Who Is the Team of the Decade?

If you're on Twitter much, you know that a lot of Yankees fans are upset with anyone who suggests the Red Sox, not the Yankees, are the team of the decade. Now I'm as big a Yankees fan as anyone. One time, I hit a squirrel with my car, but I didn't feel bad because the squirrel lived in Boston. That's how much of a fan I am. But the Sox are the team of the decade. Deal with it.

The Sox won two World Series and that's it. The Yanks won two World Series, appeared in two others, made the play-offs every year save one, and had the balls to fire (okay, not resign) one of the best managers in baseball. And while parting with Larry Bowa was hard, the 27th World Series in Yankees history has made any memory of those dark days pass away.

So how are the Sox the team of the decade? Simple, they broke a curse that had plagued them for 84 years. That is the baseball story of the decade (at least the one without the word 'steroids' in its title), like it or not. With the Yanks payroll, they're supposed to be in the playoffs every year. Now, Boston has plenty of resources, but they don't spend as much as we do. Whether they can or not is irrelevant to this discussion. They're also Boston, they're suppposed to choke in the second half, not win championships (ask any Boston fan, or at least listen to them come any August). They aren't expected to be in the playoffs, much less ending any season as champs.

It also doesn't help the Yankees that they entered the decade having won 3 of the last 4 World Series, and winning the first of the decade to mark 3 in a row. When you come off a run like that and then win one more World Series in the next nine years, people aren't going to be that impressed.

I know a lot of Yanks fans are probably peeved not only because they feel their team is getting robbed of 'team of the decade' honors in this decade, but because they had to live through plenty of journalists who wanted to pin that title on Atlanta last decade. I understand the frustration. But we're Yankees. We win titles, we don't need meaningless awards from sports columnists. There isn't even a trophy involved.

The Yanks have won 27 world championships since 1918. Most of us remember at least five of them. The Sox have won 2 since then, and almost everyone alive remembers them because they just happened. Let them have this. I understand we're rivals, but we are so beyond 'team of the decade' concerns. Who cares? Journalists don't give us our props, so what? We'll just keep winning championships at a pace that will always set the Yankees apart from the rest of the baseball universe.