Tuesday, September 07, 2004
Yankee Brass Tries to Surf the Wake of Frances
Since the New York Yankees have had such a difficult time winning games on the field lately, they're now trying to win games without having to actually play them. With the surging Red Sox getting ever closer in their rearview mirror, the Yankees, perhaps the proudest franchise in all of sports, made a despicably insensitive move on Monday, requesting that the Commissioner's Office forfeit a game in their favor because the Tampa Bay Devil Rays did not show up in time to play it. By the way, the D-Rays missed their scheduled flight out of Tampa because of that tiny little storm they had down there called Hurricane Frances.
Yankees president Randy Levine and general manager Brian Cashman held a press conference on the field to ask for the forfeit, citing a major league rule stating that such a forfeit may be called if a team isn't ready to play due to anything but an "unavoidable" delay. Tell me Randy and Cash-man, if you missed a flight because you were stuck on a bridge blocked with debris caused by a natural disaster, would you classify that as "unavoidable?" What would you have preferred the D-Rays do, jump out and hitchhike?
"There were plenty of opportunities to get out of Tampa on Saturday," explained Randy "The Machine" Levine.
While that possibility remains unconfirmed (the D-Rays say they couldn't get a charter), does it really make a difference? Should these players and coaches be expected to leave their families in the mouth of madness on Saturday for a baseball game scheduled on Monday? That's absurd. Hurricane Frances claimed fifteen lives across three states, but that's hardly as important as a doubleheader at Yankee Stadium, I guess. According to CNN, the areas of Florida evacuated for Frances represented 86% of the state's population, but who cares, right? The Yanks wanna play two! Or do they...
After the Yankees' recent freefall, including a 22-nothing loss, and capped off by their best pitcher putting himself on the DL by punching a defenseless wall, I believe this move to be motivated by fear from the front office. The second-place Red Sox gained eight games on the Almighty Yankees in August and many in the baseball world have been waiting for their owner to go nuclear with his reaction. Well, George "I'll take my ball and go home" Steinbrenner can't buy Randy Johnson to save his team so he's seeing if he can't worm his way to a win with political maneuvering. Thankfully, Commissioner Bud Selig indicated that he could not. Benevolent Bud reaffirmed the principles of competition Monday by saying it was critical that "we do everything to decide the championship on the field." Sorry Georgie Porgie, you're gonna have to earn this thing.
In a related story, following their 22-0 loss to the Indians, Steinbrenner ordered a sign be displayed at Yankee Stadium facing out to the public. It reads "Winners never quit, quitters never win." And they said Steinbrenner would never understand the concept of irony! At press time, there were no confirmed reports of that sign being amended to read: Winners never quit, quitters never win, but at this point, we'll take a win any way we can.
I give the Yankee players the benefit of the doubt. I am sure, being professional sportsmen and competitors, that they would always prefer to get their wins with pitching, hitting, and defense rather than with a rule book and a magnifying glass. Unfortunately, while they used the extra time for rest and batting practice, their counterparts in cufflinks disgraced their team by attempting to sucker punch their already ailing opponents. Can you imagine if a team asked the Yankees to forfeit a game following September 11th? I sure can't which is why I find the Yankees request for Tampa Bay to do so in the wake of Hurricane Frances to be utterly deplorable.
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Yankees president Randy Levine and general manager Brian Cashman held a press conference on the field to ask for the forfeit, citing a major league rule stating that such a forfeit may be called if a team isn't ready to play due to anything but an "unavoidable" delay. Tell me Randy and Cash-man, if you missed a flight because you were stuck on a bridge blocked with debris caused by a natural disaster, would you classify that as "unavoidable?" What would you have preferred the D-Rays do, jump out and hitchhike?
"There were plenty of opportunities to get out of Tampa on Saturday," explained Randy "The Machine" Levine.
While that possibility remains unconfirmed (the D-Rays say they couldn't get a charter), does it really make a difference? Should these players and coaches be expected to leave their families in the mouth of madness on Saturday for a baseball game scheduled on Monday? That's absurd. Hurricane Frances claimed fifteen lives across three states, but that's hardly as important as a doubleheader at Yankee Stadium, I guess. According to CNN, the areas of Florida evacuated for Frances represented 86% of the state's population, but who cares, right? The Yanks wanna play two! Or do they...
After the Yankees' recent freefall, including a 22-nothing loss, and capped off by their best pitcher putting himself on the DL by punching a defenseless wall, I believe this move to be motivated by fear from the front office. The second-place Red Sox gained eight games on the Almighty Yankees in August and many in the baseball world have been waiting for their owner to go nuclear with his reaction. Well, George "I'll take my ball and go home" Steinbrenner can't buy Randy Johnson to save his team so he's seeing if he can't worm his way to a win with political maneuvering. Thankfully, Commissioner Bud Selig indicated that he could not. Benevolent Bud reaffirmed the principles of competition Monday by saying it was critical that "we do everything to decide the championship on the field." Sorry Georgie Porgie, you're gonna have to earn this thing.
In a related story, following their 22-0 loss to the Indians, Steinbrenner ordered a sign be displayed at Yankee Stadium facing out to the public. It reads "Winners never quit, quitters never win." And they said Steinbrenner would never understand the concept of irony! At press time, there were no confirmed reports of that sign being amended to read: Winners never quit, quitters never win, but at this point, we'll take a win any way we can.
I give the Yankee players the benefit of the doubt. I am sure, being professional sportsmen and competitors, that they would always prefer to get their wins with pitching, hitting, and defense rather than with a rule book and a magnifying glass. Unfortunately, while they used the extra time for rest and batting practice, their counterparts in cufflinks disgraced their team by attempting to sucker punch their already ailing opponents. Can you imagine if a team asked the Yankees to forfeit a game following September 11th? I sure can't which is why I find the Yankees request for Tampa Bay to do so in the wake of Hurricane Frances to be utterly deplorable.
# posted by j.h.k. @ 1:22 PM 
