Give us the Yankee life

Living Like Champs

By Rick Horowitz

If life were like the Yankees, you'd wake up every morning knowing you were expected to do great things, but those expectations wouldn't crush you. You'd take them as a challenge.

If life were like the Yankees, you'd go to work every day in an office overflowing with ghosts and with history. You'd use the ghosts for inspiration, and the history to keep you on course when times got tough.

If life were like the Yankees, you'd work for a boss who actually treated you with respect, who didn't try to deceive you or embarrass you or steal your thunder. Your boss might work for a boss who's one of the world's great impossible-to-satisfy, megalomaniacal meddlers, but your boss would do everything he could to keep the guy off your back. You wouldn't be looking over your shoulder all the time.

You'd have money to burn, if life were like the Yankees (that megalomaniacal meddler must be good for something), but you wouldn't just burn it. You'd be smart about your spending, while others frittered away their millions on foolishness and frills.

If life were like the Yankees, you'd care about your personal accomplishments, but not as much as you'd care about the greater good. If the VP for marketing got to go to the conference instead of the VP for sales, the VP for sales would wish him luck -- and mean it. Sacrificing yourself for the team is always easier when you're winning; if life were like the Yankees, you'd always be winning.

If life were like the Yankees, you'd make the new guy feel at home. The whiz kid from accounting would treat the trainee like a colleague. You'd remember that you can't finish a puzzle without the small pieces.

If life were like the Yankees, you'd make all the plays. You'd never beat yourself.

You wouldn't panic, if life were like the Yankees. If you ever found yourself in a tight spot, you'd look for opportunities to get back into the game, and you'd pounce on them. You'd be patient, but you'd be ready to strike at a moment's notice.

You wouldn't grow complacent either, if life were like the Yankees. Even if things were going well, you'd keep pushing; you'd feel you owed it to someone. You'd feel you owed it to yourself.

If life were like the Yankees, you'd exude quiet confidence. You've always wanted to exude something; if life were like the Yankees, you'd finally get your chance.

If life were like the Yankees, you'd treat your opponents with respect, even as you bent them to your will. They'd respect you, too, and offer praises to your talent and your absolute, smothering professionalism.

If life were like the Yankees and sorrows came (as sorrows must), you'd pull even closer together and take comfort from one another. And you'd still get the job done.

If life were like the Yankees and you were really in a fix, you could signal to your bullpen and your closer would come in to make everything OK.

And if life were like the Yankees, you'd have Frank Sinatra singing you home every night. He'd be prerecorded, but he'd still be Frank Sinatra.

Not a bad life.

Posted 10/30/99. You're the winner when you visit "Rick's." Fresh stuff right here twice weekly -- have you told your friends?

Rick Horowitz is a syndicated columnist, TV commentator and public speaker

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©1999 Rick Horowitz. All rights reserved.