- my father, however, was born in manhattan. so his revenge was to make me a yankee fan. - rudy is a very complicated person. he grows up in brooklyn, a yankees fan. so he's always a little bit of a contrarian. - in 1950s brooklyn, the dodgers were closer to a borough religion. - and that kind of strong cultural bias, to be a yankee fan in brooklyn, would take either a lot of guts or a lot of stupidity. - i've been a yankee fan since the day i was born. - this is like condemning yourself to complete isolation. - he told stories about growing up in brooklyn, his love for the yankees. - walking around in his mini yankees uniform, took a lot of verbal and physical abuse. - when i was two years old, i was thrown in the mud by the other kids on the block. so i became a very determined yankee fan. it's a sign of independence. - but it gave rudy a lifelong sense of being