The City’s Most Privileged Fans Have the Blues

This is a boom time for New York sports fans.

The Knicks overachieved wildly. The injury-prone Mets have been in first place, somehow. The Jets have a new head coach and a sudden swagger. The Giants look like the most stable team in their division. The Nets have lived up to the hype.

Then there are the town’s heartthrobs, the Yankees. Oy vey.

The Yankees have been down more than up. Their starting pitching has been sketchy and the offense has been clunky. The team that lives and dies with the home run has had a power failure and been sluggish at the plate.

The Yankees have not played consistently with a competitive fire all season. Not long ago, they had fallen 8-1/2 games out of first place.

Naturally. Yankees fans reacted with their usual grace as the team started its descent. The boo-birds at the Stadium, on social media and on sports radio stations have demanded changes.

That’s bad for manager Aaron Boone.

Going by the logic that it’s easier to fire one manager instead of an entire roster, Boone must be looking over his shoulder.

You can always count on Yankee fans to panic when they should sit still. But Bronx Bombers diehards occupy a special niche in our town: They are utterly privileged, and the biggest divas around.

No wonder fans in other cities celebrate Yankee losses. They behave as if it is their destiny to root the Yankees home, year after year.

Long Way to Go

Yankee fans don’t seem to enjoy the unpredictable way of sports.they acknowledge one outcome: victory. Everything else is unacceptable.

Will the Yankees eventually stage one of their patented charges and make us forget the team’s forgettable performance to date? They played well on the road against Toronto, but they have a long way to go.

Yankee fans have attacked the front office for its many questionable trades and signings. These gripes might have merit.

I was stunned and dismayed the team parted ways with shortstop Didi Gregorius, a versatile player on the the field and a mensch off it. He speaks four languages and succeeded the legendary Derek Jeter with aplomb. But the Yankees chose not to retain him.

That told me a lot about how the team had unusual priorities. Just consider its epochal patience with erratic catcher Gary Sanchez.

I hope I live to regret my motley mood and feel foolish about ever doubting the Yankees.

One bright spot: Aaron Judge is healthy and productive. But the jury is out on the rest of the players.