Maybe I Am Growing Soft In My Old Age But I Actually Respect The Yankee Bleacher Creatures In This Video (Don't Worry I Still Hate The Team And Will Never Root For Them)
Just some quick ramblings as I watch baseball and wait for the Mets game to really get kicking. Saw this video on the old Tik Tok earlier today and it was the first time I had seen an angle like that up close. Obviously going to a handful of Yankee games in my life (I try to avoid that stadium of skells as much as possible) I was familiar with the famous "roll call" by the bleacher creatures. It was one of those traditions I respected from a far but never saw (or wanted to see ) up close. I'll be honest even after this video I'm not certain if this is the same guy who has always done "the roll call" or do they rotate guys? If it's the same guy it seems pretty crazy he would go to every game right? Even as a diehard fan he's got no oblo's in the summer? No weddings etc? Anyway, did this guy elevate to this role? Did he work his way up as one of the guys just there then got the responsibilities of yelling? I may never know the answers, if you have them tweet them at me but I don't know if anyone knows the real story unless you are in that circle.
Anyway. The thing I have always said is that Yankee fans, the real ones are very knowledgeable about their team, and more-so baseball in general. Growing up my dad would turn up the volume on WFAN when Vinny from Queens would call even though he was a Yankee fan because he made great points about his team, and you could tell he watched them every day and every night. Talk to guys like Hubbs and Ev and Smokes or a collection of Yankee fans in the office and they give the same vibe. They know the team, they know the sport. They may turn up the shtick once in a while, but for the most part you can have good conversations with those guys.
That's the vibe I get from this collection of fans. Knowledgeable, and real, and you may ask how can I possible know this off one tik tok. Well let me present you with some evidence.
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LEGIT jerseys. I scrolled the video 4-5 times, there's WAY more actual jerseys than the morons with the name on the back (t shirt jerseys are exempt). Of course there are 2-3 three morons in the video, but honestly I was shocked by how many real jerseys there were. No bullshit. This has always been a point of contention with me because if you follow the Yankees even a little bit you know their history and tradition of never putting names on the back is both long standing and proud. Their fans love it. No one else in the bigs really does it like they do it, or for as long as they have which is why if you are one of their fans, when you walk into the team merch store, or a sporting goods store you know to buy the one without the name on the back. You know you cannot wear a jersey with the name on the back because the Yankees have never nor will ever wear a jersey with a name on the back on the field. It's part of their DNA. I always think the people who buy the ones with the name on the back are absolute morons. Knowingly spending money on a jersey that the players don't wear is both mind numbingly stupid, and worse tells me you don't watch the team enough to know you bought the wrong jersey. MORONS.
Which in closing again I can't believe me I'm saying this, makes me feel bad for the guy doing the roll call here and the people in the bleachers because I can tell they really are smart baseball guys, but they unfairly get lumped in with these absolute moronic "authentic jersey with the name on the back" neanderthals aka casual fans who only go to games when the local restaurant runs out of veal parm on a Friday night, or tunes in for the playoffs and can barely name the players. If more of these dopes actually did what the bleacher fans did, people wouldn't hate the entire fanbase as much as they do. Well … people would still fucking hate the Yankees like I do, but at least the people we know are frauds wouldn't stand out as much in their fake jerseys.
I can't believe I wrote a pro Yankee blog. I need to go shower… twice. And make sure my dad and fellow Met fans haven't disowned me.