The Epitome of Entitlement

I knew today wouldn't be a great day. Fortunately, I don't have class with Y-FAB until tomorrow, but what I encountered in one of my other classes might have been worse.

Yes, you read that correctly, WORSE than Yankee-Fan Asshole-Boy. See, at least Y-FAB knows something about his team, and the other teams in the league. He's obnoxious, but he generally knows what he's talking about. The girl in question has long annoyed me in that class: she's your typical little princess (to read about the incident that originally made me dislike her, click here). This girl walks into class today wearing the worst possible article of clothing:This girl (let's call her PYG) has never before worn an article of Yankees paraphernalia to class. She never joins in the frequent conversations about baseball that occur within the class. In essence, she is THE bandwagon fan. I was SO tempted to turn around and ask her to name five players on the Yankees roster, or to tell me what the bullpen was... I knew it would be fruitless, and I sort of wanted to make her look ignorant.

However, I took the high road, and ignored it. Once I left the classroom all bets were off: I turned to my Yankees fan roommate (she's in the class with me), and asked if the pink hat (and its convenient and sudden appearance) annoyed her like it had me. I was surprised when she told me it really didn't phase her at all.

Personally, there's nothing that annoys me like a bandwagon fan. Every team in every sport has them, and they're sometimes a necessary evil: tickets need to be sold, and not every person that passes through the turnstiles can be a diehard. However, it's those bandwagon fans who literally only jump on AFTER a championship, and jump off before they have to watch any of the actual games that really get under my skin. People like PYG are the reason I don't like it when New York wins.

PYG is the epitome of entitlement: spoiled rich girl whose parents pay for college, and support her financially while she takes unpaid internships with a relative so she can pad her resume. The pink Yankees hat is a visual symbol of her entire life. Red Sox fans over the age of 15(ish) grew up with the knowledge that life isn't fair. The bad guy often wins, and just because you work hard doesn't mean you will succeed. The Yankees are a perfect example of how hard work and virtue open fewer doors than the universal language of cold, hard, cash.

PYG will probably never have to learn this lesson. She'll go through her entire life with her parents' money and connections paving the way, and she'll think she earned it. People like that are why I don't like the majority of the Yankees fan base. Your team is a reflection of yourself, but not in the way that they think it is. The fact that New York has 27 World Championships does not make Jimmy Yankees-Fan superior to Susie Royals-Fan... If anything, Susie can claim superiority, for remaining loyal through so many hard times.

Royals fans have been through tough times... and tough haircuts.

The fact of the matter is this: it's easy to always root for the winning team, and Yankees fans like PYG are just taking the path of least resistance.