The Embassy -- Why I'm blogging

The Embassy is a place where one can be at home, even behind enemy lines. In this case, it is a safe haven for a Yankee fan living in Boston. I moved here in September 2008 to live with my wife-to-be and instantly dubbed our apartment The Embassy, because I want Red S*x fans to know they are no longer in Boston when they set foot here. They are on Yankee soil, and while they are welcome here, their rhetoric is not. You know, the "most loyal fans in sports" crap. The "you bought all your championships" nonsense (as if their farm system produced Manny Ramirez, Pedro Martinez, Curt Schilling or many of the others who contributed to the Tragedy of 2004). And any S*x fan who chants "Yankees suck" in this place is leaving -- through the door, if they're lucky.

So, is this a Yankees blog or an anti-Red S*x blog? Actually, it's neither. It's a place for me to write. I left a long career in journalism behind when I left Fairfield County, and I need to keep my writing skills sharp -- which presupposes they were sharp to begin with.

And I'll be writing about all manner of subjects. It's just that the Yankees -- and, by extension, their rivalry with the Red S*x -- are among my favorite topics. Also, I suppose I hope I'll develop a following and get known for this blog, the way Bill Simmons did as the Boston Sports Guy. I'm not going to try to emulate Simmons, of whom I am a huge fan. But we're guys. He writes about guy stuff. I'm going to write about guy stuff. But we'll have a few built-in differences. There will be very little talk of the NBA or golf, because I watch neither. There will be hockey talk.

And there will be plenty of discussion of Syracuse basketball and, if they're ever worth writing about, football. That's right, the Rangers, Giants and Syracuse embassies share office space with the Yankees Embassy.

I'm off to buy stuff for dinner. Gotta be back in an hour for Embassy post No. 2: the first TV broadcast of the 2009 Yankees, today, with Phil Hughes on the mound.