor!
That is a useful explanation for hatred. People dislike the Yanks because they are winners, though struggling in the last few years especially with the pitching staff. People hate America because of our success, our excess, and our ability to defend both.
Reminds me (by negative example) of something I heard a few years ago about friendship. “The best friends are two people who each believe themselves slightly superior to the other.”
Wish I knew where it came from.
Sometimes the simplest explanations are the truest.
“…I wonder how much of that anti-American sentiment is just plain old Yankee-envy. ”
A great post and 100% spot on. I think it was Mark Steyn who wrote a couple of years ago on how the U.S. had become all things to its enemies. Thus europeans can hate Americans for being bible bashers, and Islamic fundamentalists can hate Americans for having loose morals. Or something like that.
Dad, who is English and in his mid sixties, is old enough to recall growing when up when the U.K was at the end of seeing itself as a sort of global policeman, in those hazy days somewhere between WW2 and Suez. I’ve heard him say that todays reflexive anti-American attitudes around the world remind him of what the U.K. used to listen to.
If you go far enough back in history it was probably the same for the Romans. The classic Monty Python scene of ‘what have the romans ever done for us- other than aquaducts, healthcare, sanitation, education and law and order?’ springs to mind.
I can tell you really don’t hate the Yankees because in your search for a good analogy you oversimplified the situation.
I’m a Mets fan, always have been always will be. The reason the Yankees are hated, and we must remember this isn’t real hatred just sports-related, is the institutional arrogance of the team’s fan base. They are miserable people to be around, they cannot understand why they don’t win the world series every year and consider it a crime against God when they are not even in the playoffs.
I’ve always found that many, not all, but many Yankee fans need the team to compensate for a self-perceived failure in themselves. If they themselves cannot win at the highest level in their peronal life then they must through their team.
Now, when these additional arguments are placed along side your inititial discussion the analogy makes more sense. Many in the world hate us because their country has problems that it cannot fix and some Americans when abroad, could do a better job of representing their country.
If we are the Yank’s who are the Royals?
Continuing with the Yankees analogy: I’m from Cleveland and have always and forever hated the NY Yankees, as do most people in Cleveland. But I think the roots of it are that for some reason nobody can understand, the Indians can be playing BRILLIANT baseball and yet every time they are up against the Yankees, all season long, they play like amateurs!
So perhaps we are also disliked because the reflection of other countries in the mirror of our country’s strength and bounty makes them realize or think that their country is really quite second rate.
I’m a Red Sox fan in Yankee territory for almost 2 decades, and I have been making the same analogy for years now.
I also tell Yankee fans in the “toilet bowl” (yankee stadium) that they can’t be Yankee fans and Hillary fans at the same time.
I never much cared about the Yankees until I set foot in Fenway Park for my first MLB game. The Sox played Toronto, a Canadian team, but somehow I left the place with a seething hatred of the Yankees.
And, 17 years later, this Cajun boy cried when the Sox clenched the pennant to go on to the World Series.
It’s not my fault. I’m a victim, I tell you, a victim. I need a government check.
It’s mostly envy.
Lawrence, you’ve hit the nail on the head.
It is whiny envy on the part of other teams fans. Though the last few years Yankee hatred has been stoked by Red Sox loving ESPN.
And yes, it is a crime agains God, nature, and all that is holy if the Yankees aren’t in the World Series.
Down with the hegemonic imperialism of the Evil Empire. Of course, I mean the Yankees.
RBJ, I was refering to why people hate America…
;)
But I see how the analogy also applies to the Yankees.
- L.
Same thing with wealthy memmbers of society.
People can forgive anyting but success.
So, you agree……….I am right to hate the Yankees!
You are all overlooking the payroll issue. Now, I admit it makes the comparison to the US valid, but until the Yankees can win with a smaller payroll than at least two other teams, they should be rooted against.
I have thought this before, though not specifically with the Yankees. The analogy is apt, but I’m a lifelong Sox fan, so it wouldn’t have occurred to me.
It first occurred to me as a Celtics fan in the 1980′s. I never hated the Lakers or 76′ers, and couldn’t understand the animosity against my team.
But I saw it most clearly in high-school sports. One team had one the league soccer championship 12 years running or something, and everyone complained how they always got the calls, that they secretly gave scholarships, they were arrogant, blah, blah. None of it was true. They were just good. They were better than the other teams because they worked harder, worked smarter, had better coaching, etc. It wasn’t until long after my sons were no longer playing against them that it occurred to me how like anti-Americanism this was.