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who writes, “As a lifetime BoSox fan, here’s hoping you see the light and join the Nation.”
    Most upsetting are the angry e-mails both to me and to the Times from Yankee fans that crucify me for being a traitor. Like the one from Stan, who writes, “Too bad Jane Heller has given up on the Yankees. True fans never give up. True fans die harder and root harder. We don’t need her.” And the one from Adam, who writes, “It is because of triflers like Jane Heller that Yankee supporters have the bum rap of not being genuine fans of the game of baseball.” And the particularly articulate one from Rob, who writes, “Suck dick you whore.”
    I am stung by these vicious e-mails.
    â€œThey’re questioning your loyalty,” Michael says.
    â€œThis has nothing to do with loyalty,” I say. “I wrote an essay about divorcing the Yankees because all the losing has taken an emotional toll on me. You get that better than anyone.”
    â€œYeah, well, people hate you for being a bandwagon fan.”
    My nostrils flare with indignation. It stinks that I am hated by perfect strangers, especially strangers with whom I share a passion. And here is another thing that stinks: People are jumping to conclusions about me. How dare they question my legitimacy as a fan? I am not one of those people who abandoned the Yankees when they were bad. I hung around during the Horace Clarke years and the Mel Hall years and the year that Luis Polonia had sex with that 15-year-old girl in Milwaukee. I was there even when the cokehead Mets were the toast of New York. Sure, I drifted away. I went to college and protested the war in Vietnam and listened to Led Zeppelin. I got married and divorced twice. I launched my career in publishing. I went through periods when I did not follow baseball as obsessively as I do now. But I never stopped rooting for the Yankees, never stopped loving them.
    â€œI am the opposite of a bandwagon fan,” I say, standing up very straight. “And the injustice of it all is infuriating.”
    â€œThey’re just reacting to what they read in the paper,” says Michael. “They don’t know you.”
    â€œYeah, well, I wish I could show them.”
    â€œShow them what?”
    â€œThat I’m the best fan the Yankees have ever had.”
AL EAST STANDINGS/MAY 27
    TEAM
W
L
PCT
GB
BOSTON
34
15
.694
—
BALTIMORE
23
27
.460
11.5
TORONTO
22
27
.449
12.0
NEW YORK
21
27
.438
12.5
TAMPA BAY
20
28
.417
13.5

Week 9 May 28, 2007
    Ninety percent of the media people are right on. But the worst things that happened to sports are ESPN and talk radio. They don’t report the sports. They report the dirt.
    On Memorial Day the Yankees lose the first of a three-game series against the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre. On Tuesday night, they waste a fine performance by Pettitte and lose to the Jays again. It is killing me that they are flushing themselves down the toilet, but I can’t help watching, the way you can’t help rubbernecking. Wednesday is a newsy day in Yankeeville. No, Joe has not been fired. It is A-Rod who is in the headlines.
    The New York Post has dubbed him Stray-Rod and Yankee Doodle Randy. As is clear from the story’s accompanying photos, he has been a naughty, naughty boy in Toronto. He is shown cavorting with a woman who is not his wife. The woman is a platinum blonde with big jugs and even bigger biceps—more Hustler than Playboy . She is not particularly attractive. Surely he can afford better. According to the story, she is a stripper, and she and A-Rod went to a lap dance club together. And—here is the real bombshell—she has been spotted with him in other cities besides Toronto.
    A-Rod also makes news during the game against the Blue Jays. He shouts something that distracts third baseman Howie Clark, who drops the ball. The Blue Jays claim he yelled, “I got it!” or “Mine!” but A-Rod claims he said