Not many of us remember Frank Tepidino, Joe Pepitone, Stan Bahnsen and the awful New York Yankee teams of the late 60’s and early 70’s.  The Boston Red Sox were equally atrocious, and you could walk up and buy tickets for Yankee and Red Sox games right up to game time.  Now, there is a traditional rivalry, which really began in the late 1980’s, but thanks to the Babe Ruth trade in 1919, it’s fun to have some revisionist history and think that between 1920 and 1980 there was really much of a rivalry.

Mets.  Shea Stadium.  I remember going their as a kid with the Little League and sitting in the nosebleed seats.  With my father growing up in the Bronx, I was a Yankee fan.  It was awful, but then in the magic year of 1959, 9 years after entering the league as clowns, Ron Swaboda, Tom Seaver, Nolan Ryan and the rest of the Mets pulled off a true sports miracle.  By the time 1986 came around, I was a Red Sox fan, and the less said about that World Series the better.

I was a New York Giant fan as a kid.  And like the Yankees, during my childhood years, they were awful.  Perhaps their records have something to do with the development of my personality, but who knows.  It would be nice to be a die-hard fan of a sports team that wins sometime between when you are 8 and 12 years old.  Y.A. Title was old even then.  Tucker Frederickson was taken with a top pick.  The Giants were awful.  But, they won Super Bowls in 1986 and 1991 thanks to Bill Parcels.  And they won again a few years ago, preventing the New England Patriots from having a perfect season.

The Jets were cool, but I wasn’t cool, so I didn’t root for them.  Joe Namath.  Super Bowl III.  More legends.  More stories.  Today, there is Mark Sanchez and Darelle Revis.  Maybe Rex Ryan will lead the team to some future memories.

The New York Knicks, with Senator Bradley and Walt Frazier, were really cool.  Nothing in the NBA since then.  Mark Messier brought the New York Rangers a Stanley Cup, and the New Jersey Nets have won a Cup as well.  The New York Jets had Dr. J, but not NBA rings.  These teams sell out, but it’s hard to be noticed above the Big Four (Yankees, Mets, Giants, Jets)

Then again, it is New York City.