It has been a hectic week for me, to say the least. School is still getting back into swing after winter break, and I’m currently facing the first round of tests in the new term. Luckily, during this chaotic week nothing affecting me at all has happened in baseball. Or maybe un-luckily, as the offseason stretches on and on. Where are the hot stove news, the signings and the blockbuster trades?! Maybe it’s just me, but this has seemed to be a particularly uneventful offseason and it is really starting to hit me. At least pitchers and catchers are just around the corner.

Or maybe at the end of a long hallway. That’s a little more realistic for the way most baseball fans are feeling.

Due to the lack of baseball in my life, I’ve turned my attention to other sports, as well as other things. The NFL playoffs have also been relatively uneventful, with the only surprise so far being the New York Jets’ upset of the San Diego Chargers. Now that a New York team is once again on a quest for playoff domination, Boston fans can only stand and watch, since our Pats were dethroned in the first round by the Ravens. It’s a lot like last October, when we watched the Yankees defeat the Angels as we stood helplessly on the side. Now we’re here again, with no means to stop New York, helplessly on the side yet again.

While we still have basketball on our side, New York has calmly seized control of both the NFL and the MLB. Some may say that the Giants and the Jets still aren’t safely in consideration as the top teams year in and year out, but I would argue that they certainly are powerhouses. The Jets may be returning to their glory of earlier years, with a squad of young stars, and the Giants need work, but can certainly come back strong after a good offseason.

The Yankees are never not  in consideration as one of the top 5 teams in baseball, literally every year. The growing truth is that New York is on its way to surpassing nearly any city as the premiere American sports town, a title that many would agree Boston has held in the last decade. Unfortunately, New York has almost reached that state of total sports domination.  

While we Boston fans can do little to entirely stop NYC, we can certainly surpass them, and as the NFL season is over for us, we must turn our view to the upcoming MLB season. What better stage on which to overtake New York? After all, a little competition never hurt anybody!

We play 15 games vs. the Yankees in 2010, and we will have that many chances to show the world what we can do against them. I would say that a reasonable goal to set would be to win at least 10 of those games. Last year we started off unbelievably strong against the Yanks, but we fell apart when we really needed to beat them. We only added to the Yankees’ fantastic late season run as they pulled the lead in the AL East farther and farther from us. I don’t think we would have beaten them even if we had in fact beaten the Angels; they truly were unstoppable.

The Yankees are still one of the most talented all around teams in baseball. They have improved a great deal over this offseason, but so have we. If we can keep our cool and win the big games against the Yankees, I think the rest will work itself out. I have faith in my Sox.

However, I’m not a Yankee hater by any means. I consider myself a good sport and I try not to be a sore loser. I’ll leave it at “may the best team win.” We will see, New York, we will see.