The Five Points Manhattan

Here it is, the famous slum of downtown Manhattan … only, uhh, there’s nothing left of it. No plaque, no historic sign–nothing.
My friend Jesse’s been bugging me to take pictures of the area, as he’s fascinated by Al Capone and (if you didn’t know) Capone grew up in the infamous Five Points.

It doesn’t really surprise me, considering the place of the Boston Massacre doesn’t have anything, either.

Empire State Building Lights

(gotta love camera phones)

An interesting little tidbit–the Empire State Building’s lights are typically representative of something, and over this weekend it was to reflect the Subway series by lighting the sides of the building differently for the first time. Today, it’s going to be blue and orange since the Mets won the series.

Yankees Cap

I grew up an Orioles fan, rooted for the ’04 Red Sox, and hated the Yankees before moving to North Jersey. Funny how living up here can change you.

Perhaps it’s because the Yankees are technically my home team now, or maybe it’s because I’m attending so many home games … maybe it’s my way of rejecting Peter Angelos ownership of the O’s (they never should have let Moose go to NY) … Regardless, I recently started wearing one of those fifty-nine 50 Yankees caps (which are much more comfortable than the wool counterparts).

While Yankees hats are almost mandatory dress code in Manhattan, I happened to spend most of this past week in Harrisburg, where I was stopped both of the two times I visited Giant (the local supermarket).

“Yankees fan!? Uh, can you say last place?”

(the Yankees happened to pull out of the basement later that day).

“Are you a fan, or are you just wearing a hat?”

(This coming from a Cardinals fan).

Oh, and to top all of this, my father-in-law almost didn’t let me in his house.

I can’t really blame any of these guys, because I always despised “fans” of the NYY. I mean, where’s the connection to Central PA, or anywhere out of NY, for that matter? Immediately, the money=talent factor proves to attract a fan-base, but, as the Yankees have proved, money doesn’t win championships. As for the Yankee haters, It’s just a game, and if you look closely enough you’ll see how incestuous the teams really are (for instance, the BoSox-Yankee players of Ruth, Clemens, Boggs, Damon, Mientkiewicz, and Olerud just to name a few). It sometimes makes you wonder as a fan what you’re cheering for, exactly.

Overall, I guess I just love New York for being a baseball city—and for having owners that really want to win, no matter the cost.