The New York Yankees’ postseason heartbreak didn’t just end their playoff run—it reignited old grudges across the baseball landscape. Among those celebrating the collapse was former New York Times reporter David Margolick, who penned a blistering guest column titled “I Love New York, Except for the Yankees” after the team’s elimination by the Toronto Blue Jays in the American League Division Series.
Margolick, who spent decades chronicling New York life, didn’t hold back. He declared his love for the city but drew a sharp line at the Bronx and their fanbase, painting them as the embodiment of every negative New Yorker stereotype: “arrogant, impatient, omniscient,” and incapable of handling defeat.
He admitted that watching Yankees fans melt down after losses gives him joy. “I celebrate whenever that happens,” he wrote, recalling how he and a friend relished watching fans boo and exit Yankee Stadium early during a September meltdown. For Margolick, the team’s downfall is more than schadenfreude—it’s personal catharsis.
A Lifelong New Yorker, But Never a Yankees Fan
Margolick described himself as someone who has lived in New York for nearly 50 years and considers the city home. Yet when it comes to the Bombers, his sense of belonging stops at the turnstiles of Yankee Stadium. Watching fans react to a tough loss, he said, reminds him of “all those obnoxious stereotypes” he’s otherwise quick to defend New Yorkers against.
He recalled one game in September when the Yankees surrendered nine runs in the seventh inning, sparking a cascade of boos that ended with fans “storming out early.” Margolick and his Detroit-born friend, who share a disdain for the Yankees, “ate it up.” In that moment, he said, Yankee Stadium belonged not to the Bronx faithful but to “New Yorkers by choice”—outsiders who never shed their baseball loyalties.
A Red Sox Loyalist Relishing the Bronx’s Misery
Margolick revealed that his lifelong animosity toward the Yankees is rooted in his upbringing on the Connecticut side of the Red Sox–Yankees border. Though he’s spent decades living among Yankee fans, his heart still beats for Boston. “When the Yankees play the Red Sox, I devolve,” he confessed, saying he transforms from a sophisticated New Yorker into the same small-town kid who once watched his brother idolize Mickey Mantle.
The former Times reporter described buying the New York Post after each playoff loss just to savor “the orgy of indignation and second-guessing” splashed across the sports section. This October was no different. After the Blue Jays’ 5–2 win sealed the Yankees’ fate, Margolick joked that before “marauding Yankees fans” cleared out every newsstand, someone should save him a copy.
Even when he tried to support the Yankees—hoping for a few more weeks of baseball to fend off winter—Margolick admitted he couldn’t. “Antipathies aren’t so easily shed,” he wrote, summing up his inability to root for the Bronx Bombers.
His column ended with a sharp jab: “Sixteen years have passed since the Yankees were last world champs. So sad!” He suggested that if the drought continues, Yankee fans might one day know the same pain their rivals endured for decades.
For Margolick, who “basked” in the boos echoing through Yankee Stadium, the Yankees’ elimination wasn’t just another October ending—it was a celebration of humility. His column captures a classic New York irony: even those who love the city most can find joy in watching its most famous team fall short.
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