http://www.projo.com/redsox/content/projo_...ncol.dd4dd.html

It really strains credulity for people to pronouce a team "done" when:

they have the best record in their division
they have the best record in their league
they have the second-best record in baseball
they have a 3.5 game lead on your favorite team

Reynolds is a crotchety old bastard who usually resists winds of change like this, which is why I thought it was noteworthy. This column is not much more than a prolonged Yankees Suck chant.

As a fan of the Red Sox, I don't want people saying they won because the Yankees collapsed - I want them to win by beating the best. But until they do that, the Yankees are by no means "done."

Does anybody else see the irony here ?

Actually, I don't think that Reynold's really thinks the Yanks are done. I think it was an in for discussing "The Last Day of the Yankee Dynasty" (which actually looks pretty good, saw it in the bookstore yesterday and thought about picking it up). He talks more about the Yankees of old than he does about the current race basically just saying they are no longer what the once were.

I know, I read it. Nevertheless, the first line of the column says: "The Yankees are done." If Reynolds doesn't believe that, he wouldn't have written it, no matter what the rest of the column is about.

I think most in Red Sox Nation would agree that if we're going to win a World Series....we want to go through NY to get it. Hell, I'll take it however we can get it, but you can't say that making a pit stop in NY to beat the Yankees wouldn't make it so much sweeter.

The question is whether or not it cheapens the situation to NOT go through NY on the way to the World Series.

Root for Minnesota, root against Oakland. If we don't catch the Yankees, I don't want Oakland in the first round....not this year. Vengeance factor © SG 2004 is through the roof

As a Yankee fan I have thought a dynasty ended when Tino and Paullie weren'tt present for spring training in 2002....

Stupid Question. No.

the yankees aren't done, but they certianly aren't as good as their payroll says they are

Hey, mclusky isn't old. A crotchety bastard, perhaps. *I* am RSN's crotchety OLD bastard. It's not a title I am going to relinquish easily, either.

If the Sox win the WS and do not play the Yankees along the way, then by definition the Yankees aren't the "best" and therefore are irrelevant to the Sox' success.

As far as deriving satisfaction from beating the Yankees along the way, I long ago focused simply on the Sox winning...if they do that, it doesn't matter who else does what. But that 22-0 shelacking was sweet.

No, that's not the question. I don't care for the Yankees, and I dislike many of their fans, both inside the media and out. I'd prefer they finished in last place every season from now until whenever the Sun explodes and vaporizes the Earth. So, to me, it is not sweeter for the Red Sox to have to defeat the Yankees.

However, given that the Yankees are not a last place team, and given that they do not suck, and that, on September 2, 2004, they are not done, I'd prefer that people recognize that truth, so as not to cheapen the effort that this year's Red Sox are putting forth to overcome them.

The question is this: if the Sox win this year, is it because they played to the best of their abilities and defeated a great team, or is it because the Yankees "suck?" If it should come to pass, I will believe the former, and I would suggest that any real "fan" of the Boston Red Sox should do the same.

Given that you now have the proper number of posts, you can (and should) give your self the title for all to see...

As for the beating the Yankees thing - If by some chance they don't make the playoffs, and we do win the world series - wouldn't we have beaten them to do so? I think winning the division is certainly 'beating' the other teams in your division.

And as many others have said, I don't care who we face in the playoffs, winning the WS will be just as sweet.