Letter to the Editor: Grimm revelation

Staten Island Advance (New York)

August 14, 2011 Sunday

Dear Editor,
As I watched the Staten Island Yankees struggle against the Brooklyn Cyclones, a game filled with errors and missed opportunities in this family-friendly atmosphere, I realized that at least they were playing as a team.

In between innings, you had photos of the cutest babies, the best smoochers in the stands, dancers on top of the dugout and, of course, "Scooter," that oversized fluffy and goofy mascot of the Yankees.

However, around the fifth inning - just when things were looking bleak for the Yankees - Scooter got on top of the dugout to introduce the next guest. Waving his paws back and forth, he introduced Rep. Michael Grimm, and that's when the evening turned grim - and quickly.

He was first greeted with a chorus of boos, jeers and whistles, which led to a series of calls from the audience of, and I quote, "Just do your job" and "What do we pay you for?" A grim night for the Grimm Reaper, freshly bruised in Washington and now a hostile crowd in Staten Island.

It's more than just a game. The Staten Island Yankees lost, but lost as a team. As for Grimm, he now knows just how unhappy his audience has become and perhaps it's time that he learns to play as a team.

John Patrick Naughton
New Brighton