Anyone But...

After the second straight Red Sox Weekend Debacle, (and it was apparently even worse than a mere sweep:

[I]f you follow baseball, you know what kind of weekend it was. In a nutshell, the Red Sox were as pathetic as pathetic gets. Friday in particular was perhaps the worst major league game I've ever seen - the Red Sox made the kind of errors that one usually only sees in Little League.

Of course, there was the notable instance in July 2004, when after another Sawx collapse in Seattle, Papa Pooh described them as "beer league." This insult seemed to galvanize the club, and we all know what happened next...Ok, not a chance...) I needed a little chicken soup for a baseball fan's soul. The Twinks taking 2 if 3 in Chicago helped some. As did the fact that BabyJesusJoe Mauer was getting MVP props on ESPN radio last night. But really, what I really needed was some good old fashioned Yankee Hate.

Enter ESPN's Jim Caple, and his rather unhinged polemic "The Devil Wears Pinstripes". Yes the jokes are recycled (Steinbrenner is an ass; Billy, Mickey and Whitey were drunks; Joe DiMaggio (referenced primarily as "Mr. Coffee") was a total prick and Jeter sleeps around), but that doesn't stop the from being funny.

Plus it's occassionally nice to be reminded of exactly why the MFY's are so easy to hate. Remember in 2004 when the Devil Rays were late arriving to a game in NYC because of a hurricane. And the Yankees demanded a forfeit victory? Against the Devil Rays. There is also the evil of the YES Network (AKA Yank-Jazeera) including the absolutely egregious homerism of all Yankee announcers.

In the end, not a great book, (it reads like the world's longest Page 2 column, longer even than a "think-piece" by Gregg Easterbrook) but it reminds me that even my Sawx tank, and the Twins battle for the Wild Card, no matter what happens, I'll always have a team to cheer for. Whoever is playing the Yankees.