Tuesday, September 05, 2006
So, ARod is Hitting Again...
He even won the A.L. Player of the Week Award for the period ending September 3! This is good news for Yankee fans, and not just for the obvious reason that he is contributing offensively. It's also good because now the Yankee fans can cheer him again, and we won't have to listen to the likes of Joe Buck, Tim McCarver, and anyone from ESPN's game of the week endlessly repeat their fairy tale of why the Stadium crowd is booing ARod.
They've repeated their theory so many times, it has almost become truth. They should get into politics. This is their belief: Yankee fans will never accept ARod until he wins a championship with the Yanks.
This is complete bullshit. Let me tell you why.
Most of this current team hasn't won a World Series. The core is still there: Jeter, Mariano, Posada, and Bernie. After that, all new blood since the last WS win in 2000. Have the Yank fans not accepted Matsui, Mussina, Giambi, Damon, Cano, Cabrera, Abreu, et al? Of course we have. It has nothing to do with winning a World Series. It has everything to do with performing in the clutch. This is what the fans want and expect. Think of Paul O'Neill fouling off ball after ball until he gets one he can drive. Think of Boggs working an important base on balls. Think Leyritz thrusting the team back into the '96 World Series with one huge swing of his bat. Think of Jeter inside-outing one into right. This is clutch.
Now think of ARod.
For the first half of the 2006 season, the Red Sox were in first place. The Yanks, despite injuries to Matsui, Sheffield, and Cano, made their move on the Sox. The two teams flip-flopped the top position for a while, then NY caught and surpassed Boston, finally putting some distance between them with the historic five game sweep up in Boston. During this whole stretch, ARod was committing throwing errors seemingly every day, and worse, popping up weakly or striking out when we needed him most, with runners in scoring position in a close game. Not even a measly sac fly, or an RBI groundout to push home a run. He (literally) dropped the ball.
Now the Yanks have a nine, ten game lead in the loss column over Boston. And ARod's bat has suddenly come alive. But according to Joe Buck and his ilk, the Yankees fans are booing because ARod hasn't won a World Series, or because Jeter hasn't stood up for ARod and asked the fans to support him. Try again, Buck. The Yanks built a lead despite ARod, not because of him. Now that we have a comfortable lead he has remembered how to hit. This is why we boo.
We want him to do well. We want to clap and whistle. We want to encourage him to come through. We cheer when he approaches the plate with men on. Because there's only one thing we want.
We want clutch.
They've repeated their theory so many times, it has almost become truth. They should get into politics. This is their belief: Yankee fans will never accept ARod until he wins a championship with the Yanks.
This is complete bullshit. Let me tell you why.
Most of this current team hasn't won a World Series. The core is still there: Jeter, Mariano, Posada, and Bernie. After that, all new blood since the last WS win in 2000. Have the Yank fans not accepted Matsui, Mussina, Giambi, Damon, Cano, Cabrera, Abreu, et al? Of course we have. It has nothing to do with winning a World Series. It has everything to do with performing in the clutch. This is what the fans want and expect. Think of Paul O'Neill fouling off ball after ball until he gets one he can drive. Think of Boggs working an important base on balls. Think Leyritz thrusting the team back into the '96 World Series with one huge swing of his bat. Think of Jeter inside-outing one into right. This is clutch.
Now think of ARod.
For the first half of the 2006 season, the Red Sox were in first place. The Yanks, despite injuries to Matsui, Sheffield, and Cano, made their move on the Sox. The two teams flip-flopped the top position for a while, then NY caught and surpassed Boston, finally putting some distance between them with the historic five game sweep up in Boston. During this whole stretch, ARod was committing throwing errors seemingly every day, and worse, popping up weakly or striking out when we needed him most, with runners in scoring position in a close game. Not even a measly sac fly, or an RBI groundout to push home a run. He (literally) dropped the ball.
Now the Yanks have a nine, ten game lead in the loss column over Boston. And ARod's bat has suddenly come alive. But according to Joe Buck and his ilk, the Yankees fans are booing because ARod hasn't won a World Series, or because Jeter hasn't stood up for ARod and asked the fans to support him. Try again, Buck. The Yanks built a lead despite ARod, not because of him. Now that we have a comfortable lead he has remembered how to hit. This is why we boo.
We want him to do well. We want to clap and whistle. We want to encourage him to come through. We cheer when he approaches the plate with men on. Because there's only one thing we want.
We want clutch.
Comments:
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Three caveats:
1.) I have been a diehard Red Sox fan since 1988 (Morgan's Magic); therefore I hate the Yankees.
2.) I have hated A-Rod since he was a Mariner. I can't tell you why, I can only tell you it's true.
3.) When A-Rod was rumored to be headed to the Sox in Winter 2003, I was pissed.
It has been an interesting three years since the deal went down, and I have come to love New York's disdain for A-Rod. I still don't know why he drives me batshit, but it isn't just the slap-heard-'round-the-world. Jeter I hate in a deeply profound way somehow mired in respect. Posada I hate with a virulence reserved for precious few. O'Neill I hate in a nostalgic way, like a girl who once dissed me for the high school quarterback. But A-Rod is different. I knew the Yankees fans wouldn't like him when they got him, no matter how great his numbers might be. I can't put my finger on it, but he just isn't someone you can root for...
1.) I have been a diehard Red Sox fan since 1988 (Morgan's Magic); therefore I hate the Yankees.
2.) I have hated A-Rod since he was a Mariner. I can't tell you why, I can only tell you it's true.
3.) When A-Rod was rumored to be headed to the Sox in Winter 2003, I was pissed.
It has been an interesting three years since the deal went down, and I have come to love New York's disdain for A-Rod. I still don't know why he drives me batshit, but it isn't just the slap-heard-'round-the-world. Jeter I hate in a deeply profound way somehow mired in respect. Posada I hate with a virulence reserved for precious few. O'Neill I hate in a nostalgic way, like a girl who once dissed me for the high school quarterback. But A-Rod is different. I knew the Yankees fans wouldn't like him when they got him, no matter how great his numbers might be. I can't put my finger on it, but he just isn't someone you can root for...
Yankee fans love a winner! They'll love ARod when he produces like one.
# posted by 
: September 06, 2006 3:03 AM
: September 06, 2006 3:03 AM
Great points by "normalguy/girl". When you hate players on the opposing team, there DOES seem to be a vast number of different and unique ways to go about hating each individual player. Personally, the way I hate David Ortiz and his consistent fat-ass ninth-inning heroics does leave room for large levels of respect. Whereas, the hatred I enjoy for Manny includes NO respect at all, like the high school jock who is far better at a sport than you will ever be, but so lacking in personality and spirit that you would neither want to know him or be him. And don't get me started on the most over-rated player in the game: Varitek. Deep, down to the core, hatred.
Maybe you can give us a whole entry quantifying your own styles of opposing player hatreds, DB?
But all that a side, the true point of this article was NOT about Arod, but the lame, one-note reporting by "JoeBuck&Company".
You got it right on, DB, the true fan hears it clearly and all too annoyingly: They take one bit of yesterday's news and pound it through your heart throughout the entire game.
Its called "talent-less."
Maybe you can give us a whole entry quantifying your own styles of opposing player hatreds, DB?
But all that a side, the true point of this article was NOT about Arod, but the lame, one-note reporting by "JoeBuck&Company".
You got it right on, DB, the true fan hears it clearly and all too annoyingly: They take one bit of yesterday's news and pound it through your heart throughout the entire game.
Its called "talent-less."
# posted by : September 08, 2006 2:34 PM
: September 08, 2006 2:34 PM
Very insightful post, Magnum. And good suggestion for a future DB column: levels of hatred for opposing players. Hatred is based on respect, of course (unless we're talking about Barry Bonds, where hatred is based on hatred). I disagree about Varitek, though. The Sox where hanging in there for the wild card until he got injured. Without him holding the pitching staff together they fell apart.
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