Train'em early

Today was the first day of my summer job, and as a counselor at a day camp I see a wide variety of baseball caps. The little league teams in my town are named after Major League teams, and their uniforms have MLB logos, including the hats they all keep after the season.

So when I saw three Oakland A's hats and a Yankees hat this morning, I assumed they were just repping their little league teams, and I was partly correct. Unfortunately for my sanity, I have a ten-year-old bandwagon Yankees fan on my hands.

How do I know he's a bandwagon jumper? I asked him to name five players on the current roster, an easy feat for a reasonably tuned in fan, especially with a roster full of all-stars, but he failed my test. He managed to name Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, and Mark Teixeira before he gave up.

But seriously... he only got one of the core four.

He challenged me to do the same for the Red Sox, and I complied, with about 15 extra names for good measure... I was going for the complete roster, but he stopped me.

Let me be clear: it's not the Yankee fan thing that upsets me, but rather the bandwagon thing. It's a kid from New England who picks the Yankees because his friends love the local nine, and he wants to be disruptive or controversial. The people who don't know a bullpen from a dugout, and yet claim to be all about "their" team.

As for the young man in question, I told him his fandom was being temporarily revoked until he could name more Yankees players than I can. I did, however, let him keep the hat.