When Yankees pitcher Roger Clemens tossed a shattered piece of a baseball bat towards Mets catcher Mike Piazza in the 2000 World Series I was barely ten-years-old and angrier than I had ever been. My father, a modest, and mostly calm man did his best to quell my temper as I stomped around our living room, tears streaming down my face.

How dare a Yankee try and harm MY sports hero?

Almost 20 years, many losing Mets seasons, and a few Amazin’ ones later, my thoughts on the pinstripes in the Bronx have softened.

Yes, despite my familial hatred for all things Yankees, I am committing sports blasphemy during the 2017 playoffs: I’m rooting for the New York Yankees.

As an out-of-market Mets fan and displaced Jersey Boy, I try and hang on to whatever sliver of northeast identity I can. I’ve spent almost a decade in Washington, D.C. yet despite my love for the culture and history of the District, I still yearn for all the creature comforts that exist in the greater tri-state area. Whenever I encounter someone who has the faintest hint of an accent, my eyes light up and I immediately pepper them with questions about where they were from, what their parents did, and whether they were Mets fans. Were you to ask me to name the top five pizza and bagel shops in and around Washington, D.C., I would do you one better and give you 10. I love D.C., but I miss home.

So why root against a team that lights up the hearts of millions of the people I grew up with?

When Roger Clemens retired in 2007, my hatred for the Yankees began to ween. Jorge Posada, Johnny Damon, Mark Teixeira, Alex Rodriguez, and countless others would soon follow. These were ballplayers that killed my Mets and did so with a tinge of arrogance and swagger that drove me insane. Once they hung up their spikes and players like Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez took over, Yankees games became…enjoyable to watch?

Now that the Nationals have been eliminated (and seriously, fuck the Nationals), I have no vested interest in the playoffs. The Astros, Cubs, and Dodgers are fun to watch but don’t inspire any passionate post-season viewing. So why not root for the city, and the part of the country that I miss so much? I always tell my non-Northeast friends how incredible the New York and New Jersey can truly be. A Yankees victory would tell the rest of the sports world that same thing.

When I turn on Yankees games and look into the stands, I see the ghosts of all the people I miss from back home. How can I root against a team and a group of people that love the b-side of the first Springsteen record, smoked whitefish, and The Sopranos just as much as I do?

It turns out that I can’t. I want the Yankees to win the 2017 World Series. I want the best player in baseball to be from New York. I want whatever legendary moment to happen with the New York skyline and Jersey Shore in the background. I want people around the world to watch another team from the tri-state area dominate.

That is, until next year.