Still, I respect what the hype monkeys were trying to do: They sought historical context for a football outcome in a stadium with no historical legacy. The place is five years old. Practically all its center field monuments honor men who never played here. Aside from the 2009 championship - which was financed by taxpayers and boosted on the now disgraced shoulders of A-Rod - the Yankees have given their new venue only two big moments, the goodbyes for Mariano and Jeter. The franchise has evolved into a middling, miserly mess, floundering to the point where the Mets next season easily could be NYC's better team.
Beyond the Mariano and Jeter farewells, it's hard to list great moments in the Stadium. Yes, there was the 2009 series, won by A-Rod's tainted home runs. We can remember Raul Ibanez's playoff HR against Detroit, but it only extended a game so Nick Swisher could muff a liner and Jeter could wreck his ankle. What else is there? Granderson's magical quest for 200 strikeouts? Those two September HRs by the great future Yankee, Jesus Montero?
It's been five years. Nothing has happened here. If you're talking about Joe, you're not thinking of Dimaggio or Torre; in this place, you're thinking about Girardi. If you want to remember the great "Pine Tar Game," forget George Brett and Goose Gossage; here, you're talking about Michael Pineda's neck.
This is what happens when you raze history. The Yankees once played in a cathedral whose mere presence honored Ruth, Gerhig, Joe D, Mantle, Yogi, Whitey, Reggie, Thurman, all the way up to Bernie and David Wells - the Yankee immortals. They knocked it down to build better luxury boxes. So yesterday, a nice finale in a meaningless football game gets shilled-up as the most exciting event in Yankee Stadium in three whole frickin' months. What a joke.
OK, hype hounds, get back to the real job at hand: Hawking the return of Chris Capuano and the stadium's authentic $75 dirt.
Amen, brother.
ReplyDeleteThe football game was the most eventful event at the Stadium since Kuroda went back to the Carps.
ReplyDeleteAnd instead of him we get The Swallows Return to Capistrano and that EIEIO guy from Florida.
What's the betting line on CC still sucking this year? And on Professor Tanaka needing surgery by June?
Maybe it will be more fun to follow the Carps.