Twenty-six World Series championships, 39 American League pennants, over 100 years of rich history and some of the best baseball players to ever play the game but the YES Network decides to show the most storied franchise in Major League Baseball play the Pittsburgh Pirates as a Yankee Classic.

With all that said, I am a die hard Red Sox fan. The greatest moment of my life was when the Red Sox won the World Series on that magical night in St. Louis. I do have respect for the Yankees, and I would think the YES network (owned by the Yankees) would have some respect for their team as well.

The Yankees playing the Pirates in an interleague game on June 15, 2005 is in no way a Yankee classic. On a hot summers day in 2004 the Yankees played a truly classic game against whom else but the Boston Red Sox. It was a 13 inning marathon which saw Derek Jeter make an amazing catch, the forgotten Pokey Reese make a catch which was similar to Jeter’s, Manny being Manny and hitting a home run to give the Sox the lead in extra innings only to lose the game. That was a classic. I remember watching that game thinking that was probably the greatest game I had ever seen.

Why would the Yankees cheapen their history by playing mediocre games and calling them classics? The Major League Baseball season is a long, grueling 162-game endurance test. Every single team in the majors has games that are close. Teams win and lose by one or two runs, make a late inning come back but they are in no way classics. The Yankees have more options than any team in the majors to show classics and show off their dominance.

What executive was sitting in the YES offices and thinking, “You know that game last season when we beat the Pirates by one run? I think that needs to be our next Yankee classic.” Or is it George Steinbrenner making the call? If it is the Boss he really has gone completely nuts and needs to spend all his time in sunny Tampa Bay.

If the Red Sox decided to play Red Sox Classics on NESN (the Red Sox network) would be appalled if they showed a meaningless run of the mill game against Kansas City from last season. It cheapens the actual classic games. If I’m watching a classic game I want to see a game that meant something for the Red Sox.

I could watch games four through seven of the 2004 ALCS and all four games of the World Series and never be satisfied. Those were classic games. They meant something. Maybe because the Red Sox do not have as many of these classic games I appreciate them more. True Yankees fans should be up in arms and angry that games boring games are being touted as classics.

I would not have a problem with YES showing these games if it was called Yankee Rewind, something the Red Sox fans do. But calling your average baseball game from the most storied team the sport has ever known a classic is just wrong, but on second thought keep it up YES. I love having something that I can rip on the Yankees with, kind of like being the only team ever to blow a three game lead in the playoffs.