On Friday night, the New York Yankees will play the Houston Astros in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series. If they win, they’ll be heading to the World Series for the first time in eight years — it’s been a long time, even if it isn’t the 108-year drought the Chicaco Cubs endured. New York is abuzz, but there’s one New Yorker who’s been making waves by refusing to root for the home team: the city’s very own mayor.
As Mayor Bill de Blasio told the Daily News Editorial Board, “I am a crazed, rabid baseball fan and Red Sox fan. It is constitutionally impossible to quote unquote root for the New York Yankees.” The Red Sox and the Yankees have been rivals since the dawn of time, and it looks like that feud is enough to keep the man presiding over the Yankees’ own city from rooting for them, though he told the Board that he still respects the team. “It’s hard for a Red Sox fan to say it, but I honestly have a lot of respect for them.”
Jimmy Kimmel, currently hosting his show from Brooklyn, pointed out just how crazy this is. “What’s the deal with your mayor, de Blasio? Is there something wrong with his brain?” he asked, before playing a news clip recounting de Blasio’s professed loyalty to the Red Sox. “I give him credit for honesty, but that might be the stupidest f*cking thing I’ve ever heard anybody say.” The crowd booed the clip of de Blasio, though the boos quickly turned to laughter as Kimmel briefly turned the jabs around. “You guys voted for a Red Sox fan? It’s like I don’t even know you anymore.”
He ended the segment with an even more pointed takedown, saying, “Between this and the subway, I just want to say congratulations to Bill de Blasio on his final term as mayor of the city of New York.”