If I win the lottery, I want to buy a sports team.
Be it the Orlando Titans, the Orlando Predators, an MLS franchise or, if I had the money, the Orlando Magic.
And I would invest all my money to make them the greatest team ever.
Just like George Steinbrenner.
In 1973, George Steinbrenner did what every die-hard sports fan wishes they could do. He used the fortune he made in his father’s shipping business and bought his favorite team. That team happened to be the New York Yankees.
Not by himself initially, but eventually, he would own it all.
He got to work on building a team that would live up to the then-20 championships it already owned.
He did it by spending money. He made it cool and exploited the new concept of free agency to hire the best players and staff money could buy.
Wouldn’t you do the same if you had the money?
37 years and seven World Series Championships later, the New York Yankees are at the top of the sporting universe yet again.
It certainly wasn’t foolproof. If it were, the Yankees would’ve won closer to 25 titles under George’s ownership. And not everybody liked the changes his way of doing business brought. But if he hadn’t have done it, somebody else would have.
Plenty of people hate the Yankees—and, by extension, hated George—because of their success. But no matter how they try to pass it off as something else, you have to be honest. The primary factor is jealousy.
You want your team to have what the Yankees have. You want what George had.
It’s the same reason why many people hate the Red Sox now as well, because they decided to try to beat George at his own game. It’s the same reason many people hate the biggest European soccer franchises.
George made winning at all monetary costs cool. That is his legacy.
Whether you love him or hate him, you can’t say he didn’t make things interesting.
And you can’t say you wouldn’t do the same thing if you had the ability.
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