My least favorite Yankees

I am almost certain that the Yankees are going to win the World Series. I've been certain for quite awhile. During this postseason, I have always rooted for the other team, and felt real disgust when they didn't succeed, or -- like the Angels -- make dumb mistake after dumb mistake. But I always knew that the Yankees would prevail.

I'm not the greatest evaluator of talent, but I can see what the Yankees have and how they are playing. I don't think the Phillies have a real shot of winning the Series. It could go six games. But I don't see a seven-game series or a Phillies win. Don't get me wrong, I would LOVE a Phillies win and I would love to be wrong, but my gut says it ain't gonna happen.

Given that, what I'm saying here shouldn't annoy any Yankees fans, too much. Your team is going to win the World Series, so who cares about what some blogger thinks?

It's well-established that I do not like the Yankees. I come from a family of Yankee haters. There are no Yankee rooters in my immediate family or my extended family. I have hated the Yankees all my life. I have also had a couple Yankees fans say to me, "How sad for you that you have so much dislike for a team." Don't be sad for me. Part of life is knowing who the bad guy is and why. I KNOW, and I know why.

So, when Cards on Cards just posted his list of his top 10 favorite Yankees, my immediate reaction was: WHAT? WHY?????? I could never do that. (For a look at my one and only favorite Yankee, click here). But I could make a list of my top 10 least-favorite Yankees. Easily.

So that's what I did. Thanks for the idea, madding. It was fairly easy to find 10. But I had to leave a bunch off the list. Suffice it to say -- Joba Chamberlain, Gary Sheffield, Chuck Knoblauch, Reggie Jackson, Jeff Nelson, Randy Johnson, Jim Leyritz -- that just because you're not on the top 10 doesn't mean you haven't had a curse word or two thrown at you.

OK, ready to see where all my negative energy goes? Here's a hint. Two of the three guys on that dorky card up top are on the list. And I'm listing them from the guy I like the least the least to the guy I like the least the most:

10. Wade Boggs: Boggs was the pride of the Red Sox during the '80s, and my family members who were Red Sox fans enjoyed his success and his stories of chicken-eating. But then there was the whole Margo Adams cheating thing, and he just seemed to get weird. That was followed by the biggest shocker of all, signing with the Yankees as a free agent. I know players look at it as a "team is a team is a team," but fans know better. You just don't sign with the Yankees directly from the Red Sox. It's like writing a "kick me" sign and slapping it onto your own back. You're asking for trouble.

9. Dave Winfield: It really is true that you mellow out as you grow older. Winfield would have been a lot higher on this list 25 years ago. But since the time that he signed for what was then an obnoxious amount of cash to play for an obnoxious franchise, a few things happened that we didn't see coming. Winfield never won a World Series for the Yankees. He played for a number of teams after the Yankees. And he never seemed all that obnoxious. So Dave is on here based on the outrage we felt on Dec. 15, 1980.

8. Jorge Posada: For a Yankee hater, it is hard to put into words why Posada is annoying. Yankees fans look at the guy and see a harmless, quiet guy. But I see more. And I know other fans -- especially Red Sox fans -- see more. He appears to be a perpetual whiner. In a very quiet, underhanded way. It's almost imperceptible, like his elbowing of the Blue Jays' Jesse Carlson that sparked a brawl this past season. But Pedro Martinez is on to him. I am looking forward to Martinez facing Posada in the Series -- that is if Posada plays in Game 2.

7. Thurman Munson: I was a child when I saw Munson play, but he was easy to dislike. He was so cranky and ornery. And while he was probably just being overly aggressive, he always seemed like he was trying to kill the opponent during base-running plays. I can't prove it, but I'm thinking he paid off home plate umpire Nestor Chylak to call out Steve Garvey in Game 1 of the 1977 World Series. Munson knew Garvey was safe.

6. Paul O'Neill: The baby. I don't like babies who are grown-ups. If you strike out, don't redecorate the dugout. Sit your ass down. Throwing a fit doesn't show that you care, it shows that you're still 15 years old. Also:

PAUL O-NEILL. CLAP, CLAP. CLAP, CLAP, CLAP

WAS A RED. CLAP, CLAP. CLAP, CLAP, CLAP

I think everyone forgets that. Sometimes I think even O'Neill forgets that. Eight years he played for the Reds.

5. Bucky Dent: See that All-Star insignia on Dent's card? It was an injustice that Dent was voted the starter to the All-Star Game in 1980 (in Dodger Stadium of all places). Some 1980 figures for AL shortstops for you:

Bucky Dent: 5 HR, 52 RBI, .262 AVG, .327 OBP, .354 SLG, .681 OPS
Robin Yount: 23 HR, 87 RBI, .293 AVG, .321 OBP, .519 SLG, .840 OPS
Alan Trammell: 9 HR, 65 RBI, .300 AVG, .376 OBP, .404 SLG, .779 OPS

Tell me who the All-Star is. It is that kind of "might makes right" occurrence, that so many people were clueless in the voting or just liked their darling Yankee, that drove me and others crazy in 1980. Dent was an average shortstop who hit a barely-fair home run in a special playoff game. Not an All-Star.

4. Lou Piniella: Again, he would have been higher on the hate scale when I was younger. He has kind of distanced himself from the Yankees over the years. But his flipping temper tantrums in pinstripes made him the target for all kinds of derision from my brothers and I. Settle down, Lou. You play for a team with more championships than anyone else. Appreciate what you have.

3. Mark Teixeira: The worst face in major league baseball. There is no question about that. And it took him all of one year to get to No. 3. It just drives me batty that he seems to think he was destined to be a Yankee. First of all, I have an issue with the concept that this is a desirable goal. Second of all, Mark, you're a RanBraAngkee. Not a Yankee.

2. Roger Clemens: Another ex-Red Sox who showed his true stripes by donning pinstripes. And then it just got ugly: whipping a bat at Piazza, retiring and receiving a car then unretiring, steroid accusations, an "unhealthy relationship" with an underage country singer. He is not a likable guy. In fact, I'd have to run the numbers, but Barry Bonds might be more likable than Clemens. ... nah, they're equally unlikable.

1. Alex Rodriguez: The guy has tons of issues. I've been told all my life, "Money and fame cannot buy happiness," and he's a walking example. A crazy amount of money. A steroid past. Marital problems. A "please like me" personality. I am not suddenly happy for him because he appears to be over some of these issues. The guy is dating Kate Hudson, for crying out loud.

(Have I ever mentioned that I can connect myself to Kate Hudson using the six degrees of separation? I can. Using just five degrees, actually. And one of them is NOT that I have watched a Kate Hudson movie)

So, yeah, not happy about watching the Yankees in the World Series. Or seeing them celebrate.

But, sometimes in life, the bad guy wins every once in awhile. Not everything has to go my way. Isn't that right, Steinbrenner?