Not Nelson's Curse, But George's

I had also been a believer in the curse of Jeff Nelson, but not after last year.

After not being re-signed afer '00, Nellie said "the Yankees won't win without me." And it was true in '01 and '02.

But in '03, Nellie was back. So the Yankees should've won. But they didn't.

In my not-so-humble opinion, the biggest Yankee curse is George Steinbrenner.

Stick Michael was able to build the cornerstones of the dynasty in the early '90's when George was suspended and low-key. Michael let a core of home-grown players develop and added importnat pieces like O'Neill and Cone.

As for the late '70s dynasty-- Gabe Paul built the core of that team in the early '70's, making excellent trades to obtain Lou Piniella, Graig Nettles, Sparky Lyle, and others. George deserves credit for getting Reggie, but that's it.

Once George got too involved and got duds like Dave Collins and Doyle Alexander, the team went south.

If George was active in the early '90's the way he is now, Mariano Rivera would be on the Braves. Derek Jeter would be on the Dodgers. And Bernie and Pettitte would've performed in different uniforms. There would have been no dynasty, no World Series rings.

Now that George is too involved and has let key players like Pettitte leave, and has encouraged lousy moves like Giambi, Brown, and Vazquez, the Yankees are going back to their '80's ways. Lots of overpaid, overage hitters and lousy pitching.

George can tease the fans by spending enough dough to make this team crush the Devil Rays and Orioles 35 times a year and win 100 games. But a team like that can't and won't succeed in October.