Let’s play the game (you read and I'll play) that keeps me awake for no good
reason: Who had a better year:
The Yankees or Bob Dylan
1962 – Yankees win the World Series in a classic seven game
series over the Giants, Bob Dylan’s debut album is considered a flop. Good songs, but it's no World Series. Yankees
1963 – The Yankees get swept in the World Series behind the
dominant Dodger’s pitching. Bob Dylan
releases The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan with classic like "A Hard Rain’s a Gonna
Fall", "Blowin’ in the Wind", "Masters of War", and "Don’t Think Twice it’s All
Right". A legendary album is better than a
World Series flameout. Dylan
1964 – The last hurrah of the Yankees dynasty falls at the
hands of Bob Gibson and the Cardinals in a seven game series. Bob Dylan releases the Times They are
a-Changin’, and Another Side of Bob Dylan with classic songs like "It A’int Me
Babe", "The Times They are a-Changin’", and "Chimes of Freedom". Gotta give it to Dylan again.
1965 – The Yankees suffer their first losing season since
1925 as their core players age overnight (sound familiar). Bob Dylan goes electric and records Bringing
It All Back Home and Highway 61 Revisited which contain too many classics to
name ("Like a Rolling Stone", "Mr. Tambourine Man", "Subterranean Homesick Blues",
basically every song on both albums).
Dylan wins in a landslide.
1966 - The Yankees slide further into despair with their
first last place finish in a while. Bob
Dylan records Blonde on Blonde, which cements his growing legacy as just the
best. Dylan again in a blowout.
1967 - The Yankees are still stuck in the second division
doldrums. Bob Dylan releases John Wesley
Harding which helps to bring on the back to basics movement in rock and
roll. Also, it is my favorite
album. Dylan wins by my bias (he would
have won without it).
1968 – The Yankees post a winning season for the first time
since 1964. Dylan stays quiet to enjoy
the confines of family living. The
Yankees season of mediocrity wins by default.
1969 – The Yankees take a step back and finish a game under
.500. Bob Dylan releases Nashville
Skyline, a pleasant and beautiful country-rock excursion. Bob Dylan wins it if only for "Lay Lady Lay".
1970 – The Yankees have a comeback season and win 93 games,
but lose the division to the juggernaut that is the Orioles. Bob Dylan releases the first real dud for his
career with his stop paying attention to me album, Self Portrait, but rebounds
four months later with New Morning.
Gotta give this year to the Yankees.
1971 – Another step backwards for the Bronx Bombers as they
revert to their .500 ways. Bob Dylan
releases his Greatest Hits Vol. 2 with some great new songs. Dylan wins for "I Shall Be Released" and "You
A’int Goin’ Nowhere".
1972 – The Yanks stay stuck inside of 500 with the pennant
blues again, while Dylan stays all quiet on the musical front. The Yankees by default.
1973 – The Yankees fall just below .500 in another
frustratingly middling season. Columbia
decides to get revenge on Dylan for signing with a new record label by
releasing outtakes from his previous worst album to create a new worst album in
Dylan. In reality both lose, but the
Yankees don’t lose as badly as Dylan did.
1974 – The Yankees finish 2 games out of the division lead
after a late season swoon, while Bob Dylan releases Planet Waves with The Band,
and the live album, Before the Flood.
Dylan wins because Before the Flood has those beautiful acoustic
numbers. And his yell singing is
great.
1975 – The Yankees season doesn’t even matter because Bob
Dylan releases two seminal classics in his catalog. Blood on the Tracks becomes the go to album
for jilted lovers and simply one of the most moving albums I've ever heard. The Basement Tapes exposes the brilliancy of the old, weird America (Greil Marcus quote). Dylan by a mile.
1976 – Chris Chambliss blasts the Yankees out of a glorious
5 game ALCS struggle with the Royals, only to find themselves utterly
dominated by the Big Red Machine. Bob
Dylan releases gypsy madness in the form of his Desire album and on the road in
the Rolling Thunder Revue. Epics like "Hurricane" and "Isis" cement one of his most popular albums ever. A real tough one, but a World Series sweep
leaves a bad taste in the mouth. Dylan
by the hair of Scarlett Rivera’s violin string.
1977 – Mr. October blasts three homers as the Yankees beat
the Dodgers and reignite a classic rivalry.
Dylan spends the year getting divorced in a messy, public trial. Winning the World Series is a lot more fun
than getting a divorce. Yankees.
1978 – Bucky Fucking Dent completes the glorious Yankees
comeback over the Red Sox with his go ahead 3 run homer over the Monster and
also goes on to win the World Series MVP as the Yankees storm back to win
another series over the Dodgers. Thank
you Graig Nettles. Dylan records a
divisive album in Street Legal in which critics have no idea on how to correctly disparage it. Is it Dylan does Neil Diamond or
Dylan goes Las Vegas? It doesn’t matter
because "Changing of the Guard", "Senor", and "Where Are You, Tonight?" are songs of
a epic proportion. But coming back to beat
the Red Sox is more satisfying and impressive.
Yankees!
1979 – A tragic year in Yankees history as the captain, Thurman
Munson, dies during the season. The
Yankees finish out of the division race and miss the playoffs. Bob Dylan decides to become a Christian and
more specifically, the crazy kind. Slow Train Coming is the best Christian album I’ve ever hear (the only one for that
matter) and his tours have a crazy, antagonist quality that had not been seen
since the ’66 tour. Gotta give it to
Dylan for the intensity of those tours and "Slow Train".
1980 – The Yankees steam roll through the regular season
with 103 wins only to get swept by George Brett and his Royals. Didn’t see that one coming. Bob Dylan goes further down the Christian
hole and records Saved, which is Slow Train Coming, but worse. The strength of the regular season gives 1980
to the Yankees.
1981 – The Yankees survive a strike shortened year, only to
lose to the Dodgers in the World Series after holding a 2 – 0 lead. Why would you take Tommy John out in Game
6? He was winning! Bob Dylan sort of rebounds with Shot
of Love, but a mild comeback can’t beat a pennant flag. Yankees.
1982 – The Yankees suffer their first losing season in a
while, while Bob Dylan takes the year off.
A default win never felt so good for the Yankees.
1983 – The glorious Don Mattingly era starts in the Bronx
and a nice rebound season commences.
Huzzah! Dylan records Infidels
which is seen as a return to secular and good music. Those songs sound like they could be written
today ("Union Sundown"). I’ll give it to
Dylan, because why not.
1984 – The Yankees somehow manage to stay competitive in the
year of that amazing Tiger team. Dylan
works with Mick Taylor to make a good live album in Real Live. I’ll give it to the Yankees.
1985 – Apparently winning 97 games isn’t good enough as the
Yankees lose the division by 2 games to the Blue Jays. The bastards.
Dylan releases Empire Burlesque, which has some good songs despite the
overproduction. Also, the music video for "Tight Connection to My Heart" is just bizarre.
That’s the reason this year goes to the Yankees.
1986 – The Mets and the Red Sox in the World Series? Thank god I wasn’t around to see that
travesty. Still the Yankees had a pretty
good year. Dylan continued his descent
into his 80s fog with Knocked Out Loaded, saved only by the inclusion of "Brownsville
Girl". The Yankees get this one easy.
1987 – Another good year for the Yankees that results in
nothing. Such is life though. Bob Dylan spends the year touring. I’ll give it to the Yanks.
1988 – The Yankees keep sliding down towards .500, but have a
decent year none the less. Dylan on the
other hand, releases two bad albums in Down in the Groove and Dylan and the
Dead. The Traveling Wilburys Vol 1 still shows that when he wants to, Dylan can make a gem (I'm giving him credit for the songs on that super group album). And Dylan got inducted into
the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame before they just inducted everybody. Still Down in the Groove gives this yearly
award to the Yankees.
1989 – Seeing a Yankees team under .500 is just unnatural
and sad. They’re the Yankees! Meanwhile, Dylan release a great swampy
comeback in Oh Mercy. The Man in the
Long Black Coat wins this one.
1990 – The Yankees continue that road to the bottom by
finishing with their worst record in a long time. Just awful.
Dylan follows up his grand comeback with two lackluster album in Under
the Red Sky and the Traveling Wilburys Vol 3.
But he didn’t finish in last place, so I’ll give it to Elston Gunnn.
1991 – The Yankees start the slow climb back to decency with
a small improvement over last year. Bob Dylan
releases the first volume of the Bootleg Series that is as awe inspiring as it
is groundbreaking (Biograph was also great).
Dylan wins it with a retrospective.
1992 – It’s getting better, slowly but surely, but still
under 500. Bob Dylan releases his first
acoustic standards album since his debut.
He is finally old enough to sing these songs. Dylan.
1993 – Paul O’Neill and Wade Boggs bring this organization
up to snuff with a good season. Dylan
releases the best of his acoustic standard albums with World Gone Wrong. The liner notes are killer. His haunting versions
of these old classics are why I’ll give this year to Bob.
1994 – Without that strike Don Mattingly would have won the
World Series. It’s just too sad. Dylan releases a greatest hits collection
with a great new song in “Dignity”. I’ll
give it to the Yankees because Don Mattingly deserves better.
1995 – What a burn.
They couldn’t do it for Donnie Baseball and he played his goddamn heart
out in that series. Dylan stays quiet
releasing a live album. The Yankees did
play in an all-time series, so Yankees all the way.
1996 – Jeter, Pettitte, and Rivera help deliver the Yanks to
the promise land after 18 years as Atlanta is besieged by Yankees for the first time since the Civil War. Dylan spends the year
touring. Touring is no World
Series. Yankees by a country mile.
1997 – One of the few times the Mariano has looked
mortal. They should have won that
series. Dylan records one of his best
albums in Time out of Mind and reminds everybody why he is a genius. The ghost of electricity beats the Yankees
for the year.
1998 – The greatest team of all-time against the greatest
live album of all-time. This is the hardest
decision as these are two heavyweights at the peak of their powers. It just seems cruel to designate a
winner. This will be the only cop out as the winner is both of them.
I feel just blessed to have memories of both of them.
1999 – Back to back series wins, and a nice victory over the
Red Sox. The Yankees played a beautiful '99 season, while Dylan continues to spend his every waking moment on the road
with one of his best bands. A World
Series sweep gives '99 to the Yanks.
2000 – If the Yankees would have lost to the Mets, they would have disbanded the franchise for a few years.
But they didn’t and they beat a lot of better teams to win their third World
Series in a row. Dylan wins an Oscar for "Things
Have Changed". I’ll give it to the
Yankees because it was fun to see the despair on the faces of many a Mets’ fans.
2001 – The flip. Beating
the best regular season team in history.
November baseball and the heroics of Games 4 and 5. Then came the bottom of the ninth in Game 7
and the balloon burst. Still a thrilling postseason and one of the greatest World Series to ever be played by man (I can’t judge
other World Series held on other planets).
Dylan continues his comeback with Love and Theft, an album that screams
joy on every listen. Just divine. I’ll give it to Dylan because that bloop
single still haunts me.
2002 – A great regular season leads to a flameout at the
hands of that rally monkey. Dylan
releases performances from The Rolling Thunder Revue, which gives him the year.
2003 – Aaron Fucking Boone completes another great comeback
against the Red Sox only to see the Yankees lose a 6 game series to the
Marlins. I’ll let that sink in. The Marlins.
Meanwhile, Dylan stars in his own movie, Masked and Anonymous, that is
as bizarre as a Bob Dylan/Larry Charles movie could be. Aaron Boone and his delicious homer win this
for the Yankees.
2004 – I have successfully repressed the finish to this
Yankee year in my mind, so I assume it wasn’t that good. I do recall A Rod slapping a ball or
something. Dylan releases a Live 1964
album where the jokes are as good as the songs.
A point for the guy wearing the “Bob Dylan mask”.
2005 – The legend of A-Rod failing in the playoffs starts as
the Yankees lose in 5 to the Angels.
They did have a good regular season.
Dylan release the soundtrack to No Direction Home and the outtakes are
as vital as the originals. Dylan wins because
he didn’t win the MVP and then proceed to bat .133 in the playoffs.
2006 – The first of those dreaded Tiger playoff
match-ups. Why do they always kick our
ass? On the flip side of things, Dylan releases his third straight
masterwork in Modern Times. No
competition here as Dylan takes the year.
2007 – Another MVP, another lackluster postseason for A Rod
(he did get better). Torre should have
taken the team off the field once those midges entered. Dylan releases another greatest hits
collection. This year goes to the
Yankees because they had a fun regular season.
2008 – No playoffs for the first time since 1993. Well, at least the Red Sox didn’t win the
Pennant or the World Series. Plus the
stage was set for the great spending spree of 2009. Dylan releases Tell Tale Signs, another
wonderful collection to the Bootleg Series.
His outtakes are better than most people’s main catalog. Dylan for the win.
2009 – After all the talk about the Yankees buying World
Series, the Yankees finally bought a World Series. And it was glorious! A Rod finally decided to show up to the October
party and was automatic in any clutch situation.
Bob Dylan released a pleasant album in Together Through Life and a real
shocker in Christmas in the Heart. "Must be
Santa" is a great music video. Christmas
covers cannot compare to a World Series victory. Yankees.
2010 – After beating up again on the Twins and stealing Game
1 from the Rangers, the Yankees get steam rolled in the rest of the
series. Bob Dylan releases his old demos
from the beginning of his career. Good
stuff as usual from the Bootleg Series.
Bob Dylan wins.
2011 – The Yankees outscore the Tigers by 11 runs and still
lose the series. At home no less. Dylan releases a live album from an early
part in his career. The Yanks get this
one because they hit 3 grand slams in a row during a game and they also contributed to the
Boston collapse. What a glorious time.
2012 – Once Derek Jeter went down in Game 1 of the ALCS, it
was over. The Division Series and Ibanez
heroics were amazing, but the sweep to the Tigers was just awful. They had nothing. In the 50th year of his career,
Dylan releases Tempest, a blood soaked and profoundly great album with new
classics such as "Pay in Blood" and "Tin Angel".
I loved it. So Dylan.
2013 – The worst Yankees season since 1992, but not that bad
considering they were putting out Triple A teams for a majority of the
year. It was Gardner, Cano, and the rest
for a long time. This season was doomed
from the moment Jeter went down in the playoffs last year. Dylan makes a puzzling move by releasing
outtakes from Self Portrait, in Another Side of Self Portrait. Here we see some of Dylan’s best singing and
some spectacular covers. Bravo to Dylan.
Finale Count
Yankees: 24 Bob Dylan: 27 One Tie : 1998
Do you agree with my rankings? Do you have any suggestions on other things to compare? Comment below!
No comments:
Post a Comment