The Economics of Hate

So when the Yankees clinched #27 on Wednesday, I was overwhelmed with joy and glee and the bliss that comes with suffering with your team through bad years (the 80s-early 90s and mid 2000s), only to start being bombarded with messages about how the steroid infused Yankees have bought yet another world championship.

At first I was a bit taken aback. Even when the Giants (who I hate with the fervor and passion of a KKK member towards black people) won, I sent out congratulatory messages. Last year, I congratulated Philly fans. It just struck me as odd, that at the most beloved of all my teams, is the one that is hated the most.

Just a few observations though...

I find it interesting that not one of the people who commented to me were saying the same about the Florida Marlins-who in 1997 and 2003, assembled a highly paid team of mercenaries to win the World Series, only to immediately dismantle the team after the fact.

Nope-evidently, every other person in the majors didn't really agree to the contract they signed and is being forced to play for free.

Not one mention of how the Yankees high payroll is directly proportionate to the amount of revenue they take in as the most popular franchise in the largest market in the majors. Or the check that they must cut to the rest of the league every season in the form of a luxury tax in order to ensure there is enough money for smaller market teams to compete.

Not one mention of the 2007 Red Sox who had the 2nd highest payroll in the league when they won it all (and a very juiced Manny Ramirez).

Nope, high pay and steroids seem to be the domain of the Yankees only.

Thing is, so many owners are pocketing this money rather than using it to invest in players and management teams that can get the most out of these franchises.

Don't get me wrong, they are relentless and hilarious. "If there was a salary cap..." there would be no baseball. The players union put the kibash on that, and the owners have made it so that the only minimums are on what individual players can make.

In other words-they can spend as little as possible to field a team, then pocket the profits from the gates when the Yankees, Red Sox, Phillies and Dodgers come to town, and pocket the luxury tax dividend that the higher payroll teams pay, and use it for personal profit if they so choose.

Ask Bud Selig what the Brewers management group did with their share. Instead of trying to keep Sabathia, they bought a plane. For personal use. Hmmm.

While I'm on the topic of said luxury tax-it's not just the Yankees that pay it-Detroit had to pony up last year as well. They didn't even make the playoffs. I don't hear anyone saying a word about that.

I think my friend Dominic put it best--it's amazing how this team is vilified for doing the very things that built the country we live in. Capitalism and consumerism are the American way. Interesting how it can only be good for some and turned against others if they win more than the rest.

If your owner isn't interested in investing in their business and improving the team for your town, don't take it out one that does. It's puerile, and it kind of makes you look bad.

Players don't sign with the Yankees because they couldn't get a deal elsewhere. As my friend Joslin said better than I could-most of these big name dudes don't get traded here, they want to come.

As for the steroid issue, there is no doubt it is a black eye on the sport. While they will never admit to it, the league dropped the ball big time and looked the other way for many many years while players got extra saucy.

Nevermind that the allegations and admissions of steroid use were all during a time when the league didn't test for them, sanction players for using them, and pretty much looked the other way while up to 60% of major league players went on the sauce. Nope-had to just be the Yankees.

Whatever, it's fine. I'm sure there will be some other random arguments as to why they win too much and other teams win too little. At the end of the day, it's just easier to blame the Yankees.

Whew! I really needed to get that off my chest. It gets tiring to hear the same baseless arguments over and over again, and it has been a really long time since I've been able to celebrate at the end of the baseball season.

Oh well, they say haters are just really confused admirers. I'll be sure to concern myself with the misery of others another time. Right now? I have a parade to get ready for.

No Tweets For You

I have written in other blogs about my addiction to that nifty little social networking app-Twitter. On the bright side, it is a fast and entertaining way to talk to friends while working, get news (depending on who you follow) and laugh at the exploits of your favorite celebrities and athletes.

There has been an alarming trend however, with how some of these athletes (and sports entities) have been using Twitter. Have you watched SportsCenter lately? Evidently they're paying someone to follow athletes and parse out a "tweet of the day." What this has to do with actual news is beyond me, but it certainly has become a part of the show.

Then you have the athletes tweeting...about life, teams, games, and all sorts of subjects in between. This is where things have gotten a bit dicey. The NFL and NBA have banned tweeting during games (what player in his right mind has time for such malarkey anydamnway?) ESPN has prohibited employees (on air talent and otherwise) from tweeting unless it serves ESPN in some way, and most recently, players have been losing playing time for tweets that coaches didn't appreciate.

While I can understand protecting ones corporate image, it seems to have gotten to the point where people are trying to somehow stifle the truth and disguising it as "detremental to team policy."

Was the young Texas Tech player wrong for pointing out Mike Leach's lateness? Not really. We've all been in situations with people who have some sort of authority over us, and would prefer us to do as they say and not as they do. If he wanted to avoid being talked about (on Twitter or among the troops), wouldn't the easy way be to just show up on time for a meeting? Banning the entire team from tweeting doesn't change the fact that he was late. Or are we supposed to just ignore it and pretend it's the players who are wrong? An indefinite suspension certainly makes him look more like a bully than an effective head coach. Did complaining about playing time on Twitter really need to happen David Clowney? Probably not, but being benched for it doesn't exactly send a positive message even when your team is undefeated.

It does make for some interesting catfights between athletes (Chad Ochocinco and Shawne Merriman for example) and some players have logged off for good after public reaction to things they have posted, but it does make one wonder-what lessons don't these guys learn that the rest of us take for granted?

It just seems like common sense that one wouldn't discuss their day job on Twitter. Isn't it meant to be a distraction from what's sitting on your desk or in your email box? It also seems like common sense that you wouldn't go after fans, but-let's keep it 100, some of these fans (probably myself included-sorry Nick Swisher) say some things that aren't exactly in good taste and may set players off. While a cooler head would probably step away from the machine, or block this person from following them, or retweet to embarrass the person doing the talking, these folks pitch a tizzy and log off for good. Sad, because it deprives me of much needed entertainment throughout my day.

In the end, it's starting to look like there will be two types of athletes posting on twitter-those with do-boys posting for fans, and those who have an account but don't post at all. I'll stick to following the retirees-at least they have something entertaining to say and won't be penalized for it.

Playoffs?!?!? Playoffs?!?!?

So in the unending quest to right the ship that is the Yankees being the greatest baseball team ever invented, they became the first team to clinch a playoff position last night.

This should make me happy, but if you've been following the team all season you're noticing some not so good things as the team makes it's way through the home stretch. Things that will make any manner of playoff run harder for them than it is for me to walk out of Petracelli with only one bottle of nail polish.

There are no two ways about it. Joba Chamberlain needs to go back to the bullpen. Over his last few games he has given up an excessive amount of runs, walked way too many batters and generally looked like he belongs in AAA. Of course, I wasn't so impressed with him as a bullpen guy in the playoffs either, after he let the flies and bugs get the best of him against the Indians in 2007.

AJ Burnett? Ummm dead arm much? This guy is too young to be suffering the kind of "fatigue" he has been, and is 1-3 in his last four starts. Not good at all. Especially going into the playoffs.

He beat Tampa like they stole something, but against playoff caliber teams? He looked much like Ian Kennedy did at the beginning of last season.

Brian Bruney? Not exactly eighth inning material, no matter how you slice it. He's been pitching poorly, and no manner of "he's improving" rhetoric from Joe Girardi will convince my eyes (or the scoreboards) otherwise.

Of course in public I'll smile and be giddy and happy and super confident that my team will win it all this year. I always am. On the inside though? I'm not so sure about things, and it will probably take more than a few decisive victories to make me feel any different going in.

Now talk s**t...

It seems like every time I turn on my TV, someone in sports is blaming someone else for something that went wrong, be it a bad play, a tough loss or an inability to sign a draft pick.

This weekend proved no different, as I watched my favorite footballer of all time play himself like some manner of dejected ex, the analyst who wanted to analyze a totally different game than the one that was being played, and now-a team who wants to blame my team for it's inability to sign it's top draft pick.

All week, Kerry Rhodes talked about a win on Twitter. He was slammed left and right, including some choice comments from recently retired Pats safety turned NFL analyst Rodney Harrison.

During this same game, analyst Dan Dierdorf stopped just short of professing his desire to fellate Tom Brady on national television before blaming the mistakes and missed plays on everyone but the ones causing the problems-the Jets D.

It got to so bad that people who don't even like or follow the Jets were commenting about it. I can totally understand rooting for one team or another, but not at your JOB, which is to describe what's happening-not what you want to happen.

It amazed me how little journalistic integrity both men showed, and didn't shock me one bit when neither would step away from their opinions and into the real world with the rest of us.

Then-on Monday morning the 49ers accused the Jets of tampering with their unsigned and unproven #1 draft pick, and citing their desire for a "big name" receiver as a reason.

I guess they think the rest of the world has as little common sense as they do. If I want a big time/big name wide out, I'm picking up TO in the offseason, not trying to tamper with a dude who has yet to play a down in the NFL and has advisors that have led him to believe he's worth more than he really is. One has to wonder for a second if it's just not as simple as the 49ers front office can't get it done and is looking for a scapegoat? Yeah, I digress.

This culture of blaming bad predictions on others rather than just reporting the facts is played out. Seriously. Whatever happened to just reporting the news? Or at the very least analyzing the actual game and not broadcasting your latest wet dream?

I'm sure I'm not the only one who sees this, and there probably isn't anything I can do to make it stop. Oh well. I can always be happy they won right?

Football is coming!

I played Vince Guaraldi today-you know-the guy who made the Charlie Brown Christmas Album? He's got this song, called "Christmas is Coming" that if you're strange like me, oddly morphs into "Football is coming" towards the end of July. I'm ready for my training camp tan. I won't be driving 4 hours upstate to get it, but I figure two days out at Hofstra or at NJ Athletics will do the trick.

I'm excited. Usually this time of year I'm all about baseball and what the Yankees are doing. I've even adopted the Dodgers and Cardinals into the mix (I'm a sucker for a hot guy who can hit), but this year? Yeah. I'm ready for football. It kind of blows that there will be no more Rodney Harrison on the field, but this only means than I can let my full bodied hatred for NE out of it's cage.

Maybe I like that the Jets have a new head coach and seem to be going in the right direction. I was pretty happy with the free agent pickups (Lito Sheppard, Bart Scott and Larry Izzo) Mike T and co. made. I'm not so sure how this QB thing is going to work out, but I'm sure whoever wins the battle will be better than that last yutz. No really-I'm over it!

I'm happy though. Violence to come! Big hits, big plays and best of all-beer and wings with my football friends (who I really only see during football season). I'm doing things a bit differently this year though. I am making the vow to be a kindler and gentler Jets fan. I've even instituted some rules for myself:

1. I will laugh heartily when Dolphins/Bills fans talk shit to me rather than be dragged into their bitterness.
2, I will not plot to murder Tom Brady and make it look like Bellicheat did it.
3. I will not get angry when Mark Sanchez does something stupid. I understand he is a rookie and rookies make mistakes.
4. I will not send evil messages to Rose, Jos or Doxx via Facebook.

what I will do, is enjoy all 16 games (pre season football is kind of like that cute guy you find out is NOT endowed-can't watch it) and hopefully a Sunday or 5 in the playoffs. I hope you all do the same.

The Media Strikes Again

Days after my Manny induced hiatus from blogging (more on that another time), I find myself marveling at the way the media is portraying Steve McNair and disrespecting his family in the wake of his murder.

For the record, I heart McNair. He had the best teeth/smile ever, and he was the one QB in the NFL that came from an HBCU and did well. I remember watching him play on Saturdays when BET used to show black college football games (back when they had somewhat decent programming) and was all about seeing him win the Heisman in 93. He came in 3rd, but was drafted and went on to have a great career, punctuated by the Music City Miracle, and SB XXXIV.

Off the field, he was known as a great humanitarian who gave back to the community and was a family man. Thing about this-he's an ex football player, so his definition of family man may be a little different than what you or I may perceive to be ok. That aside-he's gone, and the disrespect is in the media and even from those (Brian Billick) who knew him is reaching a fever pitch.

According to the police, they are thisclose to ruling his death a murder-suicide. The perpetrator? A 20 year old Dave & Busters worker who told her family that after 5 months, McNair planned to leave his wife and move in with her-in a condo that he and a friend owned in Nashville. We are also expected to believe that the two were a "couple" and that she was his "girlfriend".

There is a serious problem with this. Somewhere in Mississippi, he has a WIFE and four children who are learning about his extramartial affair it seems, just as we are. How does a married man have a legitimate girlfriend? How does the word of a 20 year old who is clearly star struck usurp common sense?

It's disgusting. She has been given every ounce of benefit of the doubt by the media. Been portrayed as a jilted or wronged girlfriend as if her place in his life was bigger than the place his wife and family held. Why? Because she was allowed to drive an Escalade he owned? Or because she had access to the jump off pad he held with a friend? Somehow this becomes more important than a twelve year marriage? Interesting.

I'm not even a wife, but I can imagine that Mrs. McNair is in a world of hurt right now, and seeing her place in her husbands life diminished in the media can't be helping the situation. I'm starting to not believe anything I read about this situation. Why is it only the whore's side of the story is coming out in the press? Why is she being portrayed as the victim when she is likely the shooter? Why is she being shown so much respect, when her actions show just how little respect she had for life and the institution of marriage.

I know I'm just venting here, but I can't be the only person who notices the differences between the wife and the whore, and wonders if this isn't the reason she's being portrayed as something other than what she is-a homewrecker of the highest order.

So Drunk Driving Is The New Black?

Over the past couple of weeks we have had four deaths tied to the sporting world by drunk driving. Most recently, a 22 year old Angel's pitcher and two friends were killed on their way from a club in Fullerton, CA, by another drunken 22 year old who was driving on a license that was suspended for-wait for it- drunk driving.

This story brought me to tears. Not because I know anyone involved personally, but because I don't understand what makes people so stupid as to take the lives of others into their drunken, wobbly hands. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I actually caused or got into an accident because I was too cheap to take a cab home after having a few too many. Especially since we all know how these types of accidents play out-the good person, who never harmed a soul is killed tragically, while the drunk who had nothing better to do walks away with little more than a busted lip. Shameful.

It's sad. This kid by all accounts was popular in the clubhouse, and was finally able to live out his dream of pitching in the big leagues. His father flew out from their hometown to watch his son pitch six scoreless innings at home, only to be called out of his hotel room to identify his body.

The driver didn't even have the decency to stick around and be accountable for his actions. He ran like the bitch he truly is, only to be picked up half an hour later. Was he running out to get one last drink before turning himself in? Or did he plan to go home and sleep it off and go on with his life? At least Donte Stallworth stuck around the scene of his accident.

The scary part about it, is that even if you value your life and those of others around you enough not to drive drunk, everyone doesn't feel the same way or act accordingly. Those kids were just out having a good time and enjoying life-only to have this happen. It has put a serious damper on the start of the season. This is supposed to be the most glorious time of year! We should be busy blogging about CC Sabathia getting rocked by Baltimore (word?), and the Yankees starting out much as the Phillies did last year . Instead, we have postponed games, tributes and moments of silence around the league. More time wasted by the actions of some fool who didn't know better than to stay from behind the wheel, and that is a crying shame.