Growing up in Indiana, we had the likes of the Indiana Pacers and the Indianapolis Colts as professional teams to root for. But my team of choice is in one of the most popular cities in the world: the New York Yankees.
My whole life I have been accused of being a bandwagon of a winner and I never quite knew what that meant until I got older. I was born in January of 1998 and by this time the Yankees had one World Series Championship and were looking for more and they would spark a run of four championships in five years. From 1996-2001 the Yankees played in five World Series and won four of them. Even though I was not alive to experience this dynasty, I have seen the movies and the history of these teams and I fell in love with the white and blue pinstripes. The most iconic jersey in baseball history is the Yankee pinstripes, and they were what I wanted to wear one day and as a kid, I dreamed every night of hitting a walk-off home run to win a championship for the Yankees.
But where I grew up I should not have been a Yankee fan, I should have been a Reds fan or Cardinals or even the Cubs, but I knew New York had my heart. I have wanted to go to New York my whole life and the main reason is Yankee Stadium. But my life as a die-hard New York Yankees fan has not been easy especially growing up in Greenwood, Indiana. Everyone despises my team and tells me that all we do is buy our talent and cheat and all these harsh things but they were just jealous because we kept winning. Being the most winning franchise in baseball and having the most championships with 27 of them, we are a hated team and fan base but we are winners.
Watching my favorite team hold up the World Series Championship Trophy in 2009, is a memory I will never forget but not being able to share it with my parents was hard because they are diehard Braves fans, but that satisfaction of being on top of the baseball world again was filled with absolute joy. Each one of my friends hears how much I brag about the Yankees and how I will not stop talking about how much I love them and how often we win. I have always been competitive and wanted to win and what better to be than a fan of a huge winner. The Yankees will always have a special place in my heart and they will always be my team regardless of where I live. Yankee Stadium will forever be on my bucket list and I hope to one day share it with my entire family. Growing up in a smaller town has its ups and downs and sports of many of the ups and in my town, there has been only a handful of Yankees fan like myself that I know of and still regularly talk to in my life. Baseball is one of the greatest events that brings together people and families across the nation and for me it brought me one of the purest loves I have ever had, the love for baseball in New York and the blue and white pinstripes.
