Yankees Chick - News, Rumors, and Opinions on the Bronx Bombers From a Brunette Babe

As a sports fan, sometimes it's difficult to determine which feels better: the fact that your team won or the realization that your rival has lost. It's easy to focus too much on one's opponent, particularly when your own team is accruing damages like it's going out of style, but enjoying the misery of others can only satisfy a person for so long (although it is fun, don't get me wrong). For so long this season the Yankees have been mired in 2nd-place status - the Red Sox came running out of the gate in April and played much better than the Yankees for many months; for a while all we Yankees fans had to live for was the hope that we could at least maintain some dignity. In fact, a few times at some of the lowest points in the season (think 14.5 games back... ouch), I became so accustomed to seeing the Yankees blow it that I began to take greater joy out of rooting against the Sox than I did out of rooting for the Yanks!

That, my friends, is wrong.

Sure, it's fun to see Gagne blow it. Yes, it's heart-warming to know that the Red Sox wasted a lot of money on the injury-saddled JD Drew, and the antics of poor Julio Lugo are a sight for sore eyes, no doubt about it. But (wo)man cannot live on the suffering of others alone!

Miraculously, over the past month or so, I have slowly weaned myself from my addict-esque need to have Boston's GameDay running in the background of my computer so as not to miss anything potentially mock-worthy (which is a good thing, really, because have you ever tried to get any actual work done while you're watching a Yankees game on TV, checking Boston's GameDay every 10 seconds, and heckling your Red Sox fan coworker simultaneously? It's not easy). I have refocused 100% of my attention on enjoying the successes of the Yankees - and they have been most kind in helping me in that regard. In the span of just a couple months the Yankees have managed to muscle out a very comfortable 5.5 game lead in the wildcard and turned themselves into viable contenders for the division, which is now just 1.5 games out of reach with 10 left to play.

Since the Yanks and Sawx are, of course, in a race with each other, no one is immune to a little scoreboard watching. But I can honestly say, lovelies, that when Gagne blew that save yesterday and when Papelbon served up that grand salami to Adams tonight, while I absolutely giggled with glee and felt my heart swell with joy, I kept my focus on the most important matter at hand: the Yankees' record.

The moral of this story (there isn't one) is this: it is the successes of one's own team, not the failures of another, that should bring one the most joy. The failures of others are just delicious, delicious icing on the cake. Cream cheese icing. On carrot cake.

I'm hungry now.