It's Not Whining

I often find myself berated by my friends who are also (inexplicably) fans of the evil empire (a.k.a. N.Y. Yankees, for the uninitiated) - they accuse me of whining about the yankee payroll - let me make this perfectly clear. IT IS NOT WHINING TO STATE FACTS! The last I checked, 200 was more than 135. (The approximate payroll, in millions, of the Yanks and Sox, respectively.) As long as the Yanks spend more than double the MLB average on payroll and nearly 1 1/2 times as much as the second highest spender (last year, the Red Sox), I can make the point. That's it. Yankee fans seem to hate to have the truth spelled out, but the only way this will change is if a) another team goes nuts and surpasses the Yankees in spending (unlikely, since no one else can afford it), or b) A legit salary cap is instituted. I would love to watch the Yankees compete with all of baseball, with equal resources. Alas, the Yankees (much like Notr Dame football) view themselves as bigger than the game. Hell, they view themselves as bigger than human beings (remember 2004, when hurricanes were buffeting Florida and people were losing their homes and all their personal possessions; the Yanks do, because they pleaded with MLB to offer them a forfeit win, since the Tampa Bay Devil Rahys were unable to make it back to play scheduled games - ah, Yankee land, always classy.