Boss on your case? Car won't start? Catch your spouse cheating? It's the Yankees fault

After watching Adrian Gonzalez strike out with the bases loaded to end last night's Red Sox-Yankees game, I immediately thought of two things: the Red Sox were still in first place, and there were going to be plenty of great alerts coming to my inbox.

"When all else fails ... blame the Yankees" was created as a Facebook group earlier this year, and Yankee haters throughout New England and beyond suddenly had a new outlet for their daily frustrations. There was no longer a need for any other sort of coping mechanism. If something or somebody got you down, there was an easy answer with no strings or bills attached.

I don't remember exactly when or by whom the page was recommended to me, but it has never stopped providing amusement in the months since -- especially the past couple days.

Here are some of my favorite posts; all complete the sentence, "It's the Yankees fault that..."

"...my professors have decided to spank us with tons of homework and tons of tests the second week of school."

"...I drove halfway to my new job to fill out paper work only to be told to turn around cause they had no power cause a car hit a power pole."

"...there was this super duper long line at Wendy's for lunch today."

"...my allergies are acting up so badly!!"

"...the president is addressing the country tonight about the national debt."

"...that I am still single and nobody calls me to hang out."

"...that conservatives exist."

You get the idea.



Since the group's formation, people have blamed the Yankees for snow, cold, rain on their birthday barbecue, their spouse being sick, unpaid work furloughs, faulty computer keyboards, and just about anything else you can imagine. I was surprised not to see anybody directly call out the Bronx Bombers for Hurricane Irene, but perhaps because New York City was so impacted by the storm, people gave the Yanks a pass on that one.

The nice thing about this system is that it doesn't matter if the Red Sox are even playing the Yankees. You can blame them for whatever you want even if they are nowhere near Fenway Park. When I lost my keys the other day and started getting pissed off thinking about the $200 I was going to have to give the dealer to get a new alarm activator keychain for my car, I stopped myself and realized it was all the Yankees fault. I immediately felt better, and after the Sox whipped Phil Hughes that night, my wife even found my keys. Coincidence? I think not.

Things don't always work out that well, that fast, but I can guarantee you one thing about the formula: it's a lot cheaper than a shrink or anger management classes.