Disclaimer: I am a spoiled New York sports fan

I was born into a house dominated by Giants football and Yankees baseball.  My family has attended Giants games for over 60 years.  As a matter of fact, my grandfather was at the Giants game on December 7, 1941, the day Pearl Harbor was bombed.  They lost to the now defunct Brooklyn Dodgers 21-7. So I guess you could say that the New York Football Giants gene is deeply embedded in my DNA.  My father regularly started to go to Giants games in the 70's, specifically when they played at the Yale Bowl, or as my father would later describe it "the biggest piece of crap standing."  My grandfather, father, and his twin brother(my uncle) finally saw the Giants move in to their new home in East Rutherford, NJ in 1976, Giants Stadium.  My father was there during the lean years.  From 1973 -1983, the Giants had one winning season, barely.  They went 9-7 in '81.  He was there for the Giant revival in the mid 80's when Bill Parcells took over, and all suffering Giants fans were rewarded with their first Superbowl Championship and first NFL Championship in 30 years, when they beat Elway and the Broncos in 1986, the year I was born.  They did again against the tough luck Bills in 1990 when my brother was born. This is why I am spoiled.  I grew up on great defense....Michael Strahan, Jesse Armstead, and Jason Sehorn.  And before that I grew up on stories of Lawrence Taylor, Harry Carson, and the Crunch Bunch.  I watched Tiki shred up the field for some of the best seasons yardage wise any running back will ever have.  I witnessed Osi Umenyiora set a franchise record with 6 sacks against Donovan McNabb and the Eagles.  I witnessed Jason Sehorn's impossible interception against McNabb and the Eagles.  I was at the NFC Championship game against the Vikings when Kerry Collins went wild on the field throwing for five touchdowns and leading the Giants to a blowout 41-0 victory dance into the Superbowl.  And, finally I watched(on TV unfortunately) as my beloved Giants beat the Patriots in Superbowl XLII, probably the biggest upset in Superbowl history in 2007, the year my nephew was born(Is there a pattern here? I might want to have some sons).  What I'm trying to say is that I haven't seen the lean times as a football fan.  Since 1997 the Giants have made the playoffs seven times advancing to the Superbowl twice and winning it once.  Was I heartbroken in 2000 when the Giants flopped against the Ravens? Sure.  But did the Giants surpass my expectations for that year?  Absolutely.  Wellington Mara is famously quoted as saying "Today we proved that we're the worst team to ever win the National Football Conference Championship."  True, he said this tongue in cheek, but there was some sense in that.  And unfortunately they proved him right with that showing in the Superbowl against the Ravens.  But I'm not only spoiled as a Giants fan.  I first fell in love with sports in 1996............

Any Yankee fan is a spoiled fan.  The only decade the Yankees have gone through without a championship is the 80's.  My dad, my grandfather, my uncles, me, my brother, my sisters, my nephew.  We're all spoiled.  Now I just happened to start watching baseball in 1996.  More specifically the 1996 World Series.  To be honest though, the only real memory I have from that series is Charlie Hayes catching a pop up in foul territory and everyone storming their way towards John Wettland on the mound.  My dad's face lit up with excitement, and I was hooked.  I guess he experienced a little rough patch with the Yankees, having waited 18 years to see another championship, so it must have been a great feeling after almost two decades.  But for me, ever since that pop up, I was in love with baseball.  I remember the 1997 playoffs well.  Those pesky Indians with their clutch catcher knocking my team out.  And they couldn't even beat the Marlins!  I digress.  Still being the young Yankee fan, I watched as Derek Jeter, Andy Pettite, Bernie Williams, Tino Martinez, Scott Brosius, Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada, Paul O'Neil, and a slew of other pinstriped favorites put together the most dominant season of baseball I have ever seen.  In 1998, the New York Yankees won 125 games including the postseason.  David Wells pitched the 15th perfect game in the history of baseball, David Cone racked up 20 wins, Bernie Williams won the AL batting title, and the Yankees went 11-2 in the postseason, sweeping the Padres out of the World Series.  One of my favorite Yankees at the time, Scott Brosius, won the Series MVP.  It was business as usual for the Yankees in 99 and 2000 as they swept the Braves out of the World Series and beat the Mets in a Subway World Series in five games, respectively.  I think this is the year that my friend Justin, became a Met fan.  I guess he was enamored with underdogs, and getting his heart broken.  I digress again.  Anyhow, After 4 Championships in 5 years, calling myself spoiled is a gross understatement.  When the 2001 World Series rolled around, I didn't have a care in the world.  The Yankees were in the World Series (again), and I was on top of the world.  Little did I know, this would probably be the best World Series I would ever see.  And this is where baseball reeled me in.............

The Yankees were down two games to none being thoroughly beaten down by a combined score of 13-1, before President Bush threw a strike to open Game 3 at Yankee Stadium.  Roger Clemens threw 7 solid innings of one run ball, while Scott Brosius came up with the clutch RBI single in the bottom of the 6th, and Mariano the machine closed it out edging closer to the Diamondbacks with a 2-1 victory.  Games four and five were ones for the books.  Curt Schilling was masterful on 3 days rest giving up one run on three hits in 7 strong innings.  The Yankees were down 3-1 heading into the ninth.  Derek Jeter failed to reach base trying to bunt for a hit.  Paul O'Neil laced a single to left.  Bernie strikes out and the Yankees are down to their last out.  Tino Martinez blasts a two-run home run to tie the game and force extra innings.  the Yankees get out of the top of the tenth inning cleanly and head to the bottom half, where Derek Jeter lengthens his New York Sports legacy by hitting the first ever November home run.  A walk off variety, and the Yankees even the Series at 2-2.  The very next night, the Yankees made some more magic.  The Mystique and Aura was alive and kicking in the 9th inning as Jorge Posada led off with a double against Byung-Hyun Kim, the same man who allowed the tying and winning home runs the previous night.  Kim settled down and retired the next two batters in order, when up stepped Scott Brosius.  On a 1-0 offering, Brosius crushed a game tying home run sending the match up into extras for the second consecutive night.  All was well with Yankees Universe when Alfonso soriano knocked in Chuck Knoblauch to win the game 3-2.  The Yankees and their fans felt shades of '96 and a 27th championship was in their grasp.  Game 6 was a laugher, with the Diamondbacks scoring 15 runs off an ineffective Yankees pitching staff.  It would all come down to two 20 game winners(Clemens and Schilling) in game 7.  The game was as billed.  A pitchers duel to its very core.  The Diamondbacks drew first blood on an RBI double from Danny Bautista, with the Yankees responding fast on a Tino Martinez RBI single.  Going into the 8th Brenly left Schilling in paying the price as Alfonso Soriano rocked a home run to put the Yanks up 2-1.  Brenly inserted the previous night's starter, Randy Johnson, into the game. He retired 4 batters in a row to keep Arizona alive.  Mariano Rivera came into the game in the bottom of the ninth inning and all of Yankees Universe started to celebrate.  A normal night for Rivera it was not.  Mark Grace led off with a single and David Delucci pinch ran.  Damian Miller bunted and Rivera errantly throws to Jeter allowing the hitter to reach base.  With runners on first and second Jay Bell Bunts but Mariano reacts quickly getting the lead runner at third.  Tony Womack doubles in the tying run as Yankees Universe hopes for another extra inning game.  But it was not to be.  After Rivera plunked Craig Counsell to load the bases, Arizona's best hitter, Luis Gonzalez, bloops and 0-1 cutter over the head of a lunging Derek Jeter to end the quest of 27.  I was crushed.  I was 13 and mad at the world that I didn't get my way.  How else could a young teenager feel.  The world wasn't right when the Yankees didn't win.  It didn't happen for us for another 9 years.  That's a long time for me.  Now any other fan is baseball would probably sign up for that right now. But again....I'm spoiled.

The Yankees 'finally' broke through their mini-drought to win in '09 against the Phillies, but that 2001 series is my most memorable one, even though they lost.  The excitement of extra inning baseball....bottom of the ninth, two out home runs to tie the game, the walk-offs, but in the end the heartbreak.  It let's you know you're a real fan.  The heartbreak let's you know that even though you don't have a uniform, you're a Yankee, or a Met, or a Dodger, and so on.

So out of the 15 years I have been watching baseball, the Yankees have reached the postseason an astounding 14 times, winning seven pennants and five championships. And out of the 14 years I have been watching football, they have made the playoffs 7 times reaching the Superbowl twice, winning it once.  If this doesn't add up to spoiled, I don't know what does.

Although the title of this post is Disclaimer, it's also a Promise.  I am a spoiled, at times obnoxious New York Giants/Yankees fan, and will root for them with gusto.  I will complain when they are bad and brag when they are succeeding.  But I promise that I will always be fair to all teams and fans.....or, at least I will try.  You can't ask more from this fan.