This weekend, I decided to go to Maine for a wonderful weekend (it is ever cold here), plus work on a potential deal here. However, on the way up there on I-9, I ran into Yankee fans in Tony Soprano Country.
A lot of them.
I stopped at two rest stops in New Jersey and just saw Yankee paraphernalia everywhere – hats, caps, and all. There were tons of families all decked out in navy blue who wanted to see the happy little parade in Manahattan, and I decided to chat it up with them briefly. Honestly, I was bored, surfing the nets, checking work email and had another 9 hours to drive, so I introduced myself and said congrats to them, plus hoped their kids savior the experience along with a hooky day from school.
The fellow who did most of the talking was from Swedesboro, NJ and grew up in the Bronx – needless to say, he is a huge fan. I told him was an Oriole fan and we chatted really quickly about the series, and then the conversation moved into the talent level of the Yankees.
I don’t remember word-for-word what I said, but while I believed they bought their team, they deserved it as for a change the Yankees spent their money very wisely.
But in the scope of things, after watching this rendition of the World Series, I really saw how much of a talent disparity between the Orioles and the beats of the AL East. It kind of sucks to wake up in early April and realize your team has completely no shot of winning.
As much as I love to see the plan the Orioles have in the works for improvement, they have a long, long way to go before we can call them contenders. I don’t know they are going to do it, but something needs to be done.
The interesting thing with the Yankees is that while the family Steinbrenner has signed free agents, spent the GNP of some small countries over the last eight years, there has been one constant.
Jeter, Pettitte, Rivera and Posada.
The Orioles have guys who could fit that mold – Jones, Markakis, Roberts, Wieters, Reimold – however, things have to fall in place and develop.
If it does…
