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Are the Yankees popular in Buffalo?


Barnabov

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I love how people think the Yankees win "all the time", did you people skip the 1980s and early 90s?? I was still wearing my Yankee gear then, and to be honest I haven't bought anything but a new hat since they won in '96, pretty much because of these bandwagon jumpers. I loved Mattingly, Winfield, Randolph, Dent, Goose, Guidry, Henderson, Cirone, etc... I loved them when they weren't winning as much as Jeter and the gang...

 

I can have some respect for that. It has just become increasing annoying living 1/4 of a continent away from a team, yet being bombarded like they play 5 miles down the road. Unfortunately, the bandwagoners are a lot louder, and make themselves more noticeable. No harsh feelings...

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when I was growing up we had WPIX, a NYC station and I'm pretty sure the Yankees were on that... plus we used to listen to them on the radio all the time. It has nothing to do with how close buffalo is to a team...

Family has a lot to do with it, like I said everyone in my family loved the Yankees starting with both sides of my Grandparents (from the 1920s-30s)... hell my grandfather who is blind in one eye and can barely see anything in the other still "watches" everygame and can tell you play by play for anything that happened in the most recent game and he's 91 yrs old.

my brother and I used to fall asleep with our radio's underneath our pillows listening to the Yankee games...

 

and for the record, I'm not irish, and I didn't grow up in south buffalo... also don't really like ND.

 

I love how people think the Yankees win "all the time", did you people skip the 1980s and early 90s?? I was still wearing my Yankee gear then, and to be honest I haven't bought anything but a new hat since they won in '96, pretty much because of these bandwagon jumpers. I loved Mattingly, Winfield, Randolph, Dent, Goose, Guidry, Henderson, Cirone, etc... I loved them when they weren't winning as much as Jeter and the gang...

Well I can't disagree with you there - that was about the time that I liked the Yankees, and it was mostly due to us picking up the WPIX signal (I grew up in Niagara Falls). As I got older, I realized that the Yankees weren't the center of the baseball universe, as some friends and the media tried to persuade me, and looked around to see who was closer. When my relatives in Ohio sent me home from our summer trips with Indians memorabilia, it wasn't hard to make the switch to Cleveland. Since my father hated the Yankees, he was more than happy to see me ditch the Yanks as my fav team...on a side note, my cousins in Ohio tried to get us to like the Browns as well, but Dad wasn't letting that happen, since he has been a hard-core diehard Bills fan for most of his life.

 

I really don't have a problem with being a fan of the team you grew up with rooting for - if you're a long-time fan and you've suffered through your teams' lean years, then you're a real fan. If you went online and bought a NY hat minutes after they won the WS, and started telling everyone how you've always been a fan, then piss off - we know you're lying, and you are a joke.

 

All that being said, NY Yankee fans are some of the most obnoxious, self-centered, idiotic people I have ever had the displeasure of arguing with. They are like Laffs, Florida Gators, Miami Dolphins and Raiders fans all rolled into one, with the volume turned up to about one billion...I'm sure there are a couple tolerable fans of the pinstripes, like TM8, but otherwise... :P

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Forgive him, he has to start his 2 token daily threads. With the season about to start, there's not very much to talk about around here.

 

 

Hey Shrader, are you refering to me? And if so what do you mean about having to start "2 token daily threads"?

 

Maybe I misunderstand the purpose of this board but I thought it was to talk about the Sabres (with the occasional off topic questions like spots for wings & love/hate of the Yankees). If I'm doing anything it's trying to get some discussion going even if there aren't any games yet to discuss (thankfully that changes shortly). It gets a little frustrating to check the board for the 2nd or 3rd time and see hardly anything new.

 

I have two seasons: Hockey & the offseason and it's hard to make it thru the latter so pardon me if I'm attempting a little group therapy. If someone thinks I shouldn't be starting topics (maybe there shouldn't be so many? I don't know the etiquette very well), let me know & I'll try to post with what's already there but I do at least check to try & make sure there hasn't been a recent similar topic already started.

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I couldn't read all the responses, so please pardon if I'm repeating.

 

The Yankmes have quite a following here, which is curious because:

 

(1) There are at least four teams that are closer geographically: Toronto, Cleveland, Detroit, and Pittsburgh. (And there was a fifth until recently--Montreal). None in the same state, but do the fuggin' Bronxters even consider us in the same state? (See No. 3, below.)

 

(2) The local minor-leaguers have been affiliated with Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Chicago (AL) in recent memory, but never the Stroke-its.

 

(3) Downstaters don't give a sh(t about us up here. Never have, never will. So why care about the Bronx?

 

(4) AL baseball is freaking stupid, with DHs and curfews. (Ever see Clemens throw at a batter's head while in a Houston uniform? Didn't think so. He has to bat!)

 

ON EDIT: Don't tell me about throwing at the body. I'm talking about throwing at the head. Doesn't happen in the NL nearly as often. Or, in Clemens's case, throwing a broken bat at the batter works, too.

 

Hey, if you're a Yank fan, pardon me (or don't), but while you hope to reach Number Peca, I hope you're stuck at Number Plante forever (had to stick some Sabre reference in there).

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when I was growing up we had WPIX, a NYC station and I'm pretty sure the Yankees were on that... plus we used to listen to them on the radio all the time. It has nothing to do with how close buffalo is to a team...

Family has a lot to do with it, like I said everyone in my family loved the Yankees starting with both sides of my Grandparents (from the 1920s-30s)... hell my grandfather who is blind in one eye and can barely see anything in the other still "watches" everygame and can tell you play by play for anything that happened in the most recent game and he's 91 yrs old.

my brother and I used to fall asleep with our radio's underneath our pillows listening to the Yankee games...

 

and for the record, I'm not irish, and I didn't grow up in south buffalo... also don't really like ND.

 

I love how people think the Yankees win "all the time", did you people skip the 1980s and early 90s?? I was still wearing my Yankee gear then, and to be honest I haven't bought anything but a new hat since they won in '96, pretty much because of these bandwagon jumpers. I loved Mattingly, Winfield, Randolph, Dent, Goose, Guidry, Henderson, Cirone, etc... I loved them when they weren't winning as much as Jeter and the gang...

 

 

This post sums up my love of the Yankees. I can understand people loving to hate them too but I think it's just as logical to support a team 400 miles away as it is one a 1,000 miles away - you just have to like some intangible thing about an organization and grow with it.

 

When I first asked the question, I figured the Yankees wouldn't be universally liked in Buffalo (we in the Finger Lakes often wish that that part of the state Westchester County & south would just fall in the ocean) - thought there'd be a lot of Cleveland fans, forgot about Toronto having a ball club and maybe the Mets would be more popular. Good to read these posts & see that it's a broad spectrum - at least we're all Sabres fans!

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I couldn't read all the responses, so please pardon if I'm repeating.

 

The Yankmes have quite a following here, which is curious because:

 

(1) There are at least four teams that are closer geographically: Toronto, Cleveland, Detroit, and Pittsburgh. (And there was a fifth until recently--Montreal). None in the same state, but do the fuggin' Bronxters even consider us in the same state? (See No. 3, below.)

 

(2) The local minor-leaguers have been affiliated with Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Chicago (AL) in recent memory, but never the Stroke-its.

 

(3) Downstaters don't give a sh(t about us up here. Never have, never will. So why care about the Bronx?

 

(4) AL baseball is freaking stupid, with DHs and curfews. (Ever see Clemens throw at a batter's head while in a Houston uniform? Didn't think so. He has to bat!)

 

ON EDIT: Don't tell me about throwing at the body. I'm talking about throwing at the head. Doesn't happen in the NL nearly as often. Or, in Clemens's case, throwing a broken bat at the batter works, too.

 

Hey, if you're a Yank fan, pardon me (or don't), but while you hope to reach Number Peca, I hope you're stuck at Number Plante forever (had to stick some Sabre reference in there).

 

Everything else in this post is very intelligent.

 

Dude, youre crazy, AL is wildly more entertaining, more competitive, and a stronger League in general. Most importantly, THE PITCHERS DON'T BAT!! I don't like watching a game that has almost a guaranteed out at the bottom of the lineup.

 

 

when I was growing up we had WPIX, a NYC station and I'm pretty sure the Yankees were on that... plus we used to listen to them on the radio all the time. It has nothing to do with how close buffalo is to a team...

 

I knew WPIX broadcasted somewhere in WNY but not in Lackawanna on our cable system back then. I love how the Yankee fan brings up their 10 bad years in the 80's and early 90's when Georgie Boy was even crazier than he is now, had no idea how to build a winner, and was then banned from running his own team. Boy, those were the days... teams like KC, Oakland, Toronto, and Minnesota won the WS, the Yankees blew chunks, and peace and tranquility was in the hearts of every Yankee Hating man. Excuse me.... sorry, i was longing for the old days. However, its a different climate where the Yankees can do whatever the hell they want, buy whomever they want,build billion dollar ballparks, bomb small countries, rape women and steal their children, and win every year. Not all Yankee fans are front runners...but I'd guess the majority are.

 

LETS GO TIGERS!

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I love the Yankees...love the Bills...love the Sabres. Always have, always will.

 

Why root for the Indians? Maybe the Blue Jays, yes. But the Indians? The Red Sox are totally out of the question...Pirates...lol.

 

Its the Yanks for baseball. Always has been. Always will be.

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Why root for the Indians?

 

...because their farm players play right in Buffalo. You can see them weekly during the spring and summer and root for them when they get to the majors. I guess just ignoring that team and it's players, and just rooting for the most likely to win every year is easier. ;)

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Why root for the Indians? Maybe the Blue Jays, yes. But the Indians? The Red Sox are totally out of the question...Pirates...lol.

I don't get the sarcasm - is there a reason why you shouldn't root for the Tribe and cheer for a Canadian team instead? Toronto is NYC North, while Cleveland and Pittsburgh are sister cities to Buffalo, the classic small-market cities, underdogs when it comes to the Yankees, Mets, Red Sox, Dodgers of the world...I guess I would rather watch a team that has to be careful with its baseball decisions, who has to develop the majority of its talent from within, rather than just throwing money at the problem. For the Yankees, over the last 10+ years its been "Need another All-Star arm for your rotation? Who's available this off-season? Randy Johnson, Mike Mussina, OK, go get them. Another bat? A-Rod, Giambi, Sheffield, Matsui, Bobby Abreu, Johnny Damon, anyone else?"

 

I'll grant that the Yankees have started to realize that they need to refocus on developing their own prospects, and that is evident with guys like Melky Cabrera, Nick Green & Andy Phillips, but aside from the "traditional" Yankees (Jeter, Posada, Bernie Williams and Mariano Rivera) there are still an awful lot of hired guns on that roster. Now don't misinterpret what I am saying - I am not saying the Yankees are doing anything wrong - they are playing within MLB's current rules - I am just saying I have a lot more respect for the teams that scout, draft, and/or trade for minor league prospects and develop them into stars. The problem with the economic system is that once they become stars, teams like the Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers can all spend considerably more than the Pirates and Indians can, so they lose them to the highest bidder. That inequality must be addressed, b/c even though some different teams have won the Series in recent years, there are still a dozen or so teams that have no shot at making the postseason whatsoever.

 

Its anyone but the Yanks for baseball. Always has been. Always will be.

Fixed that for ya. ;)

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I'll grant that the Yankees have started to realize that they need to refocus on developing their own prospects, and that is evident with guys like Melky Cabrera, Nick Green & Andy Phillips

 

Lest we don't forget, if it wasn't for the injuries to Sheff and Matsui, Cabrera and Phillips wouldn't have sniffed the field. Before Yankee fans jump all over me about Philips not being an outfielder, therefore he didn't sub in for the injured guys, Bernie Williams was getting the majority of DH time before the injuries, and was likewise moved into the outfield where Giambi switched to DH and Phillips was used as the first baseman. Of coarse, Phillips wasn't putting up all-star #'s at first so they had to get Craig(?) Wilson, and for whatever reason they felt they needed another outfielder because Damon, Cabrera, and Williams wasn't good enough so they picked up Abreu. The one area they did need to adress was pitching and the Lidle throw-in was a nice touch.

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Not sure if this was brought up yet, 'cuz I'm at work reading this in a hurry over lunch. (Blue Jays fan, by the way).

 

But way back in the early 1980s, the Buffalo News did an informal reader survey to determine which MLB team was the favorite of the majority of their readers. It was like a clip-out coupon with check-off boxes.

 

I'm sorry to say, the Yankees finished way ahead of the rest. If I remember right, I think the order of finish for the rest was something like the Mets, Pirates, Indians, Jays, and Expos. I remember there was barely any support for the Canadian teams.

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I don't get the sarcasm - is there a reason why you shouldn't root for the Tribe and cheer for a Canadian team instead? Toronto is NYC North, while Cleveland and Pittsburgh are sister cities to Buffalo, the classic small-market cities, underdogs when it comes to the Yankees, Mets, Red Sox, Dodgers of the world...

Whats wrong with cheering for a Canadian Team?

 

I'm a Canadian who cheers for the Sabres and Bills

 

And yes, Toronto the City is like the Canadian NYC but the only sports team that could be considered "Big Market" is the Laughs. The Jays can't compete with the Payrolls of the Yanks and Sox. They raised their payroll to 70 million and barely turned a profit this year. They are going to raise it again this year (rumored to be around 90 mil) but it still won't be anywhere neasr Boston or NY. There is even rumors of baltimore raising theirs this year to 100 mil too.

 

I don't follow teams because the city they come from resembles the city I live in, I follow them because I like the team and its players. I could care less if Toronto is a clone of NYC. Its not going to stop me from being a Jays fan, or hating the Yanks

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Whats wrong with cheering for a Canadian Team?

 

I'm a Canadian who cheers for the Sabres and Bills

 

And yes, Toronto the City is like the Canadian NYC but the only sports team that could be considered "Big Market" is the Laughs. The Jays can't compete with the Payrolls of the Yanks and Sox. They raised their payroll to 70 million and barely turned a profit this year. They are going to raise it again this year (rumored to be around 90 mil) but it still won't be anywhere neasr Boston or NY. There is even rumors of baltimore raising theirs this year to 100 mil too.

 

I don't follow teams because the city they come from resembles the city I live in, I follow them because I like the team and its players. I could care less if Toronto is a clone of NYC. Its not going to stop me from being a Jays fan, or hating the Yanks

I guess if you take my comment out of context, it could look like I am saying "Why Root for a Canadian team?" when in fact my response was to someone who basically said if I am not a Yankees fan, then I SHOULD be rooting for the Blue Jays and not the Indians or Pirates. But in case you missed that part here it is for you.

 

I love the Yankees...love the Bills...love the Sabres. Always have, always will.

 

Why root for the Indians? Maybe the Blue Jays, yes. But the Indians? The Red Sox are totally out of the question...Pirates...lol.

 

Its the Yanks for baseball. Always has been. Always will be.

 

I don't get the sarcasm - is there a reason why you shouldn't root for the Tribe and cheer for a Canadian team instead? Toronto is NYC North, while Cleveland and Pittsburgh are sister cities to Buffalo, the classic small-market cities, underdogs when it comes to the Yankees, Mets, Red Sox, Dodgers of the world...I guess I would rather watch a team that has to be careful with its baseball decisions, who has to develop the majority of its talent from within, rather than just throwing money at the problem. For the Yankees, over the last 10+ years its been "Need another All-Star arm for your rotation? Who's available this off-season? Randy Johnson, Mike Mussina, OK, go get them. Another bat? A-Rod, Giambi, Sheffield, Matsui, Bobby Abreu, Johnny Damon, anyone else?"

Maybe I should have put "the Blue Jays" in instead of "a Canadian team" but nonetheless, I stand by my comment - why should I, as a native of WNY, root for a big-market Canadian team instead of the Pirates or Tribe, who both have had ties to Buffalo through their top minor-league affiliates, prospects and major leaguers that I have had the privilege of watching in Buffalo before they made it big? And there is some solidarity between the small-market teams (like Cleveland, Pittsburgh, KC) b/c in recent years they have all been continually steamrolled by teams like NY Yankees, Boston, LA, etc.

 

I have no ties to the Jays at all, and frankly, given the choice between rooting for an American team or a Canadian team, I'll usually choose the American team. Call it a "phony national pride" issue, but that is where I stand, especially since the good people of Toronto have that same, smug, center-of-the-universe attitude that New Yorkers have (especially when it comes to hockey.)

It's some kind of phony national pride issue. Who cares that the league is probably 5% American and 80% Canadian, people still somehow turn it into an Us. vs. Them situation.

Shrader, I am not sure what this means. Are you insinuating that MLB is made up of 80% Canadian players, or are you saying the NHL is? I am honestly confused here.

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Shrader, I am not sure what this means. Are you insinuating that MLB is made up of 80% Canadian players, or are you saying the NHL is? I am honestly confused here.

 

NHL. But I guess the same can be said about MLB. Somehow the team's canadian even if the roster is 90% American.

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Gotcha - the perception of it being a "big bad Canadian team" even though most of its players are American.

 

FWIW - in this instance I was using the term "Canadian team" based on the ownership, location and fan base, not in the sense of roster makeup.

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Maybe I should have put "the Blue Jays" in instead of "a Canadian team" but nonetheless, I stand by my comment - why should I, as a native of WNY, root for a big-market Canadian team instead of the Pirates or Tribe, who both have had ties to Buffalo through their top minor-league affiliates, prospects and major leaguers that I have had the privilege of watching in Buffalo before they made it big? And there is some solidarity between the small-market teams (like Cleveland, Pittsburgh, KC) b/c in recent years they have all been continually steamrolled by teams like NY Yankees, Boston, LA, etc.

The Jays get steam rolled by the Yanks and Sox every year too, they are in a big city but still aren't a big market baseball team (when you look at spending and revenue) Also, as a Canadian team it is harder to attract the big names because of the fact they would be based out of Canada and the taxes and dollar issue.

 

Buffalo is in the middle of alot of different teams that can be considered a local team (Toronto may be the closest if you go by Downtown Buffalo) but you do still have Clevland, Pittsburgh, Detroit, etc)

 

Either way, we can all stand united in wishing nothing but the worst of luck to the Yankees as they try buy yet another championship

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The Jays get steam rolled by the Yanks and Sox every year too, they are in a big city but still aren't a big market baseball team (when you look at spending and revenue) Also, as a Canadian team it is harder to attract the big names because of the fact they would be based out of Canada and the taxes and dollar issue.

 

Buffalo is in the middle of alot of different teams that can be considered a local team (Toronto may be the closest if you go by Downtown Buffalo) but you do still have Clevland, Pittsburgh, Detroit, etc)

 

Either way, we can all stand united in wishing nothing but the worst of luck to the Yankees as they try buy yet another championship

Truer words have never been spoken.

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Ive been a Yankees fan for 25+ years, and I am as much of fan of baseball as the Yankees itself...I take offense personally to the following thoughts:

 

1. ALL Yankees fans are bandwagon jumpers: Oh really? So all those games I went to as a kid to watch Clay Parker and Mel Hall play at Yankee Stadium make me a bandwagon jumper? Ok.. :unsure:

 

2. ONLY the Yankees and a few other teams make the playoffs: I understand the Braves and the Yankees dominance...but what about the last few WS Champions? White Sox, Red Sox, Marlins, Angels, Diamondbacks...yep...SAME teams win every year!!!! :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

Here is the cycle for October: Anti-Yankees fans bitch and whine about $ this and $ that, Ill never watch etc...to basically set themselves up just in case the Yankees win....then, when teams like the Marlins, Red Sox, White Sox, etc...won it all, they are the first ones popping the champagne celebrating baseball.

 

Weak.

 

Haters, the lot of em.

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