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When you’re a sports fan, over the years you develop a “love” for the teams you follow in each sport, and almost as much of a “hate” for the teams that are their rivals. As more and more time goes by, however, you come to realize that that “hate” grows into what is more of a respect – respect that the “hated” team gave you a lot of aggravation because your team just couldn’t beat them. My “hatred” for coach Don Shula was monumental during the years that his Miami Dolphin teams dominated the Buffalo Bills, but looking back, there was no way those Bills’ teams were going to compete with Shula’s Miami teams. So the “hatred” becomes respect once you have the perspective of realizing that the guy was one of the best, arguably THE best, NFL coach of all time.

I’ve been a Cleveland Indian fan my whole life, and my “hatred” for the New York Yankees goes back a good 45 years, since the Indians have been consistent losers most of those years while the Yankees have been dominant. I still catch myself checking out the baseball scores and being momentarily upset when I see that the Yankees beat say, the Twins or the Tigers, then realize – “wait, that’s a good thing for the Indians.” Old habits die hard. In the case of the old Yankee teams I grew up despising, I really have a great deal of respect for them now. Looking back, the 1950s/’60s dynasty was winding down in the first few years I remember following baseball, and in actuality they struggled for most of the decade of the ’60s. I have the utmost respect for the Yankee players of that era now – guys like Whitey Ford, Mickey Mantle, Clete Boyer, Elston Howard, Moose Skowron, Tony Kubek, Bobby Richardson and especially Roger Maris. In my mind, Maris’ single-season home run record of 61 still deserves an asterisk, only now the asterisk should be followed by the statement – “the REAL non-chemically enhanced single-season record.”

Out of all those old Yankee players, the guy you can’t help but love is Lawrence “Yogi” Berra, whose birthday is today. Yogi was nearing the end of the line when I remember him playing, but I do remember him being a tremendous clutch player, even at the end of his playing days. With apologies to Johnny Bench and Carlton Fisk, Berra is the greatest major league catcher of all time. He may also be the greatest ambassador for the game that baseball has ever had. I don’t know if there has ever been a person born on the planet who loves baseball more than Yogi, and any time I catch a show that includes him telling old baseball stories or giving a tour of his museum, I can’t help but stop and watch. Thank you, Yogi, for being a part of an era in baseball when I learned to love the game, even though at the time I thought I “hated” you. And Happy Birthday, Yogi! Here’s wishing you many, many more birthdays too, even though, as you would say – “the future ain’t what it used to be.”