Why I like the Yankees

Any team, every team, wants to win. Any team, every team, would love to say they've won a championship. How many teams can say they've got more championships than anyone else? Just one - the New York Yankees are the winning-est franchise in North American sport, giving their fans more opportunities to cheer than any other on the continent. They are where every other team would love to be.

While I can appreciate some arguments in support of hating the Yankees, here's some of what I value in their contribution to the league/competition/stories/history:

• it's a free country, it's a free market - any owner is welcome to spend whatever they want, and Yankee fans will never be short-changed;

• The general NYC area has given baseball great teams - the Giants (Manhattan/"Gotham"), Dodgers (Brooklyn), Yankees (Bronx) and Mets (Queens), and great lore - "the shot heard round the world"; Mays' "The Catch"; even the song "Take me out to the ball game" was inspired during a ride on the NYC subway - has any city contributed more to this game? En Oh spells No;

• the Mets are still in New York, but have achieved nowhere near what the Yankees have, so "the market" is the primary reason for neither the Yankees budget nor their success. Myth and legend continues to come from New York because of the Yankees. When Ramirez became the playoff home run leader, who'd he have to pass? A Yankee, Bernie Williams (who, by the way, played his entire career with the team that drafted him, the Yankees);

• the Yankees spend more money on luxury taxes (which the other owners are happy to pocket) than some owners spend on their entire payroll;

• the Yankees give their fans something to see for 81 games (great players), whether they're winning a world series or not;

• the Yankees sell out pretty much every stadium they play in, again putting gate revenues in the local owners' pockets;

• the Yankees prove that management and chemistry are more critical to winning than payroll. If a team could "buy a championship" (as they're so oft accused, and wrongly so), Yankees would win every season, right? But they don't, because you can't, so any time you hear that stupid argument, put it to rest!)

• the Seattle Mariners once had Randy Johnson, Junior AND A-Rod, all at the same time - what had they to show for it? Zilch. Zip. Nada. Bupkiss. Put that kind of talent in Yankee pin stripes, you'll achieve something;

• even when they lose, it makes the win for the other team that much more special. One of the most memorable recent World Series battles was between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Yankees, and I wanted to see the Diamondbacks win. There are plenty of folks who couldn't care less about the Diamondbacks, but just wanted to see them beat the Yankees. Meanwhile, it takes a real baseball fan to recall who the Chicago White Sox defeated in their recent World Series win, because most people just don't care either way about the...Houston Astros (people outside Houston or, perhaps, Texas, that is).

Any team, every team, wants to win. Any team, every team, would love to say they've won a championship. How many teams can say they've got more championships than anyone else? Just one - the New York Yankees are the winning-est franchise in North American sport, giving their fans more opportunities to cheer than any other on the continent. They are where every other team would love to be.