- Yankee Stadium Farewell- No one, AND THE ROCK MEANS NO ONE, does that type of celebration (whether it's the farewell, retiring someone's number, ring ceremony, etc) better than the New York Yankees. yes, it's a lot easier when you have that type of tradition to go to. Still, it's nice to see it done properly.
- ESPN did a very good job on it's pre game show. Good thing FOX and Joe Buck weren't involved.
- The Yankee faithful gave Bernie Williams the biggest applaue of the night on Bernie's first return to the Stadium since his "retirement". One of the classiests and greatest Yankees of all time.
- Paul O'Neil is just plain out Cool.
- I think the most telling moment of the night was the complete and utter ommission of Roger Clemens from the evening. Not one mention of him. Not one video moment of him. Nothing. And good for the Yankees for doing it that way. F him. The lying bastard deserves it.
- Great job by the Tiger less U.S. team that defeated the Euro's in the Ryder Cup and finally bringing it home, for the first time since '79. Mahan, Kim, and Boo really shined bright for the U.S.
- Great job by Azinger for his picks and his leadership.
- Harrington, Westwood and Sergio all failed to show up for the Euro's.
- After watching Mahan and Kim, it says here, they will win many majors in the future. Both have incredible talent and the game to win majors. I wouldnt be surprised to see a combined 5 between them.
- What the hell happened in Flushing? Can this happen again? I thought with the great job of Manuel and having Sanatan and Pelfrey on the mound two of the 5 days they would prevent a collapse. As great a job as they are doing, their bullpen is miserable and Reyes is showing two years in a row he doesnt have the stomach for September baseball. Not many Jeter comparisons nowadays.
- It was great watching Jim Furyk clinch it for the U.S. He's a great guy, a good role model and the only Major Championship winner that ever had the honor of playing a round with The Peoples Champ.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Quick thoughts- Ryder Cup, Yankee Stadium Farewell and more
Just some quick thoughts until I have to time to give the following it's proper due:
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7 comments:
Great event. Great coverage by ESPN. I must admit having chills during "roll call."
I thought Michael Kay's comment about Julia Ruth Stevens throwing out the first pitch at the "House her Father Built" summed up the history beautifully.
The great thing about the Ryder Cup is that we get to see just how good these guys really are. On tour most players only go after 30-40% of the pins and guard against making a big number. But in this format they know they need birdies to win holes and they usually go pin hunting more like 70-80% of the time. So you get to see players reel off something like 8 birdies in 13 holes. Think about that, it could take us mere mortals 10-20 ROUNDS to make 8 birdies! These guys are good.
pollan-- i have no problem omitting roger, but puhhhlease with the hypocrosy. Pettite was honored with the Start and was reverred all night. and giambi was in the middle of it all. so, huh? and i know you covered your a** (this is a PG board, right?) by saying it was about roger lying, but again, puhhhlease. we both know that's NOT what it was really about. should the yankees exclude ANYONE who ever lied to the public as a player. ummmm. ok, pollan. at least stay consisent and say giambi (who also LIED forever) shouldve been ignored or released or whatever else.
and....
how can the yankees NOT mention Torre? he's a dodger now? puhhhlease.
and...
i loved the saluting the fans the most but unlike everyone else i thought jeter's speech sucked ass and was the same PR BS jeter always spews. i would have loved to have seen jeter talk from the heart for just once. (i.e., something like, "this year was REALLY frustrating and hard, the way you guys support us good or bad has been great...i will miss this stadium and here's my favorite memory from this one...")...
and...
--GREAT JOB by ESPN having michael kay
--GREAT JOB by ESPN showing the roll call
--GREAT JOB by ESPN NOT doing play by play or commentary for the last couple of outs
--GREAT JOB of girardi getting jeter the ovation and also dissing AROD, the best yakee player since Mickey. funny stuff. how do you feel if you are arod??? couldnt girardi have removed BOTH of them at the same time? amazing, truly amazing how GREAT arod is and how both torre and girardi have no so hugely dissed him. amazing what impact the media has. without his ridiculously unfair rep, 2-time YANKEE mvp arod would be treated like what he is...an all time great.
--I LOVE Joba. Did anyone enjoy yesterday more than him? he reminds me of david wells in terms of appreciation for yankee pride and history. jeter seems to always do the "right thing" and "talks" about yankee pride and tradition, but guys like wells and jobba-- they really feel it and it shows.
--Pudge was enjoying himself WAY too much last night. wtf. who is he?
--Leyritz was ignored just like clemens was. but leyritz probably shouldnt have been. the very course of yankee history BEGAN with leyritz. honestly, it's possible the yankee dynasty never runs its course the way it did if not for leyritz. he can't be ignored. unlike clemens, he was a legitimate, natural and deserved part of the early great yankees. he started it all.
--not sure what i think of the willie randolph thing. i dunno. have to think about that.
--bothered me to see guys like cano, abreu and molina having such a great time. in my opinion, only mariano, jeter, pettite and posada should have been parading around with smiles like that. i'm glad they took a picture together, but why on earth were all the other guys having such a blast? jobba, i'll alow for the reasons stated above. the others? annoying. and cheesy, too.
--GREAT JOB by reggie calling mariano the 5th greatest yankee ever. gutsy thing to say, but so, so true.
Ducks,
Some good thoughts.
First off, if there was one thing that was GLARINGLY OMMITTED it was Joe Torre not even being mentioned. Classless move by the Yanks. Not surprising from my vantage point that Joe T is goingto the postseason and a much more talented NY club is sitting home. Awful job.
As for Arod, he is the most talented played since Mickey but he hasnt won anything in the Bronx and until you do, no matter how good you are, it is all secondary. The fact that his postseason numbers as a Yankee are putrid at best should answer all your questions.
To consider the fact that Girardi wantedto honor Jeter, the most beloved Yank since the Mick as a slight to Arod is ridiculous.
Also, in case you're not scoring at home, Leyritz is in the midst of a DUI Manslaughter case where he killed a woman, so I think they made the right decision there.
I think the Yankee fans showed tremendous class in cheering Girardi and Arod in their awful seasons.
I have no problem with Yankees, young and old, new and old having a blast. It was a spine tingling night.
I do have a huge problem with the Torre omission. Awful job.
As for Clemens, Petitte and Giambi to some extent acknowledged their mistake. Clemens has gone balls to the wall to defend his position, a position where more and more evidence points to his guilt. You know I have been a Clemens supporter all along, but it's getting very tough. The guy through his wife under the bus for crying out loud. The fan will always forgive the player who shows remore. Rocket hasnt. Thats the issue.
The Whoa's
Torre Omission was a joke
TPC--
you're funny. you start off with "some good thoughts, ducks" and then tear all of them apart. i appreciate the compliment, but which ones exactly were good? u seemed to kill all of them.
i am quite frankly shocked to hear you say ity didnt bother you to see guys like molina and pudge parading around like that. who are they in yankee history? yankee lore? nobodies. totally cheesey that they were having SUCH a good time. how come jeter posada and pettite didnt seem to be having quite as much fun as those guys? know why? because jeter and pettite know they had a crap season. those other guys have no clue what it is to be the real, champion yankees.
and i guess what i really dont get is that you of all people buy into the arod is a loser crap. if you see don mattingly as a yankee legend (and you'd better), than how can you explain yourself? and dont tell me arod was on better teams. you'll have a hard time convicning me that the scott brocious yankeed wouldnt have been just as great with arod at 3b instead. a very hard time. arod is a victim of yankee fans love affair with jeter. it's so transparent but so true. how you can call arod's season "awful" (instead of saying awful "for arod) is just insane and illustrates the point. if you HAD to drop one of those 2 guys next season, is it really arod? i dont think so. yet, i bet most yankee fans would prefer to keep jeter. which is completely retarded.
girardi should have absolutely taken both arod and jeter out of the game either consecutively (with jeter last) or together. TPC, do you even realize the records that arod is gonnna break as a yankee? it's scary. and fans will look back at this 2008 video in 20 yrs and just not get it. they will say "boy those fans in those days were unappreciative idiots. how did they not realize how huge arod was. how much he would have contributed if he had a better team aroudn him.
the yankees and their fans have this totally delusional view that their team is great simply because of names that used to be great. we have jorge, we have jeter, we have pettite, we have giambi, etc. it's time you guys woke up and realized that this yankee team just isn't that good. their pitching is terrible and their "stars" are OLD. how do you yankee fans not see this? where are your non-jobba young stars? where?
what's so ironic is the only place you really have NO problems is at 3b. and generations from now will realize that even while this generation of yankee fans continue to go down on jeter.
Ducks,
Your missing the point on Arod. Arod is his own worst enemy. The Yankees fans have done nothing but try and embrace the guy, but it keeps backfiring.
Now, obviously if Mariana gets those three outs in Game 4 against Boston in 2004 and Arod wins his ring a lot of this is mute.
However, despite the tremendous talent that is Arod and the staggering offensive numbers, these are the numbers that kill him:
In 24 Postseason games as a Yankee, his average is .244. Take away the first series he had against the Tiwns (a huge series) his average in his last TWENTY POSTSEASON GAMES- including the great Boston collapse is .200 with only 6 extra base hits. That is it in a nutshell. If the Yankees would have lost and Arod performed decently, he would be far better off.
Now with that being said, Arod WANTED OUT OF NY this year and when no one else wanted him, he came crawling back on his hands and knees begging to "be a Yankee for life". Come on.
I agree his numbers will be staggering. Of course they will be. He's the greatest all around talent to ever play the game. He's a tremendous player, but in NY you need to win. It's why Messier is so revered here. It's why Namath is revered here. It's why Jeter rules this town. It also doesnt hurt that he has a .309 batting average in close to 500 postseason at bats and almost always comes through when it counts. He also has 4 rings. Couple that with all the off the field stuff that Arod brings himself attention to, and there you have the whole package.
With all that being said, I wouldnt trade him and I love that he's a Yankee. Yankee fans are begging for a reason to crown this guy King. We just need one. Regular season supremacy may good for KC or Fl or even Flushing. The Ring is the Thing in Da Bronx.
By the way, this "terrible Yankee team" is only 1 game back of the Mets, so as bad a season as it has been, let's put things in perspective and not let opinions get in the way of the facts.
I believe Mr. Chien Ming Wang is pretty damn good and he's only 27. I'm not giving up on Phil Hughes at all at age 21. You also havent watched the Yanks develop a very good bullpen core of good young pitchers like Robertson, Ramirez, Veras, Aceves and Coke. I like the direction they took. They didnt sell the farm out for has beens.
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