E-Mail This Article to a Friend Just you wait A Yankee fan's perspective BY FRENCHY BORDAGARY

Rivalry? How can anyone call the Yankees-Red Sox a rivalry when it’s so one-sided? A rivalry implies that things even out from time to time, like Ohio State–Michigan, or Celtics–Lakers, or Dodgers–Giants. Red Sox? Hello, 1918! Yankees, hello 26 world championships. And every one of those was won after the Red Sox won their last one, which to this day remains only their fifth. Since 1903!

That is why we Yankee fans have little use for the Red Sox, now or ever. Oftentimes they’ll provide us with some good tune-ups during the regular season, and their visits always fill up the Stadium, but as far as feared opponents go, the Sox are far down the list. Boston fans always get themselves in a tizzy whenever the Bombers come to down, as if it’s some season–turning showdown; for us, your Sox are just another team coming to the Bronx, and even if they do beat us in some meaningless regular-season match-ups, it’s fairly easy to speculate that come the post-season — should the two teams meet up again — the results will be fairly predictable.

Why? Isn’t it obvious? The Yankees will always find a way to win, while the Red Sox will always — always — find some way to lose. Nobody knows when, nor where, nor how, but whether it’s Mike Torrez or Bruce Hurst or Jeff Reardon or even Pedro Martinez on the hill, it just doesn’t matter: the Yankees will ultimately prevail.

Can you tell me a time when it wasn’t that way?

Remember 1978? On July 19th, the Sox sat on top of the AL East with a record of 62-28, and the Yanks were only 48-42. They were 14 freakin’ games back! Race over, right? Not when it comes to the Yankees, it’s not. The rest of the way, the Sox went just 37-35, while our guys tore up the league and went 51-21. And if not for Boston winning their last eight games of the regular season, they wouldn’t have even qualified for that one-game playoff game at Fenway on October 2nd that broke the tie! I don’t like to call any team "chokers," but I tell ya, that Boston team had that pennant in the bag that year.

And don’t start talking about Bucky Dent being lucky to hit that three-run homer in the playoff game that Monday, or about Sweet Lou Piniella being fortunate to grab that screamer to left field even though the sun was in his eyes. Champions make plays, and that’s what the Yankees did that day, and all season, and especially in the World Series that should have been Boston’s.

Now I know all about some of the down times we had after 1978, and some of the embarrassing things owner George Steinbrenner did as far as Billy Martin and the other managers went. Still, by then we already had 22 world titles while you guys were still stuck on five, and ebbs and flows are part of any team’s championship history (except the Red Sox’). For example, after we won six championships in eight years in the late ’30s and early ’40s, we lost some guys to the WWII effort, too, and didn’t win another title until 1947, which kicked off a streak of six championships in seven years. Hell, we lost more World Series in the ’50s (two) then Ted Williams played in during his whole 19-year career!

Look, we had a lo-nnn-nn-g down time from about 1964 until 1976 when we didn’t get to the World Series once! Then we began to put it back together again, and guys like Louisiana Lightning (Ron Guidry) and Thurman Munson and Reggie Jackson helped get us back on top. But it took some patient regrouping and wily horsetrading to get us back to that point. (By the way, didn’t you Sox fans love watching Boggsie and Rocket win their rings here instead of there? Ride ’em, cowboys!)

And I know what you’re going to say: that the Yankees, then and now, have always been able to spend more on players than any other team, and that’s a big reason why they’ve been so successful. Well, we had plenty of years where we invested a lot of money in free agents, and a lot of those guys didn’t pan out whatsoever, so that proves that money can’t buy championships. After all, you ever hear of the New York Rangers? I know, they play hockey, but in the last few years, they’ve been spending top dollar to get some of the game’s best players, and despite the NHL’s highest team payroll, they still haven’t made the playoffs since 1997! And look at the last three World Champs — Florida, Anaheim, and Arizona — they haven’t had baseball’s highest payroll, but they still won it all. And Oakland, God bless ’em, is a perennial contender even though they boast one of the game’s smallest payrolls. It’s all about how you spend, not how much you spend.

The Yankees merely play by the rules that are established. They’re not breaking any taboos that I can see; I don’t see any salary cap in place in Major League Baseball. And you know what? Any team can feel free to spend what our team does; they just don’t want to. Heck, teams like Milwaukee and Tampa Bay — they get enough in luxury-tax compensation to pretty much bankroll their entire payroll. But are they putting all those millions into getting better players? No. They’re just pocketing the money and complaining about the big-money Yankees, even though most of the luxury-tax compensation that they’re getting is coming right out of Steinbrenner’s pockets!

And most of the Yankees that played on our recent World Series championship teams have been home-grown anyway, not big-money free agents. Derek Jeter? Came up right through the system, and a Yankee for life. Jorge Posada? Same. Bernie Williams? Ditto. Mariano Rivera? Yep, always a Pinstriper.

Why is it so difficult to people to admit that maybe the Yankees are better judges of talent that other teams? And maybe the fact that we provide an appealing place to play is what draws potential free agents our way?

I mean, Boston obviously had their chance to get Alex Rodriguez this off-season. It looked like a done deal, but then it fell apart because the Red Sox ownership wasn’t going to go the extra yard and pony up a few more millions to make the trade happen. It’s not our fault that we were able to succeed where the Red Sox failed and creatively put together a plan that brought A-Rod to Yankee Stadium.

Again, you guys find a way to lose, while we always seem to find a way to win.

Nonetheless, it’s fairly obvious that we Yankee fans have been going through some trying times the past few years. Perhaps we did get a little bit spoiled when our team won championships four times in a five-year period (1996-2000), but at least we’re always right in it. Look at Boston: they haven’t even been in the World Series in 18 years, never mind winning it. The Yankees haven’t won the Series in four years, but we got there in two of the last three years, and one time we lost in the bottom of the ninth when we were just three outs away from taking our fourth straight title. That was just bad luck, pure and simple, and a lousy time for Rivera to blow a save. Losing to the Marlins last season was also tough, but their pitching was peaking at just the right time, and I think that our ALCS with Boston did take a lot out of us emotionally — especially when we came out so flat against Florida in Game One. I mean, we had to open the Fall Classic less than two days after Aaron Boone hit that amazing home run off of Tim Wakefield, while the Marlins were resting in their hotel rooms watching Grady Little squirm and Pedro melt down.

But admit it: what team would any true baseball fan want to root for? The one who constantly teases and chokes and breaks its fans hearts each year, or the one that puts its money where its mouth is, pays for the talent and scouting, and wins each year with class and without excuses?

For me, it’s simple. I’ll take the Yankees any day, because they’ve told their fans year in and year out that they’ll do what it takes to put a championship team on the field.

I don’t think that your guys up in Boston can say the same.