World Series on The Huffington Post

Steve Buckley: The Myth of Complacency in Boston Sports

2009-12-04T00:34:26Z

When the Boston Red Sox won the World Series in 2004 - the team's first championship since 1918 - one of the follow-up storylines held that New England sports fans, having rid themselves of ghosts, demons and "curses," might lose their passion for baseball.

The premise was simple: Red Sox fans had waited 86 years to see their team win the World Series, and now that their suffering was finally over it would never again be fun to go to Fenway Park. Might as well shut the place down and move the Red Sox to Vegas.

The real fun, went the argument, was to spend the winter grousing over the Red Sox' latest ruinous season and then, come the spring, latch on to the newly-formed belief that this is going to be the year. And, lo, there had been plenty of calamitous endings to once-promising seasons over the years - Enos Slaughter's mad dash to home plate to lift the St. Louis Cardinals to victory in Game 7 of the '46 World Series, gin-blossomy manager Joe McCarthy making the preposterous decision to start journeyman Denny Galehouse in a 1948 playoff game against the Cleveland Indians, Jim Lonborg fighting and losing the good fight on two days of rest in Game 7 of the '67 World Series, Luis Aparicio dooming the Sox to a second-place finish when he tripped rounding third base in the last days of the '72 season, Darrell Johnson sending up Cecil Cooper to bat for Jim Willoughby in Game 7 of the '75 World Series, Bucky Dent's home run off Mike Torrez in the '78 playoff game, the ball going between Bill Buckner's legs in '86, Grady Little leaving Pedro Martinez on the mound to get pounded by the Yankees in Game 7 of the '03 American League Championship Series.

And so on.

In his 1985 book, "Beyond the Sixth Game," ESPN's Peter Gammons, who covered the Red Sox for parts of two decades, tells the story about the fan sitting in a bar three months after the '75 World Series, ". . . drinking fifty-cent shots with twenty-five-cent drafts, blankly staring at the television mounted up in the corner of the bar. He had been there for nearly four hours, watching, when he turned for the first time to a group of three men down the bar. 'Why,' he stammered, 'did Johnson bat for Willoughby?'

"'Where were you,' replied one of the men, 'when you heard Denny Galehouse was pitching against the Indians?'

"'How,' asked another, 'could Slaughter have scored from first?'''

But along came the 2004 Red Sox, staging their historic comeback against the Yankees in the American League Championship Series, winning four straight games after losing the first three, and then sweeping the overwhelmed Cardinals in the World Series. And never again would Sox fans have anything to complain about, thus making it pointless to follow baseball.

Well . . . no. The reality is that Boston sports fans - and we're talking about followers of the Bruins, Celtics and Patriots and Red Sox - are a lot like Audrey II, the man-eating plant in "Little Shop of Horrors."

Once Audrey II had that first taste of blood . . .

Beginning with the Patriots' shocking upset of the St. Louis Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI of February 3, 2002, the Boston sports market has gorged itself on six championship celebrations. The Patriots returned two years later and won Super Bowl XXXVIII, and they were repeat champions in Super Bowl XXXIX. The Red Sox, after winning the World Series in 2004, won it again in 2007. And then the Celtics, after acquiring Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen and joining them with Paul Pierce for a newly-built Big Three, captured the 2007-08 National Basketball Association championship, the team's first since 1986.

And while I may have missed a few places - including the bar in Inman Square in Cambridge, Mass., where Peter Gammons's long-suffering Red Sox fan stewed over Darrell Johnson's decision to pinch-hit for Jim Willoughby in Game 7 of the '75 World Series - I have yet to make the acquaintance of a Boston sports fan who, having witnessed six championship celebrations in a little more than six years, is capable of sitting back and saying, "OK, I'm good."

When I was researching my book "Wicked Good Year: How the Red Sox, Patriots and Celtics Turned the Hub of the Universe into the Capital of Sports," I spent enough time with enough Boston sports fans to confirm what I believed all along: In Boston, as in all rabid sports towns, there is no such thing as too much winning. As for the notion that the demise of the Red Sox' decades-old championship drought was going to empty Fenway Park of its passion, that's a whopper of a miss.

During this past baseball season, the Red Sox won 95 games and qualified for the playoffs as the American League's wild-card. Not only were the Sox were swept in the Division Series by the Los Angeles Angels, the end was horrific: Closer Jonathan Papelbon, who came into the series having pitched 25 scoreless innings in 16 career postseason appearances, gave up three ninth-inning runs.

In the days following the defeat, there was plenty of talk that maybe it's time for the Red Sox to give Jonathan Papelbon the big adios and groom rookie Daniel Bard as the next closer. The Red Sox were criticized for not making a bigger push to sign free-agent slugger Mark Teixeira . . . who signed with the Yankees . . . who wound up winning the World Series. (You can look it up: In Boston, it's illegal to invest in silver linings in any year in which the Yankees win the World Series.) General manager Theo Epstein was especially criticized for some of the free-agent signings he's made in recent years, and for his inability to understand that, gee, shortstop really is an important position.

But here's one topic nobody was talking about: The good old days of 2004 and '07. In fact, a case can be made that the fallout over the '09 season was greater than in seasons in which the Red Sox simply played wire-to-wire, not-good-enough baseball and then simply went away.

It's the same in any discussion of the Celtics and Patriots. As recently as two weeks ago, Patriots coach Bill Belichick had his genius credentials temporarily suspended after his decision to go for first down on fourth-and-two, rather than punt the ball, in the last minutes of New England's nationally-televised game against the undefeated Indianapolis Colts. The Pats didn't get the first down. The Colts got the ball back. The Colts won.

The next day, people were calling Bill Belichick a lot of names. "Genius" was not among them.

Every caller on every talk show was Audrey II. Looking for blood. Same as always.

The Red Sox have sold out every home game since 2003. Since moving into Gillette Stadium in 2002, the Patriots have yet to play in front of an empty seat. The Celtics have sold out every home game for the past two seasons, and will do so again this season.

This is what separates the Bostons, the Phillys, the New Yorks, the Chicagos, from most other towns in America: Folks don't fill the ballparks, areas and stadiums to talk about the good old days. They want the goods.

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.

WATCH:

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Len Berman: Why We Like Sports

2009-11-12T21:53:18Z

Here's why we like sports. Everything is neatly categorized. You have distinct winners and losers and everyone knows where he or she stands. (Except in college football, but that's another story.) And then there are the comparisons. It's not enough to say a player, or a team, or a game, or a season is good. How good? Better than last year? Last decade? Was it the best or the worst of all time?

I'm thinking about all this as the Huffington Post launches a sports page. It comes the same week as my latest kids book is released "The Greatest Moments in Sports." Now before you consider this a blatant plug for either the HuffPost or my book, think about both for a second. Why would the Huffington Post launch a sports page? Isn't there enough "sport" in politics? Isn't there a sufficient amount of controversy in the day to day lunacy of the world? Why would HP need to feature something as trivial as sports? The easy answer is that sports is a "release" from the real world, your job, life. The better answer is that even though sports is black and white, all hell still breaks lose. If it's not umpires blowing World Series calls, it's male athletes somehow taking female fertility drugs, or other athletic geniuses shooting themselves with illegal guns. Not to mention that the sports world is even having difficulty with the basics, like coming up with standards to determine which athletes are male or female in the first place.

My book is much more benign, but equally controversial. Which are the greatest moments in sports? Well, they're whichever moments we decide to write about. Pretty subjective. One of the moments we picked, we don't even know if it really happened. When Babe Ruth stood at home plate and pointed in the 1932 World Series. He was pointing at "something." But was he really predicting a home run? We don't rank the moments 1 through 25 in my book. But I do choose the all time greatest sports moment. OK, times up. It's the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team. The "Miracle on Ice." That event had it all. Good vs. evil. Political overtones. A major upset. It wasn't really a "sports" story. Then again, what is? Hopefully the Huffington Post will be able to sort it out.

In the meantime I have a list of questions for the HP editors.

Do A-Rod and Kate Hudson belong on the sports or gossip page?

Does the obscene cost of tickets get discussed in the business section?

Do they have the "November Classic" and the possibility of World Series snow handled by the weather department?

If the President wants a playoff in college football, is that political news?

And finally, when is pro basketball going to return to the New York area?

So, good luck to the Huffington Post sports section trying to sort it out. I had a relatively easy time selecting the "Greatest Moments in Sports." The hard part would be writing "The Worst Moments in Sports."

So much to choose from, so little space.

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.

Chris Tsakalakis: The Recession Helps Fans

2009-11-11T13:26:50Z

Even the most avid of sports fans probably won't look back on 2009 as the year of the Yankees, the Tar Heels or the Lakers. No, as we look back on the year, the lasting impression is most likely one of resounding financial instability (or worse). Clearly it was a devastating year for businesses, homeowners who want to sell and, most importantly, the unemployed. Even as the economy begins to stabilize and, in some sectors improve, times are still tough and there are many people hurting.

But an interesting trend has emerged from the clouds of the recession, a silver lining for sports and music fans. It turns out that more fans are going to more events. And, perhaps more tellingly, they are doing so at lower prices. That's right: people are going out more, and they are doing it for less. It is a dynamic that is particularly present in the so-called secondary ticket market, a market defined by the sale of tickets after they've been purchased directly from a team, band or venue. A market I know well considering my current post as the president of StubHub.

The average prices of tickets sold on the secondary ticket market have been coming down for the last two years. Last year, when the recession started, prices of tickets sold on StubHub dropped 10% compared to 2007. This year, prices have declined an additional 13% versus 2008. These two decreases amount to a two year discount of over 20% on tickets to sporting events and concerts.

Now, some may think that prices on the secondary market are so high that the aforementioned discount doesn't amount to much, a line of thinking countered by the data. In 2007, Forrester Research asked fans who bought tickets on the secondary ticket market what they paid relative to the price printed on the ticket, the so-called face value. While 60% of those surveyed paid above face value, 40% paid face value or below for their ticket (Mulpuru, Hult, & Johnson, 2008). No doubt, if the survey were to be redone this year, the percentage of fans that paid face value or below would be much higher than 40%.

And while we don't actively track face value on StubHub, we've seen quite a few cases where fans are finding opportunities that have never existed before. Despite the hoopla in February over fans having difficulty getting tickets to see Bruce Springsteen in New Jersey, StubHub customers were able to see him in Greensboro, NC for $1. Think about it -- The Boss for a buck. That's something that has never happened before.

And for sports fans, the opportunities have been even more plentiful, turning 2009 into the year of the sports bucket list. From NBA Finals tickets in Orlando selling for less than $50 to World Series tickets purchased for $100, almost every major sporting event boasted average ticket prices less than the previous year.

So how is this happening? It's a bit more complicated than just supply vs. demand. While demand has increased, prices have come down because what has also increased is supply. This year, more sports fans have opted to sell their season tickets instead of giving them away or, more commonly, letting them sit in a drawer unused. In concerts and theater, more fans have opted to sell tickets they cannot use. And StubHub has the largest supply of resold tickets on the Internet. The increased supply has made sellers compete with each other by lowering price. Thus proving the axiom about competitive markets: When sellers compete, buyers win.

And so, the next time you sit and find yourself worrying about the economy, consider taking advantage of a truly free market and buy a (cheap) ticket to see a great live event. If nothing else, sports and music can be a great way to forget about stagnant stocks or a rumored layoff, helping you invest energy in something that has survived far more ups and downs than the market ever will -- loyalty to your favorite team or band.

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

2009-11-10T10:26:32Z

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.

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.

Jerry Waxman: No, I'm Not Bitter...Really: A Phillies Fan Laments

2009-11-09T10:01:13Z

About the only thing that George Will and I do agree on is our undying, unyielding, unrequited love of baseball. We're also both at an age where the names in Dave Frishberg's hauntingly beautiful ode to the game, "Van Lingle Mungo," were instantly recognizable and, in some cases, still playing in the major leagues. These were the years just after WWII and prior to baseball's expansion. The Braves were still in Boston and the St. Louis Browns had not yet moved to Baltimore to become the Orioles. The Athletics were languishing in Philadelphia and New York had three major league teams. We Philadelphians hadn't had much to brag about in baseball for close to twenty years--until 1950. That was the year we surviving Philly natives have indelibly burned into our memories as though it were yesterday.

Phillies owner Bob Carpenter, a member of the DuPont family, had been building the team for several years and by 1950 had a good team in place, with three future Hall of Famers on the roster: Robin Roberts, Curt Simmons and Richie Ashburn. Through the farm system they had a good infield with Granny Hamner at shortstop and Willie "Puddin' Head" Jones at third base. Veterans included Eddie Waitkus at first base and Dick Sisler (son of Hall of Famer George Sisler) in left field. Waitkus was the inspiration for Bernard Malamud's novel, The Natural, having been shot in the chest by a deranged female fan in Chicago. Home grown power hitter Del Ennis was the right fielder. Ennis had the career stats to get into the Hall but never made it and today he is virtually unknown by the sports writers. Jim Konstanty, their ace relief pitcher, was so good that year he was voted the National League MVP.

The Whiz Kids were scrappy and were in first place for a large part of the season, but they started to sag in the last week of the season and blew a seven game lead to two games when they met the Dodgers. If the Dodgers took the last series there would be a tie for first place and there would be a three game playoff between them for the NL title. As good as the Phillies were they were facing guys named Don Newcomb, Carl Erskine, Carl Furillo, Pee Wee Reese, Gil Hodges, Roy Campanella and Jackie Robinson. These guys could hurt you at any time. In the final game the score was tied 1-1 in the bottom of the ninth inning. Cal Abrams represented the winning run for Brooklyn, but Center Fielder Richie Ashburn made the throw of his career and got Abrams out at home plate. In the top of the tenth inning Dick Sisler hit a three run home run and the Whiz Kids clinched the pennant. That meant the New York Yankees. If they thought the Dodgers were tough they were now facing Casey Stengel's guys: Joe DiMaggio, Phil Rizzuto, Yogi Berra, Billy Martin, Gene Woodling, Hank Bauer, Allie Reynolds, Vic Raschi, Whitey Ford and others who could hurt you worse. To add another obstacle, Curt Simmons was called up into the military for a tour of duty in Korea and was unavailable for the series. Manager Eddie Sawyer had to put Konstanty into the starting rotation.

When you are eight years old and your team is in the World Series you are in heaven. My prized possessions were an autographed team ball and yearbook, as well as an official Phillies cap. I treasured the signatures, even the ones by Putsy Caballero, Milo Candini, Bill (Swish) Nicholson and Mike Goliat--names lost in the archives. The euphoria didn't last long because the Yankees won in four straight games. That's tragedy for an eight year old.

Watching Robin Roberts and Jim Bunning (yes, that Jim Bunning) throw ceremonial baseballs the other evening brought a lump to my throat and opened up a flood of memories. It's not easy to watch your team play so well and just not be able to beat the Yankees; not after 59 years waiting for your revenge. Here's the tough part. I can't hate the Yankee players from 1950 or 2009. They do their job and they do it well. You can't hate Yogi, or Rizzuto or DiMaggio. Actually, I got to spend some time with Joe DiMaggio as he was a frequent visitor to Downtown Hollywood, Florida and we hung out at the same restaurants in his declining years. He visited my theater on occasion and he was an absolute gentleman to the end. I don't have to like this year's Yankees but I certainly have to respect them.

Here's the difference. The 1950 Whiz Kids never again approached the level of play that they had in that season. It would be 14 agonizing years before the Phillies, with Jim Bunning, would come close only to blow a six game lead in the last week of the season because of Gene Mauch's stupid decision to use Bunning and Chris Short every other start. The Cardinals, with Curt Simmons, went to the series that year. This time the Phillies were the series champs last year and they are going to be a great team for a long time. Wait til next year.

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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.

World Series 2009 Ratings Highest Since 2004

2009-11-06T09:32:24Z

Game Six of the World Series -- when the Yankees won their 27th world championship -- was seen by an estimated 22.3 million viewers, capping the best ratings for a Series since the Boston Red Sox won it in 2004 after an 86-year drought.

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.

Judge H. Lee Sarokin: Typical World Series Inning: 1 Run, 2 Hits, 0 Errors, 42 Spits

2009-11-05T19:08:27Z

How many of us have said while watching TV: "It's better than actually being there!"? Diehard fans might dispute that contention, but everyone has to admit that television coverage of sports is remarkable, and coverage of the World Series was extraordinary. But, why, why, why the endless close-ups of faces and the spitting marathon! It is bad enough that every baseball player feels that he has to spit every ten seconds, but why do we have to see the face of the pitcher or the batter before every pitch as he is spitting.

Of course, the blame for all this spitting lies first with the players. I am no expert on baseball. (frankly it comes after football, basketball and even hockey in my sport favorites), but I assume it started with the need to spit chewing tobacco. I don't think there is much of that going on in the game today. I do see players blowing bubble gum bubbles, a subject about which I am an expert. I do not think that there is any physiological need to spit while or after chewing bubble gum or any gum for that matter.

But if the players persist in this foul and disgusting habit, at least the TV producer should spare us the repeated international broadcast of each and every saliva ejection. Not only do I believe that the average or even avid fan has no desire to see this, but I wince when I see what these role models have wrought. I watched the wonderful Little League World Series, (as exciting as the big leagues) and darned if almost every kid out there wasn't spitting between their teeth. I doubt that there was any tobacco chewing going on out there, but probably a lot of gum chewing. Almost all kids chew gum and other than in baseball, spitting does not seem to be necessary nor popular. So the players with the help of TV have created this spitting frenzy and the baseball youth of the country unfortunately have emulated it. As a result of worshiping the players, the youth of America may turn out a few golden gloves and home run kings, but they certainly all will be champion spitters.

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.

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.

Canyon Of Heroes Parade Route: Yankees To Get Ticker Tape Parade On Friday

2009-11-05T12:22:57Z

For the first time in 9 years, the Yankees are getting a raucous ticker-tape parade -- and it's going to be a costly event.

The parade is set to start at Broadway and Battery Place and will run up through the Canyon of Heroes to Chambers Street. Mayor Bloomberg will present the team with keys to the city in a ceremony at City Hall Plaza.

Exactly how much the parade will cost has not been released, but the Daily News estimates that last year's parade for the Giants cost the city and private donors about $330,000.

"What's sweeter than a World Series won at home? The only thing that comes close is a ticker-tape parade up the Canyon of Heroes, and that's exactly what New Yorkers will get on Friday," said Mayor Bloomberg.

The parade will be free and open to the public, which can view everything from Broadway's sidewalks. A large screen will be set up near City Hall Park for fans to watch the mayor's ceremony.

Tony Sachs: Yankees Win! But Now What's A Fan To Do?

2009-11-05T12:18:15Z

The Yankees' eyes are still red from last night's champagne shower. My own eyes are bloodshot from staying up till the wee hours watching all the postgame wrap-ups. The victory parade has been scheduled. The "World Champions"-festooned merchandise is being hawked.

So what do I do now?

I'm a lifelong Yankee fan, a booster of the most successful franchise in baseball history. But over the last decade or so I've become steadily less enamored of the postseason. It's not because of the Yanks' notable October failures in recent seasons, and it's not because we've won so often (10 AL pennants and seven World Series titles since I started following them as a wee lad in '77) that I've become jaded. It's that, win or lose, once the playoffs are over, whether you're popping the bubbly or doing the thousand-yard stare in the opposing dugout, there's no more baseball.

Baseball isn't like football, the blessed once-a-week event that fans spend six days preparing for. Baseball's a 162-game grind, not counting the spring training and postseason games. Whereas football games are like having special guests over to the house for whom you have to buy food and drink and clean up the TV room, baseball games are like having your buds come over to hang out for a couple of hours. For seven or eight months a year, your favorite team is in your living room, becoming a reliable, regular part of your day-to-day existence.

I got nothing to do tonight -- guess I'll hang out at home and watch the Yanks. It's pouring out -- why don't we order some takeout and check out the ballgame? They're playing in Tampa tonight, it's not raining there. Yeah, I know I have a work deadline to meet, but Andy's pitching a gem and I got sucked in. It's the 8th inning, it'll be over soon. Which restaurant are we going to? Do they have a TV at the bar? It's Yanks-Sox tonight, the rubber game. (Special thanks to my baseball widow wife, whose good humor and stoicism rarely fail her when I say such things.)

If you're a non-fan, you're probably ready to implore me to get a life. Well, that's the great thing about baseball -- you can have a life, at least during the regular season. You get 162 chances to see your team in action, so missing a couple of games every now and then for the sake of being a normal, functioning human being is no big deal. Unless the Yanks are playing the Red Sox. But that's another story.

For me, and I'd guess for lots of baseball junkies as well, the focus of our ardor isn't the last game of the year. It's all the games that lead up to it. In a weird way, I love those barely-relevant series in May against mediocre teams as much as I love the tautness of a tight playoff match-up in October. Those are the games when the real fans, the armchair managers who analyze stats and plot strategy year-round, have the game pretty much to themselves. A time of year when affordable tickets to Yankee Stadium can, believe it or not, be had relatively easily.

And I love how each regular season game, no matter how awesome or awful, is but a tiny piece in the large mosaic that comprises a baseball season. If the Jets blow a game to the Bills, that's more than 5% of your schedule right there, and you get a week to agonize about what went wrong. If the Yankees lose two out of three to the godawful Washington Nationals -- as they did earlier this season -- who cares? There's another series coming up, a chance to make things right, an opportunity for slumping players to get hot and guys on a roll to stay hot. You can't dwell on yesterday too long, win or lose, for tomorrow's game is about to smack you in the face.

But when the World Series ends, no matter how your team did, everyone goes home and we're left to face winter alone. Or worse yet, with the Knicks.

So now that the ride is over, even though this year it's my team holding the Championship trophy and going "WOOOOOO!", I feel a little lost. For the next 3 1/2 months, I'll have no Jeter, no Mariano, no A-Rod. No Nick Swisher, no Damaso Marte, no Phil Coke or Jose Molina or Brett Gardner. And for that matter, no Michael Kay barking, "Track -- wall -- SEE YA!" No Ken Singleton reminiscing about his playing days with the Orioles. No Bob Lorenz saying, "Good to have you back with us on the Yankees Postgame Report." No John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman to make me appreciate how rarely I have to listen to games on the radio.

Where do these people go 'twixt November and March?

And can I come along too?

Keith Olbermann, Sean Hannity Friendly At Yankees Game

2009-11-05T10:00:35Z

If there's one thing that could bring Keith Olbermann and Sean Hannity together (apart from the occasional CNN-bashing), it's baseball.

Both cable news stars showed up for Game 6 of the World Series Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium.

Olbermann wrote about the game on his MLBlog, where he said of Hannity, "And lastly, a reminder that baseball does erase boundaries. The guy I'm taking a photo of, who's taking a photo of me - we get along perfectly at the ballpark - less so during our day jobs."

Mediaite's Steve Krakauer notes that Hannity pre-taped his 9PM show, while Olbermann's "Countdown" aired live at 8PM with guest-host Lawrence O'Donnell.

Pics of Olbermann and Hannity below, via Olbermann's MLBlog, Baseball Nerd:

Av Sinensky: Yankees Buy Another World Series Title

2009-11-05T09:12:00Z

Completing a week that featured a whirlwind of activity and intense negotiations, sources inside the New York Yankees organization revealed late last night that they will be holding a press conference this morning to announce that they have acquired the rights to the Florida Marlins' 2003 World Series Championship. This latest deal marks the latest in a series of acquisitions that now leaves the Yankees with 38 World Championships to their credit.

"Today is a tremendous day for the entire New York Yankees organization," said Yankees Senior Vice President Hank Steinbrenner. "To be able to provide another World Series title for our fans is really what it's all about and is what makes this job truly rewarding."

The deal is said to include a one-time payment of $30 million dollars, which combined with the money the Marlins anticipate they can raise from selling off their 2003 World Series rings, should be able to combat the high deficits the organization is dealing with in the face of a struggling economy. The Yankees, by contrast, believe that they can generate enough revenue from the sale of 2003 Yankees World Champions merchandise to offset a good portion of the payment. Correspondingly, the Marlins front office has issued a press release announcing a recall of all Marlins' championship paraphernalia from 2003.

This purchase is the twelfth such deal the Yankees have struck over the last few months as part of a new campaign to use their massive financial resources to buy World Championships. The idea was spawned in an off-season meeting when Steinbrenner, frustrated that his strategy of doling out hundreds of millions of dollars to sign top players kept backfiring, realized that it made more sense to spend money to secure championships in a way that wouldn't be left to risky propositions such as the bounce of a ball or the swing of a bat. After being turned down by the commissioner's office in their attempt to suspend the rest of the 2009 season and be declared World Champions in exchange for the sum of $150 million, the Yankees turned to past championships, which legally are considered the property of individual teams, who are therefore free to sell them.

The Yankees' spending spree has been met with much controversy across the baseball world. "We simply can't compete with them," said Kansas Royals General Manager Dayton Moore. "They have their own television network, a brand new state of the art stadium, and unparalleled resources with which to buy championships. A small-market team like us doesn't stand a chance."

Not surprisingly, most Yankees fans have lauded the organization's efforts. "My son turned fifteen this past winter. He was too young to remember the 2000 series, so he has had to endure eight insufferable seasons following this team without seeing them win a single championship. That's a tragedy," said Joe Bradley, a lifelong Yankees fan. "We are truly grateful to Mr. Steinbrenner, who with his passion for winning and commitment to spending has enabled my son to attend twelve ticker tape parades in the last 5 months." When asked if the current Yankees' policy was bad for baseball as a whole, Bradley responded, "Other teams are free to do the same thing and invest their money back in the team exactly the same way, but they're too cheap. That's why we have 38 championships and they don't."

The 2003 purchase means that the Yankees now won World Championships in a remarkable nine straight years from 1995-2003, having previously purchased the championships of the 1995 Braves, 1997 Marlins, 2001 Diamondbacks and 2002 Angels. It appears that they will come up empty in their quest for a streak of ten straight championships as the commissioner's office has been steadfast in their position that the Yankees could not be declared the champions of the strike-shortened 1994 season and the refusal of the Boston Red Sox to part with their 2004 title for any amount of money. According to Red Sox President and CEO Larry Lucchino, the 2004 championship was "one prize the Evil Empire will never get its tentacles around."

As part of its Yankees Classics series, the YES network will air the 2003 World Series, with its revised footage, in its entirety this week. "It means more work for me," said Yankees' play-by-play announcer John Sterling, "but that's what being a true Yankee is all about. We work just a little harder and go that extra mile in the spirit of the tremendous Yankee tradition. That's why we have 38 championships."

Still, others around the league are in denial about the Yankees' latest exploitation of their competitive advantage. "I don't care what anyone says. We won that championship," said Red Sox pitcher Josh Beckett, who was a member of the 2003 Marlins. "They can buy all the championships they want, but they can't buy heart and they can't buy soul." Steinbrenner would not comment on a rumor that the Yankees were in negotiations to buy Beckett's heart and soul.

This article originally appeared at http://aviousavservations.blogspot.com/2009/04/yankees-buy-another-world-series-title.html

Matsui World Series MVP Ceremony Watched By Millions In Japan

2009-11-05T09:10:22Z

TOKYO — Japan nearly came to a standstill as millions watched on TV while Hideki Matsui, the man they know as Godzilla, stomped around New York to lead the Yankees to the World Series title.

Matsui became the first Japanese-born player to win the MVP trophy for the Most Valuable Player of the World Series with a record-tying six RBIs in the clincher to lead the Yankees over the Philadelphia Phillies 7-3 on Wednesday.