RIP George Steinbrenner

Former New York Yankee owner George Steinbrenner passed away at 80 this morning after suffering a massive heart attack.

For all the days and weeks I spent, thinking of why I hated him more than anybody else growing up, I am going to kind of miss him. Part of that is due to his character on Seinfeld, sure ("I smell CALZONES! COSTANZA'S in the BUILDING!"), but as a lifelong Boston Red Sox fan, I give a large chunk of credit to Steinbrenner for making the Red Sox who they've turned into today.

Growing up in the '90s, I saw Boston play second fiddle to the Yanks year after year. New York's seemingly endless run of World Series championships not only made me hate them more, but made me love the Sox more as well. When the pieces didn't fit for a Yankee team, Steinbrenner's bottomless pockets bought the pieces that did. He is the sole reason the New York Yankees are the most despised team in sports today and I say that as a compliment, not a criticism. The Boss did what he had to do to lead his team to victory and during his reign, he did it well.

What happened to the Red Sox during Steinbrenner's tenure was also momumental. Countless times, the Yankees twisted the knife in the collective back of the Red Sox and their fans when it came to trades and free agency, never in a more bitter fashion than when New York trumped Boston for the services of Alex Rodriguez. After swooping in to nab the most talented baseball figure alive at the time, Steinbrenner had the following to say, in February of 2004, regarding the front office of the Red Sox: "We understand John Henry must be embarrassed, frustrated, and disappointed by his failure in [trading for A-Rod]. Unlike the Yankees, he chose not to go the extra distance for his fans in Boston."

However, with new hotshot General Manager Theo Epstein running the show in Beantown, the Sox approached the trading deadline a bit differently that year, sending one of the most beloved Red Sox ever, Nomar Garciaparra, to Chicago in a three-team swap that landed Boston smaller names in Orlando Cabrera and Doug Mientkiewicz. No longer was it about fighting over the biggest and best players position by position. Besides, it was a fight Boston could never win with Steinbrenner anyway. It was about finding chemistry guys that would jell with the guys already in place. And roughly eight months after Steinbrenner's scathing comments landed on the ears of Red Sox Nation, Boston captured their first World Series championship since 1918.

Since that time, the two AL East powerhouses have traded shot after shot, with the Sox winning again in 2007, while the Yankees currently call themselves reigning champions after defeating the Philadelphia Phillies in 2009. With Steinbrenner's sons in charge, the rivalry has mellowed out in terms of front-office vitriol, but the desire to win burns as much as ever before. And more of that is due to Steinbrenner than any other figure in the Sox-Yanks feud.