I’ve never been a Yankees fan. There are, undoubtedly, millions who can say the same thing. Since the first half of my life was spent in upstate New York, I’ve been — at one time or another — a Red Sox fan, a Mets fan, a New York Rangers fan, a Bruins fan, a Knicks fan, a Celtics fan, a Patriots fan, a Jets fan, a Syracuse University fan, a Boston College fan, a New York Cosmos fan, and a New England Revolution fan, among various others. But I’ve never been a Yankees fan, and in fact I’ve more often than not disliked the Yankees. That’s what Mets and Red Sox fans do. My level of loathing has ranged from extremely high (late ’70s through early ’80s) to average (late ’80s through early ’90s) to low-with-occasional fluctuations (current), with the latter encompassing a begrudging respect for the current roster of decent guys. Because I’ve never actually rooted for the Yankees in any real respect (unless it can somehow benefit a team that I currently hold dear), I can only surmise what it must be like to be a loyalist for professional baseball’s most successful franchise. Since I know the pinstripers, their organization, and their fans almost as well as I know the my own rooting interests, I think I can make several key assumptions about the experience of living and breathing the Bronx Bombers. A Yankee fan believes the following things.

TV and radio announcing teams speak for you. While the current New York broadcasters aren’t not definitive "homers" along the lines of Phil Rizzuto and Mel Allen, they do have distinctive leanings (as do the Red Sox radio and TV crews, without a doubt) and are among the best and most insightful in baseball.

There is no doubt that the Yankees uniform is the most classic uniform in all of sports. It would be sacrilege even to think about changing the interlocking N and Y on the logo, or to consider adding the names of the players to the back of the jersey. You believe that this is the way it has always been, and there is absolutely no reason to update or change it.

It would be difficult to imagine the Yankees playing in any other stadium than Yankee Stadium — much less any other state. When you have heard the rumblings about owner George Steinbrenner perhaps moving the team across the river to New Jersey, you knew it is because he is looking for improvements to the stadium, not because he would actually transplant the New York Yankees to New Jersey, for God’s sake. The New York baseball Yankees are a team frozen in time, with the same look, the same field, the same dimensions, the same voices emanating from the broadcast booths; the only changes are in the players’ names (though the roster rarely sees drastic changes, and rarely for the worse). You like the whole aura and mystique (appearing nightly!) about the team, and hope that nothing ever changes.

I am not up-to-date on all the controversy regarding the blacking out of certain Yankees home games by the YES cable network, but it seems that to a Yankees fan, it’s not that big a deal; listening to the game on the radio is almost as good, especially with the class guys that broadcast on the Yankee radio network. Nevertheless, watching the game on the dish at the local tavern is about as good as it gets, as long as there are no Mets fans around. You probably don’t even worry about missing a game or two here and there, because the team will more often than not win it anyway, so where’s the suspense?

Ever since 1996, when the team lost its first two World Series games at home to Atlanta (only to storm back and win the Fall Classic in six), Yankees fans do not get uptight when their team drops the opening game or games in any postseason series — even if it is only a five-game series. Yankees fans do not get tight in the collar, and expect to win every single series in which the team plays. Even falling behind by three or four runs late in a game is no cause for worry, because the team’s explosiveness can weather and overcome any deficit.

Losing one game here and there is not a big deal, because there is no doubt that the team will reach the playoffs. No doubt. It is a rite of passage every fall, and even if the team is playing badly come September, the players will turn it up the required notches in October to fulfill their ultimate destiny. Yankees fans can barely remember the last time the team didn’t make the postseason (which was, in fact, 1993). There is no reason to worry about anything until October, and even then, it is pretty much assumed that good things will happen.

There are no important series during the regular season. Who cares if the Red Sox are coming to town for a four-game series? As if they — or anyone else — matters in the long run. It’s just another set of dates on the schedule, and the only important dates are in the 10th month on the calendar. No match-up in May or June is ever worth breaking a sweat over.

The Yankees do not worry about what any other team is doing. Yes, they scoreboard-watch to an extent to see what may be happening with the second-place team in their division, or perhaps eye from afar the winning streak of a potential first-round playoff opponent, but all that really matters is what the Yankees are doing. And falling into second place in the Eastern Division is no cause for alarm, either, because when the smoke clears, everyone knows who will be on top. In addition, if something unforeseen happens and the team is relegated to a wild-card spot, it really isn’t important that the Yankees will be forced to give up home-field advantage or play a team with a better record. It has been proven in the past, and it will be proven again, that the Yankees will surmount all obstacles en route to the World Series, so getting all worked up about the paths you take to get there is a fruitless endeavor.

If the Yankees have a West Coast trip, it is not absolutely necessary to see the final out made in the game. If the Bombers seize the lead in, say, the sixth or seventh inning, it’s time for bed. They’re not going to blow a lead; not with that bullpen. Instead, they’ll probably build upon that lead. What’s the point in dragging yourself out of bed all bleary-eyed after staying up until 1 a.m. watching the team when the outcome has pretty much been secured an hour before? Yankees fans know that they can rest easy when the lights go out and the game is still in progress. Blow a lead late and have to read about it in the morning? Why, is that what other teams’ fans do?

When Mariano Rivera comes in during the ninth inning to close out a game, that contest is over. You can turn off the set and be confident that nothing untoward will happen.

That being said, this explains why there is nothing that could have prepared pinstripers fans for what happened in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game Seven of the 2001 World Series, when Rivera did blow the one-run lead and the Yankees did lose the seven-game thriller to the Arizona Diamondbacks. It was unfathomable, incomprehensible, and still gnaws at their sense of being. What rotten timing for Rivera to blow a save then and there! What lousy luck.

The hometown team will never fall prey to getting involved in a beanball war on the field, nor will it be accused of playing dirty. They are above it all. They are class gents, and if they get nailed in the backside with a message pitch, they will take their lumps and go to first — no further questions asked. That is the manner insisted upon by their classy manager, and anyone who wants to blow their tops and display un-Yankees-like behavior risks summary dismissal.

Everyone made way too big a deal of the Jeffrey Mayer incident in the 1996 League Championship Series against Baltimore. So what if the kid reached out and pulled a Yankees fly-out into the right-field bleachers for a home run? These things happen. What, you think the Brady Call in the Snow Game in Foxborough was fair? These things even out, and it only seems like the Yankees get the breaks when they need them. The stories we could tell ...

The Yankees win because they have built up a premium farm system, they have quality people in the front office and in the scouting system, they have a loyal fan base, and the organization treats players well — that’s why they want to come to New York. We are not breaking any rules, we are merely playing by the ones that are in place. Any other team is free to do it as well. Yes, we seem to have more money to spend on players, but we did in the 1980s, too, and where did it get us? It all has to do with a quality organization from the top down. It’s not as if Jeter, Williams, Soriano, Rivera, and Posada were players we bought; they were cultivated in the system and blossomed when they reached the majors. Are you going to blame us for that? You wish your organization worked as smoothly, don’t you...? Deep down, wouldn’t you trade places with us in a minute?

Yankees fans are no more obnoxious than Mets fans or Red Sox fans, and the fact is that those two teams’ fans hate us so much because they envy us so much and they’re jealous of our success.

True Yankees fans are welcome to respond or send along additions/updates/criticisms to the e-mail address below, and perhaps I’ll forward them to the rest of the reading audience. As I said, this set of bylaws is merely a collective assumption of those principles that Yankees fans hold near and dear.

In the meantime, the Red Sox are just four games behind the Yankees after their 4-3 road trip to Southern Cal and Texas as we head into the final two months of the regular season.

The respective headlines in Boston and the Apple: SOX FANS’ HEART RATES AT DANGEROUS LEVELS AS PENNANT FEVER GRIPS HUB; HO-HUM YANKEES ON CRUISE CONTROL AGAIN AS TEAM COASTS TOWARD PLAYOFFS.

Sporting Eye appears every Monday and Friday on BostonPhoenix.com. Christopher Young can be reached at cyoung[a]phx.com.