I have always loved this crazy, sweaty city for more reasons than I can count, often thinking that I could not survive anywhere else, and part of the love for NYC has to do with the Yankees. The team has ALWAYS been a backdrop in my life. I mean, I remember exactly where I was standing when I heard the news about Thurman Munson's death.

But lately, I have become a bit envious of smaller markets, mainly courtesy of Twitter, which offered me the opportunity to follow Verified athlete accounts. So I have stumbled upon direct tweets from all sorts of baseball athletes in non-NYC markets, who are talking (rather frequently) about real life things, like going to a local BBQ joint or taking the ACELA express to an away game, and talking *with* people. And I gotta tell you, I feel like I have an insider's glimpse into their experiences, as if they were friends of mine, merely relaying what they were doing like it ain't no big thang.

It made me think about how lucky fans in smaller markets are because their athletes seem to be so much more accessible and seem to interact with their fans with more frequency than ours do .... It's making me wistful for smaller markets, where a fan can win a *dinner* with Dustin Pedroia without having to shell out thousands of dollars for the opportunity. (And hells YEAH, I'd go on a dinner date with Dustin Pedroia if I had that opportunity!)

I guess our relationship with our athletes reflects the city itself, where everything is bigger and more dramatic and more overwhelming etc. And I guess that the sheer Fan-to-Athlete ratio is astronomical, too.

AND I guess that is the price you pay to play in the center of the universe. We're the big league of the big leagues ~ if you can make it here, you'll make it anywhere, as the song goes.

But hells BELLS I would love to have more of an opportunity to communicate with my favorite Yankee. Sigh.