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Ron Ashkenas: Of Goldman Sachs, the Yankees, and Level Playing Fields

2009-11-23T09:29:56Z

Cross-posted from Harvard Business Online

Have you noticed that the two most successful teams in New York City both engender passionately mixed emotions of admiration and contempt?

One team is the New York Yankees, the storied baseball franchise that just won its 27th World Series title -- when no other team has won more than 10 times. The Yankees have the largest revenue stream thanks to their own cable television network, a new billion-dollar ballpark, and owners who can afford the highest-paid players in baseball. (These players, in turn, generate yet more revenue.)

The other team is Goldman Sachs, the legendary investment banking and securities organization that generates record profits almost every year, even in the midst of a global-financial downturn. To put its record in perspective, consider that the average profit margin for financial services organizations from 2000 to 2008 was 19 percent. Goldman's was 29 percent. And the current year's performance will undoubtedly widen the gap. Goldman also holds the top ranking in many of the lead tables that customers use as a comparative measure of investment banks. And, similar to the Yankees, Goldman has the highest-paid performers in the industry -- with aggregate bonuses that this year will probably top $20 billion, far more than any other institution.

With performances like these, it is understandable that both the Yankees and Goldman Sachs are widely admired as the best of the best, and that top free agents -- whether they be pitchers, position players, traders, or deal-makers -- want to work for them. But side by side with the admiration, both also are viewed by many with anger, cynicism and even contempt. This has prompted defensive responses from the executives of both organizations. Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman responded to criticism by saying, "Call us anything you want -- You're also going to have to call us world champions." And Lloyd Blankfein, Goldman's CEO, reacted to his critics by famously remarking that Goldman is really doing "God's work."

What Cashman and Blankfein don't realize, however, is that criticism of their organizations may have deeper roots, stemming from the perception that the game is not taking place on a level playing field. From this perspective, they are successful because the rules are skewed in their favor. For the Yankees, the fact that baseball has no salary cap allows the teams with the most revenue in the biggest markets to have a distinct advantage in recruiting and retaining the best players. And to add insult to injury, the city of New York provided public financing for its new stadium which provided even more revenue at minimal cost to the team.

Goldman, too, is perceived to benefit from a financial system that tilts its way. When other institutions were melting down, the architect of the rescue plan, the U.S. Treasury Secretary was none other than Goldman's former chairman. While Lehman was allowed to fail, AIG -- whose failure would have been disastrous to Goldman -- was bailed out. Furthermore, the requirement that all investment banks become bank holding companies ended up providing Goldman with access to the Fed "window" and cheap funds (in addition to the bailout funds) without causing Goldman to act like a real bank and actually lend money. The perceived result was that Goldman made incredible profits from its trading activity and will payout enormous bonuses -- perhaps over some shareholders' objections -- with the security of knowing that the government will not let it fail.

Most people admire individuals and organizations that are wildly successful. But admiration turns to anger and cynicism when that success seems to come not just from skill and hard work, but also from luck and connections. The New York Yankees and Goldman Sachs both play within the rules of the system -- but until the system is perceived to be more equitable, the criticism will continue.

Ron Ashkenas is a managing partner of Robert H. Schaffer & Associates a Stamford, Connecticut consulting firm and the author of the forthcoming book Simply Effective: How to Cut Through Complexity in Your Organization and Get Things Done

Jonah Keri: Baseball's New Market Inefficiency

2009-11-18T10:42:43Z

Cross-posted at JonahKeri.com

As expected, the baseball cognoscenti has gone ga-ga for Tyler Kepner's New York Times piece on AL Cy Young winner Zack Greinke. And why not? Here's Greinke telling Kepner how his increased interest in advanced baseball statistics helped him run roughshod over hitters this season.

"That's pretty much how I pitch, to try to keep my FIP as low as possible," Greinke said.

Kepner also notes how Greinke learned about Fielding Independent Pitching and Ultimate Zone Rating from stats-savvy teammate Brian Bannister. So influenced was Greinke from these pow-wows with Bannister that he began purposely trying to induce batters to hit flyballs to left field, knowing that vacuum cleaner David DeJesus would track down almost any ball that wasn't hit over the fence. It's no surprise then that everyone from Dave Cameron to Patrick Sullivan to Rob Neyer (the only one of this trio who hasn't joined me for a meal at epic Boston brunch/lunch spot The Friendly Toast, though hopefully that will change some time soon) was all over the story. (It's doubly interesting because Kepner and Neyer engaged in a playful argument earlier this year over UZR as it pertained to Mark Teixeira, with Kepner taking the position that UZR, especially when viewed through just a few months worth of data, doesn't tell you everything--a position I agree with, by the way.)

All well and good. Except the masses seem to have missed the most interesting and relevant part of the whole article.

The award will raise Greinke's profile, which he does not want. When Oakland's Andrew Bailey won the A.L. rookie of the year award Monday, he said he was happy to be asked for an autograph in a mall. Greinke has the opposite reaction to fame.

"I haven't really gotten a whole lot of attention from people, which has been nice," Greinke said. "I hope it doesn't get that way, where everybody's like, 'Oh, hey, Zack, hi,' and they talk to me a bunch."

As my buddy Ben Kabak of River Avenue Blues (yes, I'm going to name-drop every intelligent writer in the Western Hemisphere by the time this post ends) notes, there's an excellent chance that Greinke might be the rare superstar who chafes at going to New York or Boston when he reaches free agency, or gets close enough to where the Royals will want to trade him. Ben's almost certainly right. Earlier in his career, Greinke took time off from the game to get treated for Social Anxiety Disorder. While he's obviously progressed enough to become a knockout major league pitcher who can take the mound every fifth day without a hiccup, Greinke's never going to be confused with any kind of social butterfly. There's a very real chance that the Royals might be able to retain Greinke for well below market value, since Kansas City is a place that's more comfortable and far less visible for someone who fears the public eye. (In fact, the Royals have already done this, giving Greinke a bargain four-year, $38 million contract last off-season). If Greinke thinks "Oh, hey, Zack, hi" is bad, imagine what would happen in New York if he gained a fraction of the fame and infamy of, say, Alex Rodriguez.

Granted, Greinke is an extreme example, and Social Anxiety Disorder is no laughing matter. Still, you can see where this is going, right? Small-market teams could benefit from performing rigorous personality tests on potential draft picks, screening for signs of introversion. If two pitchers profile as close to identical in talent and smarts, a team like the Royals or Pirates could choose the homebody over the gadfly, wrap him in a Snuggie every day, hand him hot cocoa before every start, and tell him horror stories about the big city and all the dangers that lurk there behind every corner.

With the deck so heavily stacked in favor of teams like the Yankees and Red Sox, it's time for smaller-market teams to exploit an edge of their own. Forget statistical analysis, on-base percentage, defense, new medical technology, advanced training methods or any other edge lower-revenue teams try desperately to find. Shy guys are the new market inefficiency.

Yankees' Payroll Mocked In Faux MasterCard "Priceless" Ad (VIDEO)

2009-11-13T13:54:18Z

The Yankees may have won the world series, but they had a little help along the way. One enterprising video editor detailed the more than 201 million reasons the Yankees were able to field such a talented team by mashing up some of the team's more expensive players with the famous "Priceless" MasterCard ads. Video embedded below.

Matsui's 3 RBI's in the title clinching game: $13,000,000.00

Derek Jeter's .462 World Series batting average: $20,000,000.00

ARod's 19 hits in 15 playoff games: $32,000,000.00

Winning the World Series Championship: $201,449,189.00

There are somethings money can't buy. The World Series isn't one of them.

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See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Eric Klinenberg: A Cubs Boy, in the Shadow of the Yankees

2009-11-12T21:17:12Z

Originally posted at NYMag.com

I grew up on the North Side of Chicago during the seventies and eighties and was raised to love the woeful Cubs. Spare me your pity. Sure, my team never came close to a pennant. (They still haven't.) But we adapted. My grandmother, for instance, had cheered the team for 60 years and never celebrated a World Series title. Finally, she discovered it was better to read the standings upside down.

There were benefits to being a Cubs fan. I got to spend my summer days at Wrigley Field, where $2.00 bought a children's general-admission ticket and a seat just off the first-base line. In those days, the ballpark was usually deserted. My friends and I would show up for batting practice to chase autographs and foul balls. We joined the official fan clubs, and I got to meet my heroes: Bobby Murcer, Bill Buckner, Bruce Sutter, and Dave Kingman. Their flaws never bothered me. Sure, every year I dreamed of a championship, and every year these dreams were dashed. But my team had perfected the art of failure, and I never expected anything more.

Now I live in New York City, and I have a 3-year-old son. Of course, I wanted him to fall for Chicago's lovable losers. A hometown team would be better, I knew. But I grew up in the shadow of the Miracle Mets of 1969, and I still resent them. The Yankees? God forbid. With 26 titles and the culture of entitlement that comes with them, the franchise offends those of us raised in Wrigleyville. So really, what choice did I have?

Also, I admit, I believed that my son might be the one we'd been waiting for, the guy who would turn the Cubs' luck around. And then something incredible happened. In 2007, his first full season, the Cubs made the playoffs. My grandmother bought him a cap and T-shirt. I persuaded my wife to let him stay up late to watch the games on TV. I'll confess that it hurt when the Diamondbacks swept us 3-0 in the first round. But we were off to a promising start.

The next year was better. The Cubs were sensational all season. They cruised into the playoffs with the best record in the National League and had home-field advantage against the Dodgers. Once again, I outfitted my boy in Cubs regalia and got him permission to stay up late to watch the games. I taught him to say Soriano, Lee, and, yes, Fukudome, to sing "root, root, root for the Cubbies" during the seventh-inning stretch.

But it didn't matter. The Cubs lost the first game of the NLDS badly, the second game worse. Then they went to Los Angeles and were swept again. I couldn't help asking: What was I doing to my child?

This year I vowed to do things differently. No, I didn't renounce the Cubs. But I didn't replace his Cubs cap when he lost it, either. In June I did the unthinkable: I bought him a Yankees hat, classic black, then another, in red. I got us tickets to see the Red Sox at the new ballpark. Gave him a baseball signed by all the Yankees and a plastic batting helmet filled with ice cream. We started reading the sports page together, cheering each time the Yankees triumphed. "I love the Yankees because they're the winners," he announced one day. And though I smiled, I also felt my heart sink.

Last week, the Yankees won their 27th World Series. Yes, those of us from Chicago are counting, too. My son was jubilant. He learned to say Matsui, made the Yankees symbol with Play-Doh, and asked if we could go to the parade.

Part of me wonders if I did the right thing. My son is now a Yankees fan, as is his birthright, and so he carries a burden. He may never be content in a second city. He may expect, even demand, a championship each year. He may not develop the character that comes from enduring disappointment, nor have faith that fidelity and suffering will be rewarded someday.

Then again, he has already experienced a World Series title, something neither my grandmother (now 91) nor I have done. I suppose I'm a bit envious, but mostly I'm enjoying his -- okay, our, November happiness.

Maybe next year I'll get my own Yankees cap. Then again, next year may belong to the Cubs.

Joe Torre: Kate Hudson "Relaxing" A-Rod

2009-11-12T16:32:12Z

Kate Hudson is "relaxing" Alex Rodriguez, according to A-Rod's former manager. In an interview with "Extra," ex-Yankee skipper Joe Torre was asked if he thought Hudson, whom the Yankee third baseman began seeing earlier this year, had helped Rodriguez have a better season. "Somebody's relaxing him, that's all I can say," Torre replied with a smirk, "because he certainly looked like he enjoyed himself this year." Becoming more serious, Torre added, "I know how important baseball is to him. So whatever the reason, it seems to be working."

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Andrew Brandt: The NFL Changing Before Our Eyes?

2009-11-12T14:49:30Z

Football as we know it may be changing. The NFL is facing the possibility of a dramatic shift in the way it operates to achieve competitive balance. We may be in the waning months of the application of the Salary Cap to a sport that has prided itself on its parity and the ability of every franchise to have an equal chance to compete for a championship.

How Did We Get Here?

In March of 2006 the NFL owners agreed to a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) with the NFL Players Association that was ratified by 30 of the League's 32 owners. Unfortunately, at the meeting in Dallas in which the agreement was ratified, precious little time was spent on how good a deal it was for the players.

Instead, the focus of those meetings was on revenue sharing among the NFL clubs. The Executive Director of the NFLPA at the time, the late Gene Upshaw, did a masterful job of getting his adversaries so focused on their own internal issues that the labor deal slipped through virtually unnoticed.

As Vice President of the Packers at the time, I constantly checked for updates with our President and COO, who were at the meetings. Every update was about how the teams were going to split revenue. "What about the deal with the players?" I asked. "We really haven't talked about that" was the continual answer. With Upshaw purposely unavailable on a plane to Hawaii to meet with his union reps and outgoing NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue anxious to continue labor peace, the deal passed easily.

The objecting owners, Ralph Wilson of the Buffalo Bills and Mike Brown of the Cincinnati Bengals, were seen as contrarians by many of the league's other owners, voices in the wilderness whose views were dismissed at the time. However, not long after the ink was dry on the agreement with the players, other NFL owners and executives started realizing that player costs would increase at a more accelerated pace than operating revenues and wondered how to get out. I vividly remember the conference call explaining the deal where a few of us heard the terms and asked, "And what did we get?"

Fortunately for the owners, a way out was built into the deal. The owners had an option to terminate the CBA earlier than its stated expiration date of 2013, which they exercised. Thus, the deal now ends following the 2010 season. The agreement also states that during the last year of the deal -- which was 2012 but is now 2010 with the exercised option - the NFL will operate without a Salary Cap. Thus, without a new deal in sight, we may be in our last few weeks of the age of Cap football in the NFL.

The Cap

The NFL has two methods of accounting -- cash accounting and Cap accounting. Cash accounting shows the amount of hard dollars a team is paying based on committed cash. Cap accounting includes non-cash charges such as prorated signing bonus charges, LTBE (Likely to be Earned) incentives and NLTBE (Not Likely to be Earned) incentives, charges for injured players and injury settlements, grievance holds, unamortized bonus of players no longer on the team, etc.

The basic premise of a Cap is to level the playing field among teams to improve competitive balance, thereby fostering evenly matched games that are attractive to networks, sponsors, fans and media. The Cap is also designed to protect aggressive and emotional deep-pocketed owners from themselves, limiting their largesse in player spending from year to year.

There are certainly ways to spend above the Cap, as the NFL Salary Cap is more of a soft cap (a yarmulke, if you will) rather than a hard cap. Teams can prorate signing bonuses and push Cap charges into future years (although that is not possible this year as there is no Cap next year). This is mainly why we have a few teams spending over $150 million on a $123 million Cap this season.

Is It Working?

The disparity in cash spending in the NFL is noteworthy but insignificant compared to Major League Baseball (MLB), a league without a Cap. As noted above, the top teams in the NFL are spending north of $150 million while the lowest spending teams are a bit south of $110 million, a gap of over $40 million.

The New York Yankees (heard of them?) just won the World Series with a player payroll over $208 million. The Florida Marlins, with a payroll of under $40 million, compete in the same league against the same teams as the Yankees do. Thus, the disparity in cash spending in 2009 between the high and low teams in Major League Baseball is almost $170 million.

With a Salary Cap, the MLB disparity could not exist, as a Cap is self-regulating over the long term. In other words, NFL teams rise in the spending rankings one year only to fall down in the next or moderate somewhere in the middle over the long term.

No Cap?

Without a Cap, there exists the possibility that the NFL payroll disparity could look like that of MLB. Perhaps a team or two could engage in profligate spending without the limitation of a Cap and become the Yankees, Mets and Red Sox of football.

It could happen, but it's not likely. Football is a game of schemes and complex interactions between eleven players on the field at the same time. It is not like baseball, in which a player hits, catches and pitches and can be inserted into a new lineup seamlessly. Football has more issues in changing personnel, a reason why free agency in football has had spotty results.

But there is an important result of a uncapped NFL that is not receiving enough attention: Without a Cap in the NFL, not only is there no ceiling on player spending but there is also no floor. Thus, teams that are so inclined can cut back their spending as they wish, no longer forced to meet the Cap minimum ($108 million in 2009). Add this into the equation and the NFL may look more like baseball next year, with a payroll disparity potentially far greater than now.

Where do we go from here? There have been a few meetings between the NFL and the NFLPA, led by its new Executive Director DeMaurice Smith. Progress has been slow, with the union frustrated by the League's lack of specificity about the difficulty of the present CBA and the lack of concrete proposals from the NFL as to how to fix the system.

The league's slow-play may be a strategy to show a lack of trepidation about an uncapped -- and unfloored -- 2010. Without a Cap, there will also be restrictions on free agency for NFL players. Free agency will be available to players with six years of experience rather than four, thus eliminating free agency rights for over 150 players. These protections were put into the agreement as poison pills to an uncapped year.

So, will we have a new CBA in the NFL by the end of this season, ensuring a Salary Cap system for 2010 and labor peace beyond? I doubt it.

As to whether an agreement ensues in the months following this season and prior to the start of the Free Agency period in March 2010, well, that's a better question.

Stay tuned.

Tony Sachs: Hey Fans! Iiiiiiiit's the Fake Michael Kay On Twitter! Who But!

2009-11-12T11:39:44Z

Say what you will about C.C., A.J. and Tex. Talk all you want about the strong bullpen, the mojo of the new stadium, the managerial aptitude of Joe Girardi, the birth of the walk-off win pie-in-the-face ritual. But for my money, there was one unsung hero, one key player, that transformed the New York Yankees from a third place team in 2008 to World Series champs in '09.

Of course, I'm referring to Fake Michael Kay on Twitter.

A lucky few of us are blessed with a special gift. And this anonymous gent (or lady), known on Twitter as @yesmichaelkay, has found his (or her) niche in being able to channel the very essence of the amiable, slightly buffoonish Yankees play-by-play broadcaster Michael Kay into 140-character musings on baseball, philosophy, sex, and life in general -- all of which begin "Hey fans!"

In fact, those two words were the entirety of Fake Michael Kay's first Tweet back on April 24th. Yet from such humble beginnings, an art form was created.

"Hey fans! Driven out to deep center! Back is Hunter! Still back! Heeeee makes the catch 54 feet in front of the track for the first out....."

"Hey fans! Joba Chamberlain's pitch count is at zero so far today."

"Hey fans! OH WHAT A BUNT BY SWISHER! IIIIIIIIIIT'S A SACRIFICE BY....NICK SWISHER! AND THE YANKEES STILL TRAIL...TWO TO ONE!"

"Hey fans! Track wall see ya! Philthies! OH WHAT A PLAY BY JETER!!!!! This Tweet is 140 characters long exactly, tying a record held by many."

Fake Michael Kay's tweets weren't meant as a tribute to the real Michael Kay -- quite the opposite, in fact. As some of the missives indicate, they were intended to reveal the depths of Kay's stupidity and, with any luck, start a grassroots movement to get him fired.

"Hey fans! In case you're just joining us, there's been some drama that I have completely made up!"

"Hey fans! Lineups! First pitch! Baseball! Rambling! Bad jokes! Making you want to kill yourself! Next!"

"Hey fans! Tune in to my show on ESPN Radio where I shock the world every day by showing I know even less about other sports than baseball!"

Kay's catchphrases, his plugs for sponsor W.B. Mason ("Who But!"), his overblown praise for Derek Jeter, his incessant pitch counts, his frequent insinuations that broadcast cohort David Cone is a drunk, all were fair game for Fake Michael Kay. And believe me, the Real Michael Kay gave the fake one plenty of material to work with.

But a funny thing happened on the way to getting Kay his pink slip. Rather than groaning and turning the sound off when Kay unleashed another "Track! Wall! SEE YA!" or did things like mentioning a pitcher's "zaftig" ERA (which he really did on at least one occasion), I began to look forward to hearing his Kay-isms every night. And just as eagerly, I'd anticipate @yesmichaelkay's zingers and retorts. It soon became part of my game-night ritual to regularly check in with Twitter, so I could find out what both Michael Kays were saying.

"Hey fans! Joba has ALL of his pitches working! All 94 of them in 4.2 innings that have resulted in four runs! ALL of his pitches!"

"Hey fans! Phil Coke's the Philthiest! Sure his 5.00 ERA ranks 2,487th among relievers, but he's Philthy! Who But! See Ya! COKE DEALS! OH!"

"Hey fans! Bottom of the ninth. Tie game. Yankees coming up. This means just one thing. My pants are off! OH LOOK AT THE JUNK ON ME!!!"

In a weird way, Fake Michael Kay turned me into, of all things, a fan of Michael Kay, if only for the inspiration he gave to his Twitter doppelganger (Twoppelganger?). I mean, without Hitler, Charlie Chaplin never would have made The Great Dictator, right?

And speaking of Nazis, Fake M.K. loved to remind us that the real Michael Kay once compared the old sports announcers' superstition about mentioning a no-hitter in progress to Nazi Germany and slavery (check this out if you don't believe me). So at regular intervals, we'd be treated to gems like "Hey fans! Pettitte perfect through 4! Suck it, Goebbels!"

I wasn't the only Yankee fan with Fake Michael Kay on the brain. He's got over 2,000 Twitter followers, many of whom apparently believe they're reading the Tweets of the real Michael Kay. Which frustrates Fake M.K. no end. Every so often we'd get a pissed-off announcement:
"Hey fan! I AM NOT THE REAL FUCKING MICHAEL KAY! JESUS CHRIST! HOW IS THAT NOT APPARENT!? WHO BUT WB MASON!" But worse still was the report from Sports Illustrated writer Jon Heyman that Real M.K. thought Fake was "hilarious," inspiring this response: "Hey fans! Word is the real Michael Kay enjoys this Twitter Feed. OH WHAT A FAILURE I AM AT THIS!!!! WHO BUT. SEE YA."

Now and then, the enormity of having to boil down three-plus hours of Kay being Kay into a handful of Tweets proved overwhelming even for Fake M.K. The facade would drop just a little, and we could see a bit of the tortured genius behind the curtain (Twurtain?):

"Hey fans! Seriously. Am I brutal or what? I don't STFU for a second, I misread everything, I can't see, my voice sucks, no one likes me, etc."

"Hey fans! NFL fans don't care about stats like career rushing yards. MLB stats are way better because...seriously, I'm a god damn retard."

"Hey fans! I don't think I've ever said anything stupider than all NY fans are the same fans of the same teams. Please fire me."

But Fake M.K.'s dedication to his craft never flagged for long, and by July he was on a tear that continued to the end of the season. And the better he got, the better the Yankees played. Is it any wonder that the Yanks posted the best second-half record in the majors with Fake Michael Kay for inspiration?

"Hey fans! Anyone want to hear how I'd call Dale Earnhardt's death? Track, wall, see ya! My canned lines work everywhere!"

"Hey fans! Also having a hard time getting my Italian restaurant off the ground. The signature dish? Pasta Diving Jeter! OHHHHHH!!!!!"

"Hey fans! Suicide watch back on! Mariano's shoulder hurts! Time to kill myself with a stapler from WB Mason. Who But WB Mason?! See ya!"

The Yankees stayed hot all the way through the postseason, and so did Fake M.K., from the Division Series with the Twins ("Hey fans! What a terrible broadcast by TBS! Nearly one inning in the books, and not one mention of the pitch count") and the ALCS with the Angels ("Hey fans! Now, those were great swings by Tex. Now, I haven't seen balls hit that hard since I went through my S&M phase in '02") to the final game of the World Series, which climaxed in a most eloquent "Hey fans! OHHHH!!!!! OHHHH!!! OHHH!!!!! OHHH! WHO BUT! WHO BUT! OHHHH!!!!"

Throughout this unforgettable season, Fake Michael Kay fans knew that he'd always come through in the clutch. But one thing we never found out was his true identity. The day after the season ended and the champagne was still drying on the Yankee Stadium clubhouse carpet, he Tweeted the link to what may or may not be a clue -- or at least some idea of what he does when he isn't making fun of Yankees broadcasters.

I thought about putting leather to pavement and uncovering the man (or woman) behind the myth, but I decided not to. Not just because I'm lazy, but because finding out who writes Fake Michael Kay's Tweets is like trying to put names to the anonymous geniuses who built the great cathedrals of Europe. In the end, it's the art, not the artist, that's important.

But if the real Fake Michael Kay happens to be reading this, I want to tell him that he made being a Yankees fan even more fun this year than it would have been otherwise. And I hope that, come April, I and all your other followers will get to "SEE YA!" again.

Billy Altman: Canyon of Haircuts

2009-11-11T22:57:35Z

Let's say right at the outset that we do understand that, as far as the 2009 baseball season goes, it really is all over but the shouting -- or at least it will be as soon as someone tells Jay-Z to er, Zip it, Zip It good. Which admittedly, may not happen any time soon, seeing as how the rapper's "Empire State of Mind" became the unofficial proverbial anthem of this year's Yankee team, and even made it to City Hall last Friday as part of the festivities celebrating the Yanks' four games to two victory over the Phillies in the World Series.

Of course, just how long "Empire State of Mind" (can Billy Joel sue for partial copyright infringement?) stays in the collective consciousness of Yankee fans may depend on just how fast they want to stop enjoying the accomplishments of this year's club and start worrying about next year's squad -- a state commonly referred to in Yankee circles as repeatitis, or George's Disease.

Frankly, we were hoping that, having not hoisted an MLB championship flag since 2000, the Yankees might look at this year's success with at least a modicum of humility. But no sooner were the keys to the city being readied for distribution to all the Bronx Bombers by New York's own little bundle of hubris himself, Mayor Mike Bloomberg, then Yankees manager Joe Girardi was relaying the gist of his conversation earlier in the day with Ole' King Steinbrenner. The Boss apparently wanted Joe to relay his thoughts that, "[T]he only thing greater than this year's celebration is doing this two years in a row," and to be sure to remind everyone that it was only 96 days until pitchers and catchers were due to report for spring training. What a (baseball) card!

Speaking of cards, while we all try and imagine just what uniform newly declared free agents Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui will be wearing on their respective Topps come next season -- it's unlikely the Yankees will re-sign both of them, and since Matsui really can't do anything but DH anymore, it's unlikely he and his Series MVP Award will still be in New York in 2010 (hey, it's business; nothing personal) -- I do want to take this opportunity to salute Nick Swisher for not only helping the 2009 New York Yankees seem just a trifle more human than usual, but also for his haircut, which is, as they say, in a league all by itself. The Swish certainly was the most interesting looking Yankee at the parade last week, far cooler in his own goofy way than either Alex Rodriguez or AJ Burnett in their identical pork pie hats (honestly, did Jay-Z give them a two-for-one deal? And while I'm here, are you as uncomfortable as I am with the whole idea of AJ Burnett possessing a key to New York City?)

Anyway, Swisher's haircut is truly, as George Jessel used to say, something to conjure with. It's not quite a Mohawk -- not high enough in the middle -- and it's not quite a skunk; too much growth on the sides. It's more like a hybrid of the two. Let's call it a Mohunk. Wait a minute, isn't that the name of an Empire State resort up in the Catskills? Can you say endorsement deal? Just remember where to send the finder's fee, Nick.

Suzette Standring: A-Rod, Men and Other Mythical Beasts

2009-11-11T16:32:11Z

Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees is a mythical beast. At least he thinks so. The champion third baseman has a painting of himself as a centaur hanging in his bedroom, according to a tattletale ex-fling. Thanks to Twitter-mania, a curiosity among kids has been sparked in Greek mythology. (The American education system will move forward one way or another.)

Historically the half man, half horse creature was a symbol of barbarism but now the centaur represents unbridled passion or an untamed nature. That is such a guy spin on things. (Sometimes I think testosterone should be a controlled substance.)

Now that the Yankees have won the World Series, it would make sense for A-Rod to have himself portrayed as Pegasus, the winged horse, carrying all to victory. His dining room probably has a bare wall or two. Imagine the phone call, A-Rod to artist, "I'll pay you double if you can finish and deliver it by Thanksgiving."

But if the Yankees had lost, he'd be the goat (or more likely Kate Hudson, his "lucky charm" would be). Now who is the goat man in Greek mythology? Well, a half man, half goat creature is a satyr. Wait a minute, satyrs symbolize lust and are often depicted at the ready with a permanent...flute.

I can hear A-Rod now, "Snap! Call my painter!"

But he's not alone in such imaginings. The revelation of his self-as-centaur paintings will no doubt spawn copycats on a national level. Everyone loves a fresh idea and now in the minds of men they, too, can be portrayed as symbolically powerful.

If more men had A-Rod's money ($28 million a year for ten years) there'd be all manner of mythical portraits hanging on suburban walls. As it is the Average Joe will have to be content with Photoshop or clip art. Expect to see male family members as centaurs pulling Santa's sleigh on holiday cards this season. Jingle all the way, boys.

Now here are some ideas of fanciful portraits for men we all recognize:

For the bull-headed and hard charging man, the Minotaur sports the face of a take-no-prisoner negotiator - agents, lawyers, S.W.A.T officers or anyone who works for the phone company.

For the man of singular vision, Cyclops is just the creature. This could include politicians up for reelection, radio talk show hosts or anyone stumping for creationism in the school curriculum.

The man who beats a smoking habit is the Phoenix. Transfer his smiling visage onto the sacred firebird rising from the ash(tray).

For the now-you-see-me, now-you-don't man, he is the Loch Ness Monster, gliding through the waters of life, submerging just when you're sure you had him in your sights.

The list of mythical beasts is rich with possibilities, yet sadly few could ever aspire to live up to a self-portrait of the Gryphon.

That's a creature with the head of an eagle and the body of a lion. Legend says that a Gryphon was about truth and pure intentions.

Maybe A-Rod had one of those in another room. Can't you just see him, all sharply eagle-eyed in profile? But the Gryphon is gone. Maybe it's in his attic somewhere after that whole Madonna thing. The cheating was bad enough. But his feigned interest in the Kabbalah? Please. You'd have to be a unicorn to be that naïve.

Contact Suzette Martinez Standring: suzmar@comcast.net She is the award winning author of The Art of Column Writing: Insider Secrets from Art Buchwald, Dave Barry, Arianna Huffington, Pete Hamill and Other Great Columnists. Visit www.readsuzette.com

Arn Tellem: Hideki Matsui: An Ageless Talent

2009-11-11T13:20:00Z

There's a restaurant in Manhattan's garment district that's practically a gustatory shrine to one of my baseball clients, Hideki Matsui of the New York Yankees. The walls of Go! Go! Curry are
festooned with Matsui autographs, caricatures, photographs and newspaper headlines trumpeting his last name, 松井. Matsui is held in totemic esteem at this Japanese curry house, so much so that the joint's very name derives from his jersey number. "Go" is five in Japanese and 55 is what Matsui wears on his pinstriped back. The restaurant even offers 55-cent discount coupons on days after he hits a home run. For those of you without a scorecard, Godzilla hit 28 homers during the regular season, and four more in the post-season.

Despite not starting a single game at Citizens Bank Park, a National League stadium at which the designated hitter is not allowed, Matsui slammed three World Series homers and a record-tying eight RBIs. In the second inning of Game 6 at Yankee Stadium, his two-run shot off Philadelphia's Pedro Martinez put the Yanks ahead for good. The ball clanged off an advertisement on the facing of the second deck in right field -- appropriately, a sign for Komatsu, a Japanese company that makes mining and construction equipment.

No hitter had ever done more damage in the Fall Classic in such a limited role. Matsui posted the third-highest average for a player with at least 10 at-bats in the Series, and the second-highest slugging percentage to Lou Gehrig. After Godzilla's thunderous footfalls helped level Philly, hundreds of Yankees fans converged on Go! Go! Curry to pay tribute to the first Japanese-born Series MVP. The Neagari native who became everybody's all-American accomplished all this in New York, the melting pot where immigrants come to pursue a better life. By embracing Matsui, New Yorkers have once again shown that though ball clubs are named for cities and states, they transcend geography. Teams may not be where we find our heroes today, but, as Matsui has demonstrated, it's where we find heroic situations we can all dream of, argue about or simply watch together in amazement. That's the game's unifying force.

Matsui filed for free-agency on Monday, and sportswriters have speculated that he doesn't figure into the Yanks' future plans. A 35-year-old DH, they argue, doesn't make sense for such a veteran team.

As his agent, I take a different view. The ageless Matsui has shown not just that he can still hit, but that he can hit with consistency and aplomb. During the regular season, he ranked second among DHs in homers, and third in slugging percentage, on-base percentage and walks. No left-handed hitter homered more off southpaws. Matsui combines the late-inning heroics of Yankees great Tommy (Old Reliable) Henrich and the superb professionalism of Paul O'Neill. He's a complete player who always has taken pride in contributing to all facets of the game.

Matsui's immense popularity in Japan gives the Yanks strong financial incentive to re-sign him. He helps bring in millions of dollars annually in marketing and sponsorship revenue. In the seven years since he joined the Bronx Bombers, Matsui has played a pivotal role in establishing the Yankees as a global brand. Six major Japanese companies -- including Toyota, Sony and the Daily Yomiuri newspaper -- have signed on as advertisers, each reportedly adding $1 million or so a year to team coffers. Most of these firms have placed their billboards in right field, often the final resting ground of Godzilla's monstrous clouts, to target the audience of NHK, the Japanese radio and television network. Currently, NHK airs 120 Yankee games a season.

It's not a stretch to say Matsui is as responsible for Japanese interest in the Yankees as Yao Ming is for the NBA in China. Matsui has yet another virtue that goes beyond mere statistics. In an age when athletes mock our reverence daily, he's exemplary in every aspect of his life. In January of 2003, his very first request upon landing in New York was to be taken to the Twin Towers memorial to pay his respects. He did this without publicity or fanfare. He did it because, he said, it was "the right thing to do." After the tsunami hit Indonesia at the end of 2005, Matsui, out his own sense of decency, donated $500,000 to UNICEF. He's one of those rare superstars who recognize the unique role his astonishing talent has given him and the good he can do for others.

Matsui loves New York. He says the last seven years in the Bronx will always have "a special place" in his heart. Fans of Japanese curry take note: Wherever Godzilla winds up, he'll be spawning 55-cent coupons for years to come.

Len Berman: Top 5 Sports Stories

2009-11-11T10:49:59Z

Happy Wednesday everyone, here's my Top 5 for November 11, 2009 from
www.ThatsSports.com.

1. Quick Hits

After all the botched umpire calls, baseball general managers don't
bother to discuss expanding the use of instant replay at their annual
meeting. I would have used replay to determine fair or foul down the
lines.

Don't you love the experts who proclaimed that Derek Jeter was among
the worst shortstops? Overrated, limited range. Yesterday he won the
Gold Glove for fielding.

Using the slower low-tech bathing suit, Michael Phelps fails to
qualify for 2 of the 3 finals at a Stockholm swim meet.

2. Crime and Punishment

Former top ranked tennis player Marat Safin says Andre Agassi should
give back the trophies and money he won by winning Grand Slam
tournaments after failing a drug test and lying about it. The tennis
people let Andre Agassi slide when he said, oops I didn't mean to do
it. Then again these same people bought Richard Gasquet's story that
he flunked a drug test because he kissed a girl who had been using
cocaine. And we know all about Serena Williams' slap on the wrist for
her behavior at the U.S. Open. If I ever break the rules, I want
tennis people as my judge and jury!

3. Role Models

On this Veterans Day, Top 5 subscriber Bill V. an Air Force veteran,
offers this poignant thought: "The Yankees championship parade up the
Canyon of Heroes on lower Broadway attracted thousands. It's a shame
that if the real heroes marched up that same canyon today very few
would come."

4. The Miracle on Ice

When I asked yesterday about which moment I might have ranked #1 in
my new kids' book The Greatest Moments in Sports, many of you correctly
guessed The Miracle on Ice. (Sorry no prizes.) I loved subscriber Phil
G.'s story.

"On that night in 1980 I was at MSG. Sha Na Na opened for Jay and the
Americans. The scoreboard kept giving updates and when they posted the
final score the place went nuts. Jay came out, did his opening song,
then said 'We haven't done this next song in years, but we just
decided to add it today because WE BEAT THOSE F***ING RUSSIANS!' They
then launched into a spirited version of "Only in America" and you can
imagine the reaction."

I guess Jay Black summed up so "eloquently" what most Americans were
thinking.

5. Code of Conduct

A New Mexico women's soccer player has been banned after punching,
kicking, and pulling the hair of a BYU player on the field. A girls
high school game in Rhode Island also degenerated into hair pulling
and brawling. That was tame compared with Australia. At a soccer game
there, police were called to quell a disturbance among the fans.
Nothing new in soccer. But some of the fans were wielding spears and
axes. What started it all? When one of the players was awarded a free
kick. They have a cheer in Australia that goes "Aussie, Aussie,
Aussie, Oy, Oy, Oy."
They've got the oy part right.

Happy Birthday: Former Masters and U.S. Open champion Fuzzy Zoeller.
58.
Bonus Birthday: Actor Leonardo DiCaprio. 35.

Today in Sports: Now we're having fun. The New York Knicks played
their first game at the old Madison Square Garden. (Yes they lost.)
1946.

Bonus Event: On this date, the 11th hour, the 11th month, the 11th
day World War I effectively ended. 1918.
President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed November 11th to be Armistice
Day. In 1954 President Eisenhower signed a bill honoring all veterans.

Len Berman: Top 5 Sports Stories

2009-11-10T10:26:32Z

Happy Tuesday everyone, here's my Top 5 for November 10, 2009 from
www.ThatsSports.com.

1. Quick Hits

Basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has leukemia. He says his
prognosis is good.

Hideki Matsui and Johnny Damon both file for free agency. Both would
like to stay with the Yankees.

In Monday Night Football, Pittsburgh beat Denver 28-10. Both teams
are now 6-2.

One of the good guys, former Ranger defenseman Brian Leetch was
among those inducted into the Hockey's Hall of Fame last night.

Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim bagged his 800th career win when Syracuse
beat Albany 75-43.

Isiah Thomas is looking for his first college coaching win after
Florida International got beaten by defending national champion North
Carolina 88-72.

2. Too Much Information

After watching Andre Agassi on 60 Minutes I'm conflicted. OK, he took
crystal meth, hated tennis, wore a bad wig and thought his marriage to
Brooke Shields was a mistake. Clearly he had secrets nobody knew
about. When he made his "miraculous" comeback in 1998 it was a "warm
and fuzzy" story. Clearly it was all a lie. So how many other sports
lies do we all buy into? And do we really need to know what lurks in
the darkest corners of athletes lives? What ever happened to just
"root, root, rooting for the home team?"

3. More Numbers

Yesterday I talked about the slide in World Series TV ratings from
the first Yankee championship in 1996, despite the increase in
population. Many of you sent along your reasons why baseball is "less
popular." But here's the perspective of Matt Bourne, the VP of
business public relations for Major League Baseball: "If you look at
just about every other property both sports and entertainment, you
will see dramatic viewership and ratings decreases over the past 10-20
years, despite the increase in population. The reasons are plentiful
including the increase in number of ways people are able to spend
their free time, the unbelievable strides made in video games, the
boom of the Internet, and the increase in the number of television
channels which cater to the specific interests of individuals
splintering the audiences. The fact remains that there are very few
programming options that can aggregate the kind of audience that the
World Series was able to over the past two weeks."
He does allow that the NFL has defied the odds with their TV ratings.

4. The Greatest Moments in Sports

Today marks the official release of my new kids book, The Greatest
Moments in Sports. It includes an audio CD of some of the great
moments. We don't rank the moments, 1 through 25, but I do select the
#1 all time sports moment. Care to guess? Anyway, I'm very proud of
this book, it's my 4th, 3rd kids book. What a perfect holiday gift for
the youngster on your list.

For a rundown of book signings and national radio and TV appearances,
go to my newly designed website (under construction), ThatsSports.com
I apologize for the blatant commercial, but hey, you're not paying
for my Top 5 right?

Now back to our regularly scheduled program

5. Slammin' Sammy

There's a debate raging. Sammy Sosa's skin looks lighter in recent
photographs, and some are wondering if he's "going Michael Jackson on
us?" A friend of Sosa's says he's merely going through a skin
rejuvenation process.

So if you're scoring at home. He corked his bat, he's used
performance enhancing drugs (he reportedly flunked a drug test). And
now he's onto appearance enhancement.
Is that the alteration triple crown?

Happy Birthday: Former NYU basketball great Barry Kramer. 67.

Bonus Birthday: Actress Mackenzie "I slept with my father" Phillips.
50.

Today in Sports: Miami quarterback Dan Marino becomes the first to
pass for 28 miles. (50,000 yards). 1996.

Bonus Event: Sunny days, sweeping the clouds away. The debut of
Sesame Street on PBS. 1969.

Extra Bonus event suggested by subscriber Tom B. The birth of the
U.S. Marine Corps. 1775.

Hideki Matsui, Johnny Damon Become Free Agents

2009-11-10T00:00:40Z

NEW YORK — World Series MVP Hideki Matsui became a free agent Monday along with New York Yankees teammates Johnny Damon, Eric Hinske, Jose Molina and Xavier Nady.

Matsui and Damon both said after the Yankees' six-game victory over Philadelphia last week that they would like to stay with New York. The Yankees said it was too early to address how they want to formulate their team for 2010.

Alan Singer: I Like Art (and Art Education) But

2009-11-09T15:00:00Z

What do the New York Yankees and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg have in common? My answer is at the end of this column.

I like art, music, theater, and dance. I believe they enrich our lives. I believe they belong in the schools at every grade level because they stimulate children to think about, explain, replicate, and understand the world around them in imaginative ways. I love watching my five-year-old grandchildren Gideon and Sadia sing, bang, move, draw, paint, tell stories, and act. Their creativities reflect their different personalities. Sadia likes getting everything just so. Gideon, in art and life, plays everything outside the lines. Art supports their emerging literacy. As they draw letters and pictures and tell stories about what they drew they are learning to read.

All this being said, claims made in a recent report by the Center for Arts Education crediting the arts in school with promoting higher graduation rates are an exaggeration and misleading ("Staying in School: Arts Education and New York City High School Graduation Rates," October 2009). Their claims underscore what happens when a statistical correlation is used to suggest causality - you end up with a logically ridiculous argument. For example, if boys prefer chocolate ice cream and girls prefer vanilla ice cream and boys run faster, it does not mean chocolate ice cream makes you run faster. I have been gorging on chocolate ice cream for years and it just does not happen.

The study reports that "High schools in the top third of graduation rates had almost 40 percent more certified arts teachers per student than schools in the bottom third" and had "25 percent more partnerships with arts and cultural organizations than schools in the bottom third."

What the study actually demonstrates is that in schools serving students from middle class and professional families, students get to do art rather than reading remediation and test prep. These students are not performing well because they take art, but get a chance to take art because their parents demand it and because they are already performing well.

Unfortunately, invalid claims like these, using correlations to suggest causality, are constantly being made by politicians on the local, state, and national levels about education so they do not have to address the real underlying causes of educational and social inequality.

For example, the Bloomberg administration's claims that leaving kids back enhances learning, improves their performance in school, and offers them possibilities for the future, is based on minimal gains on standardized tests. But unfortunately the higher scores don't really measure any of these things. They only prove that when students take "practice" tests over and over again, and the practice test turns out to be a test, they score higher.

If we really want to improve education for young people, we need to stop manipulating statistics to pretend we have the miracle solution to all educational problems. Unfortunately there are no miracles.

In the meantime, it would be nice to have art in the schools just for its own sake.

What do the New York Yankees and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg have in common?

I am a lifelong baseball and New York Yankee fan. I was born in The Bronx and lived about ten blocks from Yankee Stadium. I started going to Yankee games on "Ladies Day" with my mother when I was eight years old. I need readers to forgive me my allegiances. On the other hand, readers of my blogs know I really dislike Michael "Mayor Moneybags" Bloomberg.

The victories by the Yankees and Bloomberg illustrate the problem with confusing correlations with causes. The simplest correlation is that they both won because they were the "best".

But that conclusion obscures what actually was going on. What the Yankees and Bloomberg have in common is not just that they recently won (the World Series and the mayoralty), but that they used their great personal wealth to purchase victory. The Yankee payroll is at least 30% higher than the payroll of any other major league baseball team, while Bloomberg outspent his leading opponent by about 10 to 1. While both the Yankees and Bloomberg played by the rules, I don't think anyone doubts that outcomes would have been different if the games were played on a level "spending" field.

Len Berman: Top 5 Sports Stories

2009-11-09T10:54:58Z

Happy Monday everyone, here's my Top 5 for November 9, 2009 from
www.LenBermanSports.com.

1. Quick Hits

World Series euphoria turns to football depression in New York as
the Giants lose their 4th straight game. San Diego beat them 21-20.

The Indianapolis Colts and the New Orleans Saints remain the only
unbeaten teams in the NFL. 8-0.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, wearing their old ugly orange uniforms,
win their first game beating Green Bay 38-28.

Who knew? Colts quarterback Peyton Manning became the first to throw
for 40,000 yards in a decade.

As of today, every single Major League pitcher has had at least 4
days rest.

2. Parade Cleanup

How sad, nobody got pied at the Yankees victory celebration. The
ceremony was just too "buttoned up." I was hoping somebody, anybody,
would say or do something dopey. That's what these things are for.
As for office workers who threw confidential financial statements out
the window along the parade route, I don't think some yahoo screaming
in his Yankee jacket was really going to make use of them. I remember
one parade when I was stationed at City Hall, and while I was on the
air a piece of paper wafted down and I caught it. I ad libbed "this
just in." It was somebody's bank statement.

3. Numbers Game

Let's talk math. The baseball industry is crowing over this year's
World Series ratings. 19.4 million people on average watched the
Series. Upon further review, that's a drop of 20% from the 1996
Yankees World Championship, even though U.S. population grew by 15%
during that period. Conversely, football ratings are booming this
year. Pick your baseball rationale. Late World Series games? Steroids?
Salaries? And if baseball does nothing, what will the numbers look
like 13 years from now?

4. Open Mic

Viewers watching the end of the Richmond/Villanova game got an
unexpected treat. As Richmond blew a last second fieldgoal, somebody
announced loud and clear "what a bum, end this f***ing game." It
wasn't one of the broadcasters. They're not quite sure who said it.
My favorite all time end-of-game sportscasting moment came during a
high school football game in Texas. When the "home team" lost on a
kickoff return, the announcer complained on the air "I'm sick, I want
to throw up."

5. Monday Musings

Home court advantage? When the Knicks lost to Cleveland Friday night
at the Garden, the biggest cheers were for LeBron James and some of
the champion Yankees in attendance. Where's the love for the home
team?

-----

Did you see what Dolphins linebacker Jason Taylor said when comparing
Giants fans to Jets fans? "There's a little more class on the Giants
side and some Jets fans take the 'cl' out of class."
Ouch.

-----

Which comes first, the return of the NFL to Los Angeles or pro
basketball to New York?

-----

Pitchers and catchers report in 100 days.

Happy Birthday: Rest, schmest. Cardinals Hall of Fame pitching great
Bob Gibson. 74.

Bonus Birthday: Green with envy. The Incredible Hulk actor Lou
Ferrigno. 58.

Today in Sports: The PGA eliminated its "Caucasians Only" rule. What
took 'em so long? 1961.

Bonus Event: At our fraternity house at Syracuse the lights went out.
We though it might be the whole street. Turned out it was the entire
Northeast! 1965.

Liz Neumark: Teamwork

2009-11-09T10:22:59Z

Last week ended with a grand and glorious finale - a ticker tape parade tribute to the NY Yankees and their dedicated fans, and for this caterer, a day to be swept up in the enthusiasm of being a victorious New Yorker.

Oh, to be a part of the fabric of the city. To watch game 6 of the World Series knowing that victory means the door opens on yet another great NYC experience. While my son and husband were at the stadium celebrating, I was preparing for an 8 AM meeting at City Hall with all city agencies and outside vendors (like Great Performances) in preparation for the following days festivities. With the Mayor's office at the helm, leaders and representatives of Fire, Police, Sanitation, Building, Transportation, Press & Info departments, and the MTA, converged to coordinate the activities of the next 48 hours - the details which would ensure a peaceful, smooth and picture perfect experience for New York (and the world) to see.

The clear absence of any pre-election tension was a gift. If anything, this baseball victory was icing on the cake and made for double congratulations, which the City Hall team accepted with a big smile. The timing was perfect.

Planning details - choreography of everything from marching bands to sanitation trucks. Placement of buses, detour routes, posting of schedule changes and thousands of other details emerged for discussion and dozens of off-line meetings followed this one. It was a room filled with important men (and fewer women) and the planning session is all business, but speaks to the boy in each of them. Details ... don't forget to relocate the Friday farmers market ... make sure that there is adequate cell phone coverage! This is a seasoned team. Perhaps the NY Giants won't mind that they were a dress rehearsal for the Yankees? And with all the advance planning - some calls tomorrow will be "game time decisions" - how perfect!

There is a brief talk about who leads the parade - the horses (how many?), sanitation trucks, what is the official lead off? One man raises his hand to volunteer - laughter fills the room.

Ticker tape details: distribution to begin at 4:30 to buildings on Broadway route. The starter kit is 1,200-1,300 lbs. (Need some, call 311!) No phone books out the window please. Sanitation dept will recycle as best it can. Total weight to be streamed from above - 50 tons.

Our kitchen jumps on the luncheon order - five kinds of sandwiches, assorted sweets, coffee, hot cider, popcorn and chips. Production begins and sandwiches are made with extra love and pride. Its not everyday we get to feed Derek Jeter and his pals.

I ask my son if he wants to go. We negotiate a good solution - come and work the early shift, help load in equipment and get things set up - then watch the ceremony. We agree that this is not playing hooky.

Its pre-dawn on Friday. The GP trucks are readied - 4:30 AM - Todd, Kevin and John guide the crew, pushing the palettes onto the loading dock and into the truck. As the GP team off loads at city hall, dedicated fans are already staking out their strategic locations along Broadway. Everyone is giddy. The hours pass, the smell of fresh brewed coffee fills the air, blue and white linens are artfully arranged on tables, cases of NY State apples piled high in weathered are crates placed on the buffets, platters filled with hand crafted sandwiches come off the refrigerated truck, and the aroma of hot cider permeates the floor. The staff arrives, and a different choreography takes place. The party captain, Forrest, takes direction from the event planner, Josh, that organized all the details under the guidance of our Girardi - Dean Martinus. Chef Marc Spooner checks in to review the 'line up'. This team worked through the night. For them, every day is game day and teamwork is always the key to success.

And after all the details are covered and reviewed again and again, the parade is underway. Next, the luncheon begins. The room is filled with Yankees, their families and friends. It is low key but vibrant.

We have catered countless celeb events to the point where we no longer turn our heads. But this was an unusual day. The theme was teamwork - the background victory for the mayor and his tireless supporters; the vast network of city agencies who quietly prepared for an uneventful event day; the support services staff (like ours) and of course - the players themselves. Sam took a look around the room - I have never seen him so in awe. His heroes were everywhere. And in the most unpretentious, warm and human way, he shook their hands, exchanged 'hey man' greetings and then watched them march out to face their city.

Leslie Grossman: Learning Leadership From the New York Yankees

2009-11-09T08:19:08Z

I'm in ecstasy. My New York Yankees won the World Series. And they clinched it 9 minutes
before my birthday. I got the best birthday gift money can't buy. My happiness caused me to reflect about why I love the Yankees so much. The answer popped into my head - because of their leadership. Okay, I am a leadership fanatic, maybe not as much as a Yankee fanatic, but, I am obsessed with always looking at why and how people lead. Small businesses and corporations alike might consider looking at the success of the Yankees and ask the same questions.

So here's my assessment on why I believe the NY Yankee team, management, and yes, even, the ownership, show the following leadership abilities:

1. Passion - The New York Yankees have a passion for the game of baseball and for their own teammates. You can see it on their faces, in their enthusiasm and in the fun they have on the field. Their leader Joe Girardi shared a clear vision by choosing the #27 and wearing it boldly on his back for all to see the clear common goal - win the Yankees' 27th World Series. And so they achieved the goal set by the manager within 2 years of his taking on the job as manager.

2. Courage - The Yankees never give up. I'm not one for stats, but how many times have we watched the game and they were down. Suddenly they turned the score around in the last few innings, including a record number of walk off runs (9 in 2009).

3. Development of Self and Others - The Yankees are big on self-improvement. Derek Jeter's ability seemed to be down in 2008, but he worked hard and upped his own performance in 2009. Look at how A-Rod transformed himself from the weakest link psychologically a year ago to the complete player he is today - mind, body and spirit. The Yankees give their young players every opportunity to develop, sending them back to the farm team, working with the coaches and then finally giving them the chance to contribute, i.e. Phil Hughes.

4. Inclusiveness. The Yankee team is as diverse as it gets with players from all over the globe, who like each other and support each other. NY Yankees are from Panama, Venezuela, Japan, Mexico, Puerto Rico and U.S. They are black, white, Asian and in between. They represent all of us and they appear to respect each other. The core four, Jeter, Posada, Rivera and Pettitte are the best of friends and the mutual admiration is evident when you see them together.

5. Communication - They listen to each other, they acknowledge each other for their contributions and they are sensitive to each others needs to be effective in their jobs.
You see it on the field and hear it in the post-game interviews.

I'm proud to be a New Yorker with a team that inspires me and New York's citizens. We can all learn from them. No wonder 2 million people came out in the cold to NY's financial district Nov. 6th to celebrate the Yankees winning the 2009 World Series. Hooray for leadership!

Yankees Parade Crowd Brawls At Staten Island Ferry Terminal, 3 Injured

2009-11-06T16:48:48Z

The Yankees' ticket tape parade went off without a hitch, but for some Staten Island fans getting home wasn't nearly as easy.

Chris Campbell: The World Series and Barry Sanders

2009-11-06T11:57:49Z

I've always admired athletes who can call it quits while still in their prime. When Barry Sanders stepped away from the NFL at the height of his talent and within striking distance of one of the games most esteemed records, the sporting world was completely perplexed. How could he leave? He was about to break the all-time rushing record? He was only 30? It rarely occurs to fans that these players have lives outside of the game: family obligations, other passions, fatigue and a slew of other things that may play into such a decision. That said, it's incredibly rare that a player, especially of Sanders' caliber, can bid farewell when there appears to be so much in front of him or her. But some do it.

I first attended a ballgame at Yankee Stadium in 1976 at the age of three. I've probably seen close to 100 games since. I sat through many of the dreaded games of the 1980s. Journeymen such as Toby Harrah, Mel Hall, Dennis Rasmussen and Butch Wynegar are as etched into my baseball mind as firmly as those now holding multiple championship rings. I was born into the Yankees and it's been a love affair that I've followed game-to-game for over 30 years. I sat high up in the upper deck when David Wells hurled a perfect game. I was deep in the right field bleachers when Tino Martinez hit an unthinkable bomb against Arizona in the 2001 World Series. I was about thirty yards from Charlie Hayes when he gloved the final out of the 1996 World Series.

I had a similar love for college basketball in the 1980s. Louisville was my team. I won my first bet ($5) when they upset Duke to win the championship in 1986. But then the college game changed drastically. Any player with an inkling of NBA potential was jumping ship or skipping the level altogether. I lost interest. When my beloved Knicks were taken over by one of the greediest and most narrow-minded dolts in professional sports, I couldn't take it anymore. I followed their evolution from Rory Sparrow and Louis Orr through to Charles Oakley, John Starks and Patrick Ewing. But then the Dolans and a former Detroit Piston star blanketed the team with controversy, stupidity, avarice and a lack of even the slightest vision. I was done. I couldn't stand beside a team that now lacked even a sliver of integrity.

But I still had the Yankees. Like almost all fans of the pinstripes, I've had to defend my ballclub from the never-ending calls that they "buy championships." When they shelled out $450 million in the offseason for three players I cowered a bit and skirted the shouts from my friends who stand with Boston or Philadelphia or Oakland. I knew it was extreme, but nothing could break my bond with them. The Yankees were being ingrained into me before I could talk. I would stick with them no matter what. And then came the steroids: Clemens, Pettitte, A-Rod. "Oh, probably half the league is culpable," I shot back. And then came word of the absolutely unfathomable ticket prices. I was having a hard time with that one.

This week the Yankees wrapped up their 27th World Championship. I watched every pitch throughout the entire playoffs. I spent over 13 hours on the road a few weeks back driving to-and-from Anaheim to catch the Yankees and the Angels in the ALCS. I blew off all plans for nearly a month to watch my team. As the World Series neared its completion, with two outs in the ninth inning and the Yanks with a safe four-run lead, my hands were still shaking from nerves. And then Robbie Cano fired the ball to Tex and the Yanks secured another championship. I sat and let it soak in. The text messages were arriving at a furious pace. Hideki accepted the MVP trophy. The team thanked George. They hoisted another trophy and I felt the same pride I felt as a kid when they were awful. Because the Yankees were my team.

When my excitement finally dissipated a bit, for some unknown reason, my mind went to Barry Sanders. No, I wasn't thinking about him in terms of Yankee players who could potentially step away. I was thinking of him in relation to my love for the New York Yankees. Even the greatest loves of our lives can come to an end at some point. With the disparity between the rich and poor in baseball almost mirroring what's happening to the citizens of this country, I sensed a rising emotion to call it a day. The Yankees clearly have many, many great years ahead of them, and likely will for generations to come. But the game just doesn't feel the same anymore. There's just too much money and corporate interest. And man, who can stomach the buffoons on FOX who cover the most important games. So like Barry, maybe it's time to walk away. In his final season he ran for over 1,400 yards. In what could be my final season, I got to once again watch Mariano close out another Series.

Robert E. Murphy: At Season's End, Withering Thoughts on November Baseball, Interleague Play and the Designated Hitter

2009-11-05T20:10:24Z

The temperature in New York is 48 degrees as I begin to write this, three hours before the start of the sixth game of the World Series at Yankee Stadium, and the second game of scheduled November evening baseball -- not accidental November baseball, as we experienced after the September 11th attacks delayed the 2001 season.

I am looking forward to this crucial game between two excellent ballclubs, the Yankees and the Philadelphia Phillies, whose well-contested series has, in New York, followed a dramatic playoff between the Yanks and an also distinguished squad of Los Angeles Angels. Baseball is still a great game despite what the men who manage and play it have done over the past few decades to diminish it.

I have written here about the corrupting effects of steroid-use and exorbitant salaries and ticket-prices on the elegant sport that is our national game -- and the spectacle of frigid, and possibly damp, November action, following intraleague series that were stretched out to comply with TV scheduling, can be added to the ways that filthy lucre compromises baseball. In my last blog I saluted the old Yankee shortstop Tony Kubek, who walked away from a broadcasting career when he could no longer tolerate the way that money was dominating the sport. Today I raise my glass to Angel Manager Mike Scioscia, who, without fear of whom he might be disturbing, described a scheduled three-day break between the first and second round of league playoffs as "ridiculous."

"Can I say it any clearer than that?", he asked with admirable frankness. "We should have never had a day off last Wednesday. We should never have three days off after the season. You shouldn't even have two days off after the season. It just takes an advantage away for a deep team, which everybody feels very strongly is an asset. It takes that advantage away and I think that's something that Major League Baseball hopefully will consider looking at."

Good luck on that, Mike, for fairness is no longer an abiding principle in baseball. If the game were fair, smaller-market teams from Seattle to Pittsburgh would not be, in effect, serving as feeder squads for the rich organizations. The initial starting pitchers in this year's World Series, Cliff Lee and C.C. Sabathia, would still be toiling for the Cleveland Indians, as they were just over a year ago. And the Pirates of Pittsburgh, a storied franchise in one of this country's most attractive cities, would not just have set a professional-sports record by toting up their 17th consecutive losing season. Moreover, if the people who run the game were sincerely concerned about insuring pennant-races that were fairly contested in each division, they would not have opted for the cheap thrill of interleague play that requires those teams to play uneven schedules, matching them during parts of a season against teams of differing quality in the other league. So the LA Dodgers, for example, might face three games against a tough Angel outfit while the San Francisco Giants take on a weak group of Oakland A's.

This is a particularly sore point for fans of the New York Mets, of which I'm one, because the glossy media and financial attraction of intracity play in baseball-mad New York dictates that they must play six games each year against the Yankees, who are always very good and sometimes great. Meanwhile the Mets' division rivals, such as the Phillies, might have three games scheduled against the Kansas City Royals and three against the Indians. Insignificant? Please note that in both 2007 and 2008 the Mets lost the division championship to Philadelphia on the last day of the season. (Yes, in 2009, it was insignificant.) And it is very likely that interleague-scheduling inequities have influenced the out come of other pennant-races.

One more thing about interleague play: I concede the appeal of games between two teams in the same city and (sometimes) in the same state. But where is the added value of the Florida Marlins playing the Minnesota Twins, or the Arizona Diamondbacks versus the Toronto Blue Jays? In my view, the inclusion of such games on a team's schedule is more likely to have the negative effect of eroding rivalries within a league, as well as fans' familiarity with the players in that league. Again I speak from my own rooting-perch. The arrival of the Dodgers and Giants in New York to engage the Mets has always, because of the New York history of those teams, been a significant event. The fans also look forward to seeing the Chicago Cubs. But each of those teams now plays three games a year here, and in the last two seasons the Cubbies made their only visit in late September. I don't think I'm the only Met fan who admits that he is not nearly as well-acquainted as he once was with the rosters of these teams.

Baseball's original surrender to the lure of the cheap thrill was the American League's adoption the designated-hitter rule in the 1970s. I happened to be living in Boston when the designated hitter arrived in that traditional baseball city, and I remember a Globe columnist - I believe Ray Fitzgerald -- gloomily remarking that the change had rendered the arriving baseball season as the least welcome of his life. I have since prayed, and have been almost astonished to have my prayers answered, that the National League has never fallen to the same temptation. And I say so even though it is now the day after Yankee DH Hideki Matsui has brought the national championship back to New York by driving in six runs against the Phillies. Bully for him; he seems an admirable fellow. Yet, though I understand quite well the claims in favor of the designated-hitter rule, they do not balance its violation of the organic unity that is essential to genuine baseball. The most interesting late innings of any post-season game that I saw this year occurred in Game 3 of the Yankees-Angels series, when New York Manager Joe Girardi gambled to bring in his nonpareil relief-pitcher Mariano Rivera in an uncustomary non-closing situation, then switched his DH, Jerry Hairston, Jr., to left field to replace Johnny Damon. This meant that Girardi had forfeited his designated hitter option, and that Rivera took a place in the batting order - forcing Girardi decide, as all National League managers must, whether to let Rivera bat for himself in order to stay in the game. He put up a pinch-hitter, and the Yanks lost. But the fans of both teams were treated to a rare glimpse of traditional strategic baseball.

I applauded not only the development of a pitcher's coming to bat, but also the manager's willingness to employ that pitcher in a way not dictated by current managerial policy. The general rigidity and predictability of that policy is another dimension of the modern game to which I object. But I see that once again I have not left room enough to work through my full list of complaints. Once again, then - to be continued.

Scalper Tried To Bribe Cop With Fake Yankee Tickets: Police

2009-11-05T16:08:46Z

NEW YORK — New York City police say a scalper arrested for selling fake World Series tickets outside Yankee Stadium tried to win his freedom by bribing an officer with seats.

The 50-year-old man was arrested before the start of Game 2 last week after he was caught allegedly selling a fake ticket. Police say he had three other tickets on him.

Joshua Neuman: Alex Rodriguez: The Power of Redemption or the Power of Something Else?

2009-11-05T15:54:41Z

As a kid, I always found it funny when Yankee Stadium was referred to as "the house that Ruth built." The phrase owed its origins to 1923, the year that the stadium opened and when their star slugger Babe Ruth led the team to a world championship. But Ruth was also my grandmother's name and so it became a longstanding joke between she and I every time I told her I was headed uptown to watch the Yankees play at her ballpark.

This morning, the day after the Yankees won their 27th World Series, I decided that I will forever refer to the new Yankee Stadium as "the house that Kate built."

I came up with this after spending a couple of hours in front of the television last night and a few this morning eagerly reading post-World Series analysis. In explaining the Yankee victory, the narratives that sports journalists seem to most frequently circle around were 1) the absence of Yankee owner George Steinbrenner, 2) the core four of Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettite and Jorge Posada, and of course, 3) the Alex Rodriguez redemption story. Kevin Kernan captured the widely circulated story of Rodriguez's transformation from "pariah to messiah" in the New York Post: "In the end it wasn't about homeruns, Madonna or Kate Hudson or anything else. It was about trust. Along the way, Alex Rodriguez learned to trust himself on and off the field, and that made all the difference."

As the mythology goes, Alex Rodriguez's February confession that he tested positive for steroid use in 2003 set him free, forcing him to confront a persistent mistrust he had long held towards himself (and his teammates). Once liberated, his natural ability was able to flourish in high pressure situations like never before. The redemption narrative picked up steam the past month and so it wasn't surprising when, immediately following yesterday's Yankee victory, he was asked time and time again about the confession, the emotional burden it had long been exacting upon him and the demons he banished upon coming clean.

But do the facts confirm the redemption narrative or do they point to something else? Rodriguez returned from hip surgery on May 9 of this year and dramatically homered on the first pitch he saw in Baltimore, but back in April most observers weren't thinking of this season as a "new beginning" for the much-maligned superstar. And even after that first at bat in Baltimore, Rodriguez struggled to return to form. This was compounded by off-the-field distractions, namely, the miring of his image by the impending publication of Selena Roberts' unauthorized biography, A-Rod. Though he had confessed months earlier, in early May of this year's baseball season, the star had not been set free and Yankee fans continued to debate, as they have for the past few years, if the team might even be better without him.

By my estimation, the turning point of Rodriguez's year (and of his career) didn't just happen with his steroid confession. As a lifelong Yankee fan, I sensed the A-wakening showing its first signs roughly around May 19 or so, coinciding right around the time that gossip columns reported Rodriguez canoodling with Kate Hudson. Soon after, Rodriguez really hit his stride and the rest of the team seemed to respond as a result. After Hudson and Rodriguez shared their first public smooch at Yankee Stadium on July 26, the team went on to win 55 games and lose only 25 -- it was as if their collective fate was sealed with that kiss.

But the story doesn't end there, the more hot-and-heavy the couple got, the more Rodriguez's production at the plate soared. On September 2, In Touch reported that Alex and Kate were shacking up together, a month in which Rodriguez would go on to bat over .350. In October, friends of Hudson told Us Weekly that Kate (bringing new meaning to the nickname "A-Rod") couldn't keep quiet about all the great sex that she and the slugger had been having. Was it mere coincidence that Rodriguez would arguably have a better October than had ever been had by Mr. October himself, Reggie Jackson? For the postseason, Rodriguez finished at .365 with six home runs and a franchise-record 18 RBIs, 8 of which tied or gave the Yankees the lead.

My point isn't that the steroids drama didn't impact Rodriguez's remarkable journey this year, but that sports journalists have delved into every aspect of Rodriguez's private life to provide context for his success this past season but for some reason have shied away from the elephant in the room. It might sound more like the stuff of the bar room than the newsroom, but the facts seem to warrant the question I'd like to ask: Is A-Rod's story about the power of redemption or is it about the power of the pussy?

Harlan Chamberlain, Joba Chamberlain's Sweet Hug After World Series Win

2009-11-05T15:12:54Z

The throng of media members around the makeshift stage seemed impenetrable, but Harlan Chamberlain motored his way through all of the cameras and notepads anyways. Reaching a blue barrier, he stopped his scooter, strained to look over a crowd of world champion Yankee ballplayers and tried to get a glimpse of his son. When that proved useless, he simply resorted to his considerable vocal chords.

Bruce Tenenbaum: Yanks Spending Money -- The American Way

2009-11-05T14:29:43Z

I was born a few blocks from Yankee Stadium. The first baseball game I ever saw was in The House That Ruth Built and another great Yankee hero, Mickey Mantle won it with a 9th inning home run. I became an instant New York Yankees fan.

Later in my childhood, I also became hooked on The Pittsburgh Pirates. Since the two teams never played each other, there was no conflict. Although, as a lone Pirates fan, surrounded by Yankee and Mets fans, my Pirates fever grew faster than my Yankee fever. If the Pirates did play the Yankees in the World Series, I would have rooted for The Pirates. But that did not occur.

Then something happened. Free agency took hold in baseball. NFL teams share broadcasting revenues with each other. Surprisingly, the tea baggers have yet to protest this little bit of socialism found in the heart of American life. The NFL is run by commies! But MLB is run the good old fashioned American way, the guy with the deepest pockets gets the best toys.

What this means is that a city like Green Bay can compete in football but a city like Pittsburgh has no business having a major league baseball team. They just don't have enough revenue to pay the top players. To be sure, on a rare occasion, a team from a smaller city can rise up and surprise everyone, but this is rare indeed. Pittsburgh and Cincinnati, once regulars on the playoff scene, are all but extinct. The sport's other two smallest cities, Kansas City and Milwaukee have one postseason appearance between them in the last two decades. And, even if a small city team does make it to the top, they will never be able to stay there, as their newly discovered talent gets stripped away.

Fourteen years ago, I saw the light. The Pirates were up for sale and there was the possibility of them moving to a larger city, one that might possibly give them a chance. But they insisted on staying in Pittsburgh. That decision turned me on them. I felt they were turning their back on reality and, in essence, throwing in the towel. They had to know that by staying in Pittsburgh, they were going to remain uncompetitive. Or they were just plain stupid, and neither thought is a happy one. If they were going to turn their back on me, I happily turned my back on them. And, it turned out, to be a good decision. Forget about getting to the World Series, the Pirates have set a sports record with 17 consecutive years of losing more games than they've won.

Now, a fan can put up with a lot. Look at Cubs fans. They haven't won the World Series in 102 years! New York Ranger fans went half a century without a championship. Boston Red Sox fans went 86 years without one. I, myself, am a Miami Dolphins fan. They haven't won the Super Bowl for 35 years. But I stick with them. The point is, these teams try to win every year. And by at least trying, they earn the loyalty of their fans. The Pirates don't even try. The other teams are victims of poor management decisions, poor execution or bad luck. But they are not guilty of giving up. Every year the Pirates hold a fire sale and trade away their best players. The list of players they traded away or lost to free agency, over the years, could make up an all-star team. They are a team undeserving of its fans. Who wants to put their heart and soul into a team that has no heart and soul?

The Yankees, on the other hand, pay up for the best players money can buy. If they produce a Derek Jeter, they keep him. They go shopping every year and try and add the best talent to give them a shot at winning. This is not new. Back in 1919, they bought the best player in the history of baseball, Babe Ruth, for a whole lot of cash, too.

What is new is that people complain about it. People are up in arms. It's unfair! It's un-American. Quite the contrary. Business is the business of America. And the guys with the deepest pockets are best positioned to build their business. Read the sports pages today and you'll find a whole lot of jealous Yankee haters moaning and whining about the Yankees' payroll. Is Apple to be blamed for out-spending smaller computer companies and developing the iPhone? Fox spent $200 million dollars to make the film Titanic. Did people complain that that was unfair to smaller film companies?

Now, there are those of you who will say sports are different. Unlike other businesses, there should be an equal playing field. But that would ignore the reality that sports is still a business, with real economic considerations. MLB could easily have come up with a system like the NFL. But they didn't. To increase competition, a few years back, they put in a weak step sister version of revenue sharing. Teams that have huge payrolls, like The Yankees, pay into a fund and that money is supposed to go to the smaller city teams. But there's still no incentive for smaller town teams to actually use the extra money they get to compete. They can just pocket the cash and not give it to their players. Which is what they do. Unlike the NFL, there is no parity.

The Yankees are not to be chastised for building the "best team money can buy." They are to be praised for it. Here we have a family that is willing to part with its cash to give its fans the best show possible. They break no rules. They play within the rules. And they win by doing it. They are not the only teams playing this way. The Red Sox won a World Series by buying Curt Schilling and Pedro Martinez. Do you think the Phillies will still be at the top in a few years if they don't pay Chase Utley and Ryan Howard?

I am thankful I grew up in the Bronx. I am thankful that borough is home to the greatest franchise in the history of sports. And I am mostly thankful that their ownership is willing to pay whatever it takes to make sure they have the best players. It doesn't guarantee that they'll win it all, but it guarantees they'll be in the mix. You can argue that Major League Baseball should change their structure. But until they do, you can't blame the Yankees for giving their fans the best show money can buy.

Joe Girardi Helps Car Crash Victim After World Series Win

2009-11-05T14:27:52Z

EASTCHESTER, N.Y. — Yankees manager Joe Girardi capped off a victorious evening by helping a car crash victim in suburban New York.

Police say Girardi pulled over to help after a woman lost control on a Westchester County parkway and crashed into a wall around 2:30 a.m. Thursday.