As a baseball fan, it would seem like there could be nothing better than rooting for the Yankees. Yankee fans get to cheer on a team that is full of all-stars, enters almost every season as a championship contender and earns a playoff spot as a virtual birthright. The life of luxury resulted in another championship season in 2009. Despite the consistent domination that Yankee fans are able to enjoy, I’m far from envious of their situation.

Fans of non-Yankee teams can often relate to their favorite team. Most sports teams, like most fans, must do the best they can given their resources. For teams other than the Yankees, that means making wise, frugal decisions, taking some calculated risks and hoping to catch a few breaks. For those teams, the metaphorical stars occasionally align properly and a great season –– even a championship –– is possible. Likewise, most people make do with what they have and hope for the best.

With the Yankees, the average individual has no way to relate. The Yankees spend so much money and assemble such a star-studded roster that the team essentially removes the need for smart decision-making and luck from the equation. If the Yankees make a poor decision, such as investing a huge amount of money in Kei Igawa or committing to a rotation of young pitchers Phil Hughes, Joba Chamberlain and Ian Kennedy, management has the ability to erase the mistakes by spending lavishly, as the team did when it spent roughly a quarter billion dollars on pitchers C.C. Sabathia and A.J. Burnett last winter. The Yankees have such an absurd advantage in terms of resources that the team is able to go out and buy whatever it needs to ensure success.

The Yankees cannot buy a championship for the simple reason that there is too much variability in baseball for a team to ensure a victory in a short playoff series. What the Yankees can and do accomplish is they buy the best roster in baseball each and every season. The Yankee team that won the championship last week featured Sabathia, Burnett, Johnny Damon, Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez –– five stars who are in New York because no other team could afford their respective price tags.

Yankee fans miss out on much of the thrill of victory. It is far more exciting to watch an underdog prevail than it is to see a superior team do what it’s supposed to do. In Detroit, I’ve seen both sides of the equation. During the late 90s and early part of this decade, before the NHL instituted a salary cap, the Red Wings often entered the season as a championship favorite based on a bloated payroll. The Wings brought the Stanley Cup to Detroit in 1997, 1998 and 2002. Each time, the feeling of triumph was accompanied by a feeling of relief –– the team managed to not disappoint its fans.

On the other end of the spectrum, the Detroit Pistons and Detroit Tigers (with the exception of 2008) do not begin their respective seasons with the expectations that accompany big market teams. Those teams can succeed, but doing so requires sound foresight, tactful maneuvering by the front office, and a stroke of luck. When those teams do win a championship (like the Pistons in ’04) or reach the World Series (like the Tigers in ’06), there is a profound sense of accomplishment that can only be achieved when one beats the odds. As long as the Yankees grossly outspend their competition, such a feeling will forever escape the team’s fans.

Yankee fans live in a world where heightened expectations lead to frequent disappointment. The cliché that applies to the Yankees is “Championship or bust.” The other relevant cliché is that “The bigger they are, the harder they fall.” Such is the case with a team of which so much is expected. When they do win a championship, their fans are obviously ecstatic, but there is also a feeling that the team simply accomplished what it should have given its star-studded roster. Each season, the Yankees spend so much money that they are expected to win a championship in order to avoid letting down the team’s fans.

The Yankees give their fans a great deal: stars to root for, a beautiful stadium to enjoy, and a dominant team on the field. That team also eliminates the potential for the full fan experience. The ability for a city to rally around its over-achieving team is the greatest emotion a sports fan can experience. Such a feeling is impossible when a team is supposed to be nearly flawless. Even when the Yankees have a flaw, the team typically pays to fix it in ways that most franchises could only dream of. When a team other than the Yankees wins a championship, that team’s players and fans are proud of the team’s accomplishments. When the Yankees win, the championship feels cheap –– or better yet, expensive.