By TPerl
[Author's note: I wanted to wait to post this to avoid blog overload, but I didn't expect Bones to keep cranking 'em out as he has been. So please read the other recent posts as well - I don't want to be accused of "blog-blocking"]
Does A-Rod deserved to get booed right now? I think you'd be crazy not to say yes, especially after that series against the Angels.
But then there's this other question/request going around - shouldn't the fans NOT boo A-Rod, but rather give him their support and encouragement to hopefully help him out of this horrific season-long slump? Obviously, booing him is not going to help matters, and may actually make things worse. Even Brian Cashman has been critical of the fans for such behavior. Let's prop him up rather than tear him down.
Is this what things have come to now? Now it's the fucking FANS' fault A-Rod sucks?
Now the fans are supposed to worry about the self esteem of a guy who can get more houses, cars, and road trip blow-jobs than everyone on the Mets combined (well, except maybe Lo Duca)?
I find it amazing how much we coddle the athletes of today. At least other celebrities have the "stalk-a-razzi" following their every move, fashion, and drunken anti-Semitic diatribe.
But the athletes? Oh - don't boo him. It'll hurt his feelings and he won't be able to concentrate.
This ain't fucking Little League. And this team ain't the Devil Rays. This is the New York Fucking Yankees. And when you come here, you'd better be able to handle EVERYTHING: Fans, media, rush hour traffic, terrorists, runners in scoring position. But all that is just warm-up for the biggest pressure-cooker of them all - October. It's what this team is all about. And if you can't handle everything else, how can you handle the playoffs?
["You think this is abuse? You think this is abuse? You cocksucker? You can't take this - How do expect to take the abuse you get on a sit?" - Alec Baldwin as Blake in Glengarry Glen Ross]
Derek Jeter - A true caption ever since his Opening Day home run in 1996. Booed by Fans? You bet - he was mired in a slump for the first half of the 2004 season, and the fans got on him, despite all his former success. So you know what he did? He went on a ridiculous tear in the second half and ended up hitting just under .300. His postseason batting average is over .300 by the way.
Tino Martinez - took over first base after the retirement of Donnie Baseball, who was perhaps the most beloved fan favorite at The Stadium since Thurman Munson. Got booed mercilessly for every ground out and strikeout for the entire month of April 1996. Then? Then he went on to became "Tino". He did have a rocky playoff start with the Yanks in 96, sharing time with Cecil Fielder. But every Yankee fan remembers his grand slam in 1998 against the Padres that broke open a 5-5 tie in Game 1 - hit into the upper deck in right, followed by the shower of beer cups being thrown in the air as the camera fortunately lingered on the crowd after the ball landed.
Even Jason Giambi had a similar fan experience to Tino, before breaking out of it officially with his walk-off gland slam in the rain against the Twins in extra innings. He's still no Tino, mind you - but I digress.
Even Mo? Well, yes, since even the invincible Mariano Rivera has been booed a few times in the past couple of seasons, especially during one bad stretch where he blew a few saves in the span of a week. His postseason resume speaks for itself.
The point is that the boo-birds HAVE to boo the players, partly since the players can't boo themselves. But basically, we boo because we give a shit, and any intelligent player realizes that. In other cities, maybe they don't do it that way - but in New York we tell it like it is. In a sense, we are going through the bad times along with the players so that the players who can survive it are that much better prepared for the October pressure, and the fan-to-player bond can grow even stronger in the postseason, where our jeers can turn to cheers and we become a true 26th man. We'll quickly forgive a mediocre season for a clutch playoff performance any year.
Then there are the others who couldn't hack it in pinstripes, despite being successful before (and even after) their brief stints with the Yankees: Kenny Rogers, Jose Contreras, Jeff Weaver, Terry Mulholland, Hideki Irabu, Kevin Brown. We boo-ed their sorry asses right out of town and never looked back.
Finally, it's not as if we were booing A-Rod when he got here. And when he comes up to bat, we're still cheering him on to finally get that big hit. But when he strikes out AGAIN with that man on third and less than 2 out, or pops up when he could've at least moved the runner - if you don't boo then, then you're just not paying attention.
And anyone who thinks we should stop should get their head out of A-Rod's ass.
October is one month away - and we, the true fans, still have a job to do.
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3 comments:
Daaaarrrrrryyyllll...Daaaaaarrrrryyyyylllll...
It rolls right off their backs!
First of all, you have no reason to hesitate posting a blog. There's more than enough room (infinite, actually), and real bloggers do this at least 10 times a day. I'm more selective in my rants.
And second, HOW DARE YOU POLLUTE MY BLOG WITH YOUR RETARDED YANKEE RAMBLINGS!
If I hadn't just written thousands of words too many about Billy Fucking Joel, I might be a little more critical of your choice of subject matter.
But I suppose the fickle nature of New York boo-birds qualifies as a more universal topic than your suddenly on-top again ball club.
And I'm not one for censorship.
But if you ever, without the influence of chemicals or the cushion of irony, type the words "Donnie Baseball" on this blog again, I will ban you for life and stick a Donnie Baseball bat up your boil-pocked ass.
Thank you, and goodnight.
First of all, how could not expect any rants about sports, especially the Yankees? I'll make you a deal - I won't post anything about the Rangers, since your stance on that is well documented.
Second, as you (hopefully) know, the term "Donnie Baseball" was not coined by any teammate, or by the fans, or by the media - it was the late Kirby Puckett who came up with the name, with a nod I'm sure to Ted "Teddy Ballgame" Williams. So there's a strong lineage and history associated with that particular nickname.
So why the anger?
Or did you perhaps assume that "Donnie Baseball" was some gay-sounding, rah-rah, girls wearing Jeter shirts Stadium chant?
Otherwise, are you attempting to disrespect 2 Hall-of-Famers, a AL MVP, and millions of loyal fans just so you could write the words "boil-pocked ass"?
Or maybe you should just stick Ted Williams' cryogenically frozen head into your baseball-hating pie-hole.
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